Administrative Burden, Equity and the Citizen Experience: A Multi-Level Conceptual Model

Abstract

Administrative burden—the learning, compliance, and psychological costs citizens encounter when accessing

public programs has become an important lens for understanding how government institutions shape citizen

experiences and policy outcomes. This paper develops a multi-level conceptual model that connects

administrative burden with equity and the citizen experience across individual, organizational, and institutional

levels. The model proposes that burdens are not distributed uniformly; rather, they interact with citizens’

socioeconomic resources, demographic characteristics, capabilities, and prior experiences with public

institutions, potentially reinforcing existing inequalities. At the organizational level, administrative procedures,

frontline discretion, communication practices, and digital service design influence how burdens are experienced

and mediated.