Exploring the Antecedents of Perceived Administrative Burden of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy in China: A Mixed-Methods Approach

The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy (TPAP) has profound meaning given the large population in poverty in China. Since 2013, implementing the TPAP has been the primary political task for street-level bureaucrats in China. However, the implementation of the TPAP has been criticized as causing an onerous administrative burden for frontline workers. This research uses exploratory mixed methods to identify, measure, and hypothesize the factors that affect the perceived administrative burden of street-level bureaucrats when implementing the TPAP in China. We find that red tape, poor working conditions, frequent inspections from higher-level government agencies, clients’ unreasonable requests, and other demographic characteristics are plausible drivers of this burden. Data from 24 in-depth interviews and a survey of 341 respondents are used to test the hypotheses. The results show that perceived administrative burden is not related to the sufficiency of institutional resources but is worsened by red tape and frequent inspections from higher-level government. Perceived administrative burden among street-level bureaucrats is a negative policy outcome more closely related to bureaucracy and rule problems than to policy resource support.