The Role of Professionalization in Bureaucratic Attitudes Towards Public Participation in Heat Policy

• In Event: Street Level Bureaucrats in the Policy Process

Abstract

Local communities forge climate resilience when they have the resources and tools to adapt to and respond to climate impacts. Climate impacts are inherently complex, marked by uncertainty, overlapping boundaries, and long term effects. This complexity is especially evident in the case of extreme heat, which is responsible for more deaths in the U.S. than any other weather-related event. Because of this complexity, participatory governance is an important mode of policy decision-making, where the public is directly involved in developing adaptation solutions to fit their lived experience. This research focuses on how local governments use participatory governance to address extreme heat, with particular attention to how bureaucrats develop the skills and attitudes for engaging the public in decision-making. Growing evidence finds that bureaucratic attitudes, referring to the value they place on public input, plays an influential role in whether public agencies adopt participatory practices. Yet, relatively little is known about the determinants that shape bureaucratic attitudes. This study draws on professionalization theory to explore how bureaucrats’ training and professional experiences influence their attitudes towards public participation. 

The process of professionalization, such as earning credentials and becoming a member of professional associations, can offer valuable opportunities for bureaucrats to gain skills for implementing participatory governance. However, professionalization may also foster a technocratic orientation that emphasizes professional expertise over community knowledge. Data to explore this tension comes from a survey that will be sent in May of 2025 to roughly 1,100 county-level bureaucrats, who are involved in heat preparedness and response. The sampled bureaucrats include leaders in public health, emergency management, and planning from 411 of the most heat-affected counties in the U.S. Findings will illustrate how bureaucratic attitudes develop through the process of professionalization, including formal credentialing, graduate education, and membership in professional associations. They contribute to the scholarship on bureaucratic attitudes by providing evidence that helps close the gap in understanding what determines these attitudes. The findings also offer practical insights, highlighting opportunities for bureaucrats’ professional development, conducive to implementing climate-related participatory governance. 

Author

• Katherine Rose Cheng, University of Washington
  Presenting Author