Religion and representative bureaucracy: Does religion guide administrative discretion?
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09520767241254869 |
| Author | Karl O’Connor,Usamah Shahwan |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
Special Issue: Religion as an explanatory factor in public administration:
Directions for research
Public Policy and Administration
2024, Vol. 39(4) 588–607
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/09520767241254869
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Religion and representative
bureaucracy: Does religion
guide administrative discretion?
Karl O’Connor
Centre for Public Administration, School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University, Belfast, UK
Usamah Shahwan
Bethlehem University, Bethlehem, Palestine
Abstract
In this paper we seek to understand how religion influences discretion in a developing
fragile society: Palestine. Drawing on a recent review of the religion and public ad-
ministration literature and the theory of representative bureaucracy, we ask: Does active
representation on behalf of a religious identity exist? And if so, what does it look like? We
explore four different possible manifestations, including none at all. In other words, this is
a study of how religiosity influences civil servant behaviour in instances of discretion.
Using original small-n in-person survey data, we find active representation by a majority of
mid-level civil servants on behalf of a religious identity; we find evidence of religious
service being underpinned by public service motivation and by pro-social motivation.
Others are guided by traditional Weberian bureaucratic values while others are guided by
what they perceive to be the religious foundation of the bureaucracy.
Keywords
Discretion, public service motivation, pro-social motivation, representative bureaucracy,
religion
Introduction
Administrative reform is a key determinant in managing fragile and developing societies.
While much attention is paid to reform structures and legal texts, we must also pay
attention to the everyday decision-making processes of civil and public servants within
Corresponding author:
Karl O’Connor, Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University,Jordanstown, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK.
Email: k.oconnor@ulster.ac.uk
these societies (O’Connor and Carmichael, 2020). Organisational norms and rules tend to
govern behaviour in most contexts in Western public administration; however even in
these rule-bound societies, discretion can sometimes be guided by primary identities such
as race or gender, or in our case, religion. The theory of representative bureaucracy is often
used to determine how this discretion is exercised. The theory supposes that a demo-
graphic may rely on its counterparts within the public administration to represent its
interests. Under certain circumstances, where the issue is of importance to that demo-
graphic, and they comprise a critical mass (Meier and O’Toole, 2006), they can be
expected to press for the interests of that demographic: what is now termed active
representation (Mosher, 1968). O’Connor et al. (2020) found that it was not sufficient to
identify active representation on behalf of a primary identity; rather, representative
bureaucracy research needs to establish the various types of active representation that can
manifest on behalf of a primary identity.
This study identifies, for the first time, the various natures of active representation on
behalf of a religious identity among civil servants within the fragile, developing society.
Further, we ask: what does actively representing your religion mean? How does it play out
in practice? Does it mean being guided by the ethics of your faith? Does it mean serving
your co-religions in society? Does it mean serving the poor and less well off? Or does it
mean abiding by the rules of the organisation? Our study therefore is a study of how
religiosity influences mid-level civil servant behaviour in instances of discretion and the
manner in which it is expressed on the job. Put differently, this is the first study to explore
the complexity of religion, representative bureaucracy, public service motivation and pro-
social behaviours.
Paper structure
Our research makes three contributions: First we develop a series of theoretically derived
statements that can identify how religion influences discretion; secondly, we empirically
test our proposition (P) that there is a link between passive and active representation for
religion. Thirdly, we identify the basis of active representation on behalf of a religious
identity, so future studies can examine the underpinning nature of these competing
manifestations. In the next section we present the various theoretical representation
conceptions that are extant in the literature. After these are presented, we discuss our
methodology. The following section identifies how these ideal types inform empirically
existent typologies of active representation on behalf of a religious identity. The final
section points to some implications for practitioners and academics, together with some
limitations of the study.
Literature review
How does religion influence the behaviour of civil servants within the developing fragile
society? Houston and Cartwright (2007), using the 1998 General Social Survey (US),
point out that ‘respondents in public service occupations are more likely than others to
indicate a higher level of spirituality’.Ongaro and Tantardini (2024) stress that we need to
O’Connor and Shahwan 589
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