Cited by 756Stress and Burnout ResearchEmotional Labor in ProfessionsPublic Policy and Administration Research

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Coping During Public Service Delivery: A Conceptualization and Systematic Review of the Literature

Tummers, Lars L. G., Bekkers, Victor, Vink, Evelien, Musheno, Michael·2015·Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

DOI 10.1093/jopart/muu056

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Abstract

Frontline workers, such as teachers and social workers, often experience stress when delivering public services to clients, for instance because of high workloads. They adapt by coping, using such practices as breaking or bending rules for clients, or rationing services. Although coping is recognized as an important response to the problems of frontline work, the public administration field lacks a comprehensive view of coping. The first contribution of this article is therefore theoretical: conceptualizing coping during public service delivery and developing a coherent classification of coping. This is done via a systematic review of the literature from 1981 to 2014. The second contribution is empirical: via a systematic review of the literature from 1981–2014 this article provides a framework and analytical account of how coping during public service delivery has been studied since 1980. It highlights the importance of the type of profession (such as being a teacher or a police officer), the amount of workload, and the degree of discretion for understanding how frontline workers cope with stress. It also reveals that frontline workers often draw on the coping family “moving towards clients” revealing a strong tendency to provide meaningful public service to clients, even under stressful conditions. We conclude with an agenda for future studies, examining new theoretical, methodological and empirical opportunities to advance understanding of coping during public service delivery. Trabalhadores de linha de frente, tais como professores e assistentes sociais, frequentemente experimentam estresse no exercício de suas funções de entrega de serviços públicos para os clientes em função do acúmulo de trabalho. Eles se adaptam ao enfrentamento utilizando práticas tais como quebrar ou contornar regras para os clientes, ou racionamento de serviços. Apesar do enfrentamento ser reconhecido como uma importante resposta aos problemas de linha de frente, a administração pública se ressente de uma visão totalizadora do mesmo. A primeira contribuição do artigo é, desta forma, teórica: conceituando o enfrentamento durante a prestação de serviços públicos e o desenvolvimento de uma classificação coerente de enfrentamento. Isto é realizado via revisão sistemática da literatura de 1981 a 2014. A segunda contribuição é empírica: através de uma revisão sistemática da literatura de 1981-2014, o artigo apresenta um quadro e uma narrativa analítica de como o enfrentamento durante a prestação de serviços públicos tem sido estudada desde 1980. O texto realça a importância dos tipos de profissão (tal como ser um professor ou um agente policial), a quantidade de carga de trabalho e o grau de discernimento para o entendimento de como trabalhadores de linha de frente lidam com o estresse. Ele também revela que trabalhadores de linha de frente frequentemente recorrem à famílias de “clientes proativos” revelando uma forte tendência a entregar serviços públicos significativos para os clientes mesmo que em condições de estresse. Nós concluímos com uma agenda para estudos futuros, examinando novas teorias, métodos e oportunidades empíricas para avançar o entendimento do enfrentamento durante prestação de serviços públicos. Translated by Ricardo Gomes, University of Brasília

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Influence of Challenge–Hindrance Stressors on Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Mediating Role of Emotions
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“Once these challenge stressors are overcome, individuals will be rewarded [57].”
Background
Performance Measurement and Professional Decision making: A Resolvable Conflict?
Møller, M. Ø., & Hill, M. (2021) · Human Services Organizations Management Leadership & Governance · doi:10.1080/23303131.2021.1975861 · Cited by 13
Responding to reforms: resilience through rule-bending and workarounds in the police force
Monties, V., & Gagnon, S. (2022) · Public Management Review · doi:10.1080/14719037.2022.2070242 · Cited by 13
“…of resilience: although strongly constrained by evolving institutional frames, they were adapting the way they worked, adjusting the official rules (Tummers et al. 2015) in ways that allowed them to continue working to the best of their abilities, according to the criteria of their group.”
BackgroundInfluential
The Performance and Development of Deliberative Routines: A Practice-Based Ethnographic Study
Visser, E. L., & van Hulst, M. (2023) · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory · doi:10.1093/jopart/muad006 · Cited by 18
Predicting turnover intention in Indonesian public organisations: investigating the effect of citizen and workplace incivility, and job insecurity
Wirawan, H., Salam, R., Normawati, N., Paramarta, V., & Sunarsi, D. (2023) · International Journal of Public Sector Management · doi:10.1108/ijpsm-06-2021-0141 · Cited by 16
Discretion in the Policy Process
Hupe, P. L., & Hill, M. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19566-3_16 · Cited by 13
A Virtuous Hearer: An Exploration of Epistemic Injustice and an Ethic of Care in Public Encounters
Hand, L. C. (2019) · Administrative Theory & Praxis · doi:10.1080/10841806.2019.1700457 · Cited by 13
‘They know the procedure; they just don’t know when we will come’: uncovering the practice of unannounced deportations
Borrelli, L. M. (2021) · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · doi:10.1080/1369183x.2021.1894912 · Cited by 12
“Dawn raids (see field note), for example, have been organised to exploit an element of surprise (Gill 2009b; cf. Burnett 2008) and reduce potential disobedience (Maynard-Moody and Musheno 2000; Tummers et al. 2015).”
Background
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION, WORK ENJOYMENT, AND TASK PERFORMANCE: A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN VIETNAM
Thanh, N. N., Thu, H. T., & Dinh, T. T. (2022) · Journal of Liberty and International Affairs Institute for Research and European Studies - Bitola · doi:10.47305/jlia2282047n · Cited by 12
Death anxiety among street-level bureaucrats: how does it affect their work drive and performance?
Ogbonnaya, C. N., Ali, M., Usman, M., Babalola, M. T., Ren, S., & Rofcanın, Y. (2022) · Public Management Review · doi:10.1080/14719037.2022.2161007 · Cited by 14
“To this end, we extend prior research on coping behaviours in public services (Dubois 2016; Tummers et al. 2015) and draw policymakers’ attention to the physical, psychological, and well-being challenges faced by front-line workers.”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Street-Level Bias: Examining Factors Related to Street-Level Bureaucrats’ State or Citizen Favoritism
Gershgoren, S., & Cohen, N. (2023) · The American Review of Public Administration · doi:10.1177/02750740231167897 · Cited by 16
“They may cope by adopting their collaborators’ views (Tummers et al., 2015), making their resolutions more citizen-friendly.”
BackgroundInfluential
Role distance. An ethnographic study on how street-level managers cope
Wong, J. (2023) · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory · doi:10.1093/jopart/muad027 · Cited by 12
In the eye of the storm: Street‐level organizations in circumstances of democratic backsliding
Gofen, A. (2024) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12890 · Cited by 14
Automating street‐level discretion: A systematic literature review and research agenda
Northcott, E. (2025) · Policy Studies Journal · doi:10.1111/psj.70024 · Cited by 14
“The behavior and perceptions of street-level bureaucrats are also major areas of study (Chang & Brewer, 2022; Tummers et al., 2015); this paper specifically attends to the coping behavior and attitudes of street-level bureaucrats in response to ICT implementation.”
Resisting the tide: the role of organizational routines in mitigating policy dismantling
Nieto‐Morales, F., & Cejudo, G. M. (2025) · Policy Studies · doi:10.1080/01442872.2025.2474073 · Cited by 12
“Similarly, policy changes – including dismantling – unfold within organizations and depend on their administrative capacities, coping mechanisms (Tummers et al. 2015), managers (May and Winter 2009), and street-level bureaucrats who interact with citizens (Lipsky 1980).”
Speaking truth to power—How political rhetoric leads to a counter response of LGBTQ street-level bureaucrats
Davidovitz, M., & Cohen, N. (2021) · International Public Management Journal · doi:10.1080/10967494.2021.1979148 · Cited by 12
“To measure our explained variable, we referred to coping as “behavioral efforts frontline workers employ when interacting with clients, in order to master, tolerate, or reduce external and internal demands and conflicts they face on an everyday basis” (Tummers et al. 2015, 1101–1102).”
Method
Use of Boilerplate Language in Regulatory Documents: Evidence from Environmental Impact Statements
Scott, T. A., Marantz, N. J., & Ulibarrí, N. (2021) · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory · doi:10.1093/jopart/muab048 · Cited by 12
Exploring Emotional Labor in Child Welfare Using Frontline Stories
Drury, I. (2018) · Administrative Theory & Praxis · doi:10.1080/10841806.2018.1485451 · Cited by 12
Managing the electronic turn
Devlieghere, J., Roose, R., & Evans, T. (2019) · European Journal of Social Work · doi:10.1080/13691457.2019.1582009 · Cited by 13
Does granting managerial autonomy in exchange for accountability mitigate gaming?
Han, X., & Wang, W. (2022) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.13564 · Cited by 12
Coping with organizational changes due to executives’ succession: the role of personal and contextual resources for job crafting
Buonocore, F., Russo, M., & de Gennaro, D. (2022) · International Journal of Public Sector Management · doi:10.1108/ijpsm-03-2022-0085 · Cited by 12
Rule Breaking, Bending, and Workarounds: Police Officers and Chiefs’ Coercion-Discretion of Enforcing State Executive Orders
Charbonneau, É., Boisvert, Y., & Bégin, L. (2023) · Public Performance & Management Review · doi:10.1080/15309576.2022.2162940 · Cited by 13
“As this is an extension, we stay clear of research on coping (Tummers et al., 2015) or behaviors explained by Street-level Bureaucracy Theory other than rule breaking, bending, and workaround.”
Method
How client characteristics cause extra-role behaviours in public service: uncovering invisible frontline work
Hansen, P. (2023) · Public Management Review · doi:10.1080/14719037.2023.2270557 · Cited by 12
“…from inadequate resources: To make the day-to-day operations of their organization run smoothly, frontline workers may decide to engage in extra-role behaviours, hereby ‘moving towards clients’, for example by contributing their own personal resources such as time or money (Tummers et al. 2015).”
Influential
Subverting, challenging and working within bureaucratic and managerialist systems: strategies for upholding relationship-based social work practice
Pascoe, K. M. (2024) · Journal of Social Work Practice · doi:10.1080/02650533.2024.2411044 · Cited by 11
“Their analysis evidences a tendency for SLBs to move towards the client through pragmatic adjustments, suggesting SLBs ‘want to perform meaningful public service, even in stressful situations’ (Tummers et al., 2015, p. 1109).”
The Challenge of Balancing Innovation and Tradition in the Public Sector: The Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Digital Transformation
Nagel, M. L. (2024) · Administration & Society · doi:10.1177/00953997241296100 · Cited by 17
“Public servants may exhibit bureaucratic lethargy, passive resistance, or overt obstructionism (Tummers et al., 2015).”
Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control
Borrelli, L. M., Johannesson, L., & Lindberg, A. (2025) · Political Research Exchange · doi:10.1080/2474736x.2025.2508374 · Cited by 12
“Tummers et al. (2015) offer a threefold classification including ‘moving towards, away from or against’ the people they encounter in their everyday work.”
Explaining coping strategies of agricultural extension officers in Tanzania: the role of the wider institutional context
Lameck, W. U., & Hulst, R. (2019) · International Review of Administrative Sciences · doi:10.1177/0020852318824398 · Cited by 11
“Concerning coping strategies, we roughly follow the classification developed by Tummers et al. (2015), who distinguish between rule bending and breaking, instrumental action to meet clients’ demands, prioritizing according to clients’ needs, the use of personal resources for the benefit of the…”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Varieties of welfare markets from a street‐level perspective: Comparing long‐term care services in Germany and Israel
Cohen, N., Klenk, T., Davidovitz, M., & Cardaun, S. K. (2022) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.13549 · Cited by 11
The Emotional Proletariat in Public Service
Choi, S. W., & Guy, M. E. (2020) · Public Personnel Management · doi:10.1177/0091026020921421 · Cited by 14
“Recent public administration research dances around the edges of the emotive by focusing on the cognitions that attempt to make sense of emotion by calling it “coping” (See, for example, Tummers et al., 2015).”
Background
A strategy is necessary. The policy–client conflict within different relational asymmetries: a comparison at the street-level
Leonardi, D., Paraciani, R., & Raspanti, D. (2021) · International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy · doi:10.1108/ijssp-07-2021-0188 · Cited by 11
Accountability of Public Servants at the Street Level
Sager, F., Thomann, E., & Hupe, P. L. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29980-4_5 · Cited by 11
Abused women’s perceptions of professionals’ responses: valued support, or collusion with perpetrator?
Neale, J. (2018) · Journal of Gender-Based Violence · doi:10.1332/239868018x15366982612051 · Cited by 11
Taming the Beast: Managers’ Tactics to Change Frontline Workers’ Adversarial Interaction with Policy Targets
Meza, O., & Jaimes, C. M. (2019) · International Journal of Public Administration · doi:10.1080/01900692.2019.1660991 · Cited by 11
“As a result, operators often prefer to avoid interaction or commit administrative offences that undermine policy’s objectives (Tummers et al., 2015).”
Background
Reducing Burnout and Resignations among Frontline Workers: A Field ExperimentPreprint
Linos, E., Ruffini, K., & Wilcoxen, S. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3846860 · Cited by 11
“First, more than a third of frontline workers such as teachers, social workers, nurses, and correctional officers report feeling emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and low personal accomplishment, all characteristics of employee burnout (Borritz et al. 2006; Hakanen, Bakker, and Schaufeli 2006; Lloyd, King, and Chenoweth…”
Background
Motivation, Meaning, and Burnout: Understanding Frontline Public Service Workers' Work Experiences During Turbulent Times
Wright, B. E., Hassan, S., & Baluran, D. A. (2025) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.70037 · Cited by 15
Non-compliant Managers, Judging Citizens: An Experiment of Motives, Identities, and Public Reaction to Bureaucratic Rule Breaking
Fleming, C. J., & Bodkin, C. P. (2022) · Public Integrity · doi:10.1080/10999922.2022.2029094 · Cited by 12
“” Recent studies paint rule breaking as a behavioral coping strategy leveraged by bureaucrats for dealing with problems of frontline work (Tummers et al., 2015; van Loon & Jakobsen, 2018).”
Background
Good conduct in a context of rationing: A case study of how frontline professionals deal with distributive dilemmas of novel gene therapies
Wadmann, S., Hauge, A. M., & Navne, L. E. (2023) · Sociology of Health & Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13608 · Cited by 10
Technology 3.0: Police Officers’ Perceptions Towards Technology Shifts
Aviram, N. F., Correa, C., & Oliviera, R. (2023) · The American Review of Public Administration · doi:10.1177/02750740231186791 · Cited by 11
“Public service providers practice different forms of coping, de ﬁ ned as “ behavioral efforts that frontline workers employ when interacting with clients to master, tolerate, or reduce the external and internal demands and con ﬂ icts they frequently face ” (Tummers et al., 2015, p. 1100).”
Background

Authors: Tummers, L. L. G., Bekkers, V., Vink, E., & Musheno, M.
Affiliations: Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
University of California System (US)
ORCID: Musheno, Michael
Venue: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published: 2015-01-12
Volume: 25
Issue: 4
Pages: 1099-1126
ISSN: 1053-1858 (ISSN-L)
1477-9803
DOI: 10.1093/jopart/muu056
OpenAlex: W1998134118
Cited by: 756
References: 118
Citations by year: 2026: 118 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 86 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 68 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 10
FWCI: 4.58
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (publishedVersion)
EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
Funders: University of Georgia
University of Washington
University of Kansas
London School of Economics and Political Science
European Commission (329519)
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Universiteit Utrecht
Université de Lausanne
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
Keywords: coping, public service delivery, frontline workers, occupational stress, workload, discretion, teachers, social workers, police officers, rule violations, public administration

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Coping During Public Service Delivery: A Conceptualization and Systematic Review of the Literature

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