Street-level bureaucrats’ coping strategies and how they affect public service delivery in Ghana

Abstract

Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) are at the front of public social policy-making and implementation. This paper examines actions, behaviours and SLBs coping strategies in social service delivery. It uses interviews, documentation and observations with a comparative case study approach. It contributes to public social policy implementation in developing world context. It adds to street-level bureaucracy debates that actions and behaviour of SLBs are not only influenced by workload and working conditions but are influenced by their organisational culture. It moves away from the traditional public bureaucracy perspective and brings a new dimension on SLBs coping strategies within public-private organisational contexts. Findings suggest that organisational behaviour, interests, resources and culture influence the coping strategies SLBs adopt in organisations, which affect their clients’ access to social services. Ironically, findings suggest SLBs in private organisations seem more inclined