Abstract

The theory of representative bureaucracy posits that citizens will view policy and service delivery more favorably if public servants share their background characteristics. However, automation is changing public service delivery, limiting human involvement in the process. We examine attitudes toward automated decision making through the lens of representative bureaucracy, generating expectations about how a lack of passive representation will affect views toward automated versus human decision making in government. Using a survey experiment, we find evidence that black citizens are more likely to rate automated decision making higher, compared with police officers, on fairness and preference when exposed to a lack of passive representation in a police agency. We do not find evidence of this relationship for white citizens. Our findings provide insight into the way in which passive representation conditions minority citizens’ views toward automation, highlighting the importance of considering representation, or lack thereof, as governments contemplate the adoption of automated services.

中文翻译：

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代表官僚主义和对自动化决策的态度

摘要

代议制官僚理论认为，如果公务员具有共同的背景特征，公民将更加看重政策和服务的提供。但是，自动化正在改变公共服务的提供，从而限制了人员参与该过程。我们通过代表制官僚机构的角度考察了对自动化决策的态度，从而产生了对缺乏被动式代表会如何影响政府对自动化决策和人为决策的看法的期望。通过一项调查实验，我们发现有证据表明，与警察相比，黑人公民在缺乏被动代理权的情况下，在公正性和偏好方面，对自动决策的评价更高。对于白人，我们找不到这种关系的证据。