Reversing the accountability chain: how relational power can shape accountability in public encounters.
Public administration plays a fundamental role in accountability relationships between citizens and the State, but how these take shape in public encounters is remarkably understudied. Analyzing relational dynamics within and around public encounters expands the relational perspective on accountabil...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 376 - 391 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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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=194993809&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194993809 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: Jul2026 vid: 36 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 194993809 10.1093/jopart/muag009 ppf: 376 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: Reversing the accountability chain: how relational power can shape accountability in public encounters. aug: au: Closs-Davies, Sara C Bartels, Koen P R Merkl-Davies, Doris affil: Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, United Kingdom Department of Public Management Administration and Policy, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom The Albert Gubay Business School, Bangor University, United Kingdom su: Power (Social sciences) Civil society Social services Public administration Public sector Government accountability Neoliberalism Digital technology sug: subj: Power (Social sciences) Civil society Social services Public administration Public sector Other General Government Support Other Individual and Family Services Government accountability Neoliberalism Digital technology keyword: accountability copyrightHolder:Public Management Research Association copyrightYear:2026 critical interpretive ethnography inLanguage:en public encounters publisher:Oxford University Press relational power sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muag009 tax credit accountability copyrightHolder:Public Management Research Association copyrightYear:2026 critical interpretive ethnography inLanguage:en public encounters publisher:Oxford University Press relational power sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muag009 tax credit ab: Public administration plays a fundamental role in accountability relationships between citizens and the State, but how these take shape in public encounters is remarkably understudied. Analyzing relational dynamics within and around public encounters expands the relational perspective on accountability in public administration—challenging core assumptions of the principal–agent model underpinning studies of citizen–State accountability relationships. We conducted a critical-interpretivist ethnography of public encounters in the UK Tax Credits (TC) system and share findings from our Constructivist Grounded Theory Analysis of multiple data sources, including twenty-eight open interviews. We discuss four relational dynamics of account-giving—emerging from the interplay of neoliberal discourse, digital technologies, and communicative practices—that "reversed the accountability chain." We demonstrate how claimants experiencing significant financial and emotional hardship, in their encounters with an unaccountable State, became accountable for their TC obligations and welfare. We explain these findings by mobilizing interdisciplinary theory from critical accounting research on relational power to offer original conceptual and empirical insight into the interactive, dynamic, and emergent accountability relationships between citizens and agents of the State. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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