No two-party game: how third-sector organizations alter administrative burden and improve social equity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Administrative burdens limit access to government services and threaten social equity due to their disproportionate impact on disadvantaged groups. Third sector organizations can reduce administrative burdens and help individuals to overcome them. Both theoretically and empirically we know little about the different ways in which third-sector organizations do so. Through a longitudinal case study of the Dutch volunteer organization ‘Debt Aid Buddy’, we identify that third-sector organizations can alter administrative burdens as policy entrepreneurs, boundary spanners, co-producers, stewards, and crisis managers. Studying the implementation of these roles can integrate administrative burden research with literature on New Public Governance.