Emotional Responses to Bureaucratic Red Tape

Abstract

Although red tape has a long history in public administration research, the emotional consequences of bureaucratic procedures for citizens have received little attention in the literature. This study advances a multidimensional framework for bureaucratic red tape in citizen-state interactions and investigates how varying conditions of administrative delay, administrative burden, and rule dysfunctionality spark discrete emotional reactions. Physiological measurements of emotions (i.e. facial coding, electrodermal activity, heart rate) from 136 participants in a laboratory study show that bureaucratic red tape evokes significant negative emotional responses, especially confusion, frustration, and anger. Experimental evidence also indicates that administrative delay is less stirring than administrative burden, while rule functionality has little placatory effect, regardless of the favorability of outcomes. These results stress the importance of treating red tape as a multidimensional phenomenon. They also suggest that negative emotions of citizens are linked to the modus operandi of public administrations.