Abstract

TThe disposition of Street-Level Bureaucrats (SLBs) is an influential factor in achieving policy goals, as it drastically fosters a closer link with the behavioural and humanistic aspects of the implementers. In view of, implementing social welfare policies, disposition becomes crucial since it is tied to some matters which are situational and hard to measure. Consequently, employing the discretion power of SLBs in making decisions often varies, driven largely by the personal and professional motivations that shape their disposition. As per the literature, several studies have addressed the impact of the disposition on policy implementation. Nevertheless, a limited effort has been made to study the formation of the disposition. Hence, this study focused on studying how their disposition is being constructed and under which circumstances it occurs. The data collection of this qualitative study involved 45 semi-structured interviews and 10 in-depth interviews, that were analysed thematically and presented descriptively. The findings of the study revealed that the disposition of SLBs is profoundly influenced by both humanistic and institutional concerns across diverse contexts. Notably, the attitudes of citizens towards engaging actively in the accomplishment of the goals of social welfare policy become crucial in shaping the disposition of SLBs. There is a mismatch between the role that the SLBs are trained to fulfill and the benefits that citizens expect from the government under social welfare. This inconsistency significantly affects the formation of disposition of SLBs while leading to often contradicting policy outcomes. Knowledge of this disparity between citizen active participation and achieving social welfare policy goals provides valuable insight for policymakers and implementers to design social welfare policies.

Keywords: Discretion, Disposition, Policy Implementation, Social Welfare Policy of Sri Lanka, Street-Level Bureaucrats