Autonomous Agencies, Happy Citizens? Challenging the Satisfaction Claim
研究将公共服务委托给半自主机构是否提高公民满意度，基于15国调查数据发现，委托并未通过响应性或可信承诺提升满意度，但税务服务中机构可作为替罪羊，减少对政府的不满。
Is the delegation of public services to semi‐autonomous agencies associated with increased citizen satisfaction? This article assesses three theoretical routes that might link the two: responsiveness, credible commitment, and blame deflection. The article draws on data from the European Social Survey and an expert survey about delegation of tax and police services to semi‐autonomous agencies in 15 countries. No supporting evidence was found for the responsiveness and credible commitment theories. Yet semi‐autonomous agencies sometimes can absorb or deflect blame for bad performance. In the tax case, dissatisfied service users blame the agency, rather than the government. The presence of an agency worked as a scapegoat for dissatisfied service users and resulted in less dissatisfaction with the government in countries where tax services were delegated.