Inequality in frontline communication: bureaucrats talk differently to men and women.
While gender biases in public service delivery are well-established, we still lack empirical insights on the underlying behavioral micro-mechanisms. This article contributes toward closing this perennial gap by investigating gender differences in the complexity and emotionality of verbal bureaucrat-...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 158 - 173 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Apr2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193631225&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193631225 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10531858 172N jtl: Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory issn: 10531858 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 36 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 193631225 10.1093/jopart/muaf036 ppf: 158 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: Inequality in frontline communication: bureaucrats talk differently to men and women. aug: au: Friedrich, Laurin Eckhard, Steffen affil: Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 47057, GermanyChair of Public Administration and Public Policy, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen 88045, Germany Chair of Public Administration and Public Policy, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen 88045, Germany su: Germany Gender stereotypes Public services Oral communication Expressive behavior Business communication Sex discrimination Public administration Machine learning sug: subj: Gender stereotypes Public services Oral communication Expressive behavior Business communication Sex discrimination Public administration Germany Other General Government Support Machine learning keyword: administrative inequality copyrightHolder:Public Management Research Association copyrightYear:2026 gender biases inLanguage:en natural language processing public service encounters publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf036 administrative inequality copyrightHolder:Public Management Research Association copyrightYear:2026 gender biases inLanguage:en natural language processing public service encounters publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf036 ab: While gender biases in public service delivery are well-established, we still lack empirical insights on the underlying behavioral micro-mechanisms. This article contributes toward closing this perennial gap by investigating gender differences in the complexity and emotionality of verbal bureaucrat-client communication. We build on a dataset comprising 154 dialogs recorded across different local public services in Germany. Combining rule-based and machine learning classification, we analyze differences in verbal administrative communication across 20,000 utterances. We find no association between bureaucrats' gender and their communication. Conversely, clients' gender yields a significant difference, with officials communicating more complexly and emotionally when interacting with male clients. No differences prevail for gender-matching. As the first study to systematically examine implicit (gender) biases in bureaucrats' communication, the article advances our existing understanding of the micro-mechanisms of administrative inequality: The findings contradict expectations from gender socialization theory, they confirm expectations linked to gender stereotypes, and they challenge the idea that in-group settings reduce stereotypical biases at the level of communication. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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