TY - JOUR
T1 - Creaming among Caseworkers
T2 - Effects of Client Competence and Client Motivation on Caseworkers’ Willingness to Help
AU - Guul, Thorbjørn Sejr
AU - Pedersen, Mogens Jin
AU - Petersen, Niels Bjørn Grund
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Frontline employees cope with high workloads and limited resources by directing their work attention and efforts toward particular clients. Yet, the role of client attributes in the frontline employees’ efforts to help the clients remains undertheorized and empirically understudied. Using a survey experimental vignette design (2x2 factorial) among 1,595 Danish caseworkers, this article provides new knowledge on how two generic non-demographic client attributes—competence and motivation—shape frontline employees’ willingness to help their clients. We find that both the competence and motivation of the clients affect the caseworkers’ willingness to exert extra time and effort helping the clients. Specifically, caseworkers are most willing to help a client appearing both competent and motivated. Moreover, our data suggest that client motivation is more important than client competence for caseworkers’ willingness to help. We end the article with a discussion of policy implications and directions for future research
AB - Frontline employees cope with high workloads and limited resources by directing their work attention and efforts toward particular clients. Yet, the role of client attributes in the frontline employees’ efforts to help the clients remains undertheorized and empirically understudied. Using a survey experimental vignette design (2x2 factorial) among 1,595 Danish caseworkers, this article provides new knowledge on how two generic non-demographic client attributes—competence and motivation—shape frontline employees’ willingness to help their clients. We find that both the competence and motivation of the clients affect the caseworkers’ willingness to exert extra time and effort helping the clients. Specifically, caseworkers are most willing to help a client appearing both competent and motivated. Moreover, our data suggest that client motivation is more important than client competence for caseworkers’ willingness to help. We end the article with a discussion of policy implications and directions for future research
U2 - 10.1111/puar.13297
DO - 10.1111/puar.13297
M3 - Journal article
VL - 81
SP - 12
EP - 22
JO - Public Administration Review
JF - Public Administration Review
SN - 0033-3352
IS - 1
ER -