Responsibility attribution, rewards, and sanctions for public service outcomes: experimental evidence on citizens’ judgements

This study examines how citizens attribute responsibility for public service outcomes and subsequently form judgements about rewards and sanctions—a theoretically acknowledged but empirically understudied two-phase process. A survey experiment (N=2,277) in Germany compares citizen perceptions of political (mayors) versus administrative (service units) actors across improving and declining service performance scenarios. Service units received consistently high responsibility attribution regardless of outcome valence, while mayoral attribution was lower but increased in positive scenarios. Citizens show stronger sanction than reward judgements for both actors. Responsibility attribution more strongly predicts sanction judgements than reward judgements, with the latter being more influenced by individual predispositions.