000			01702nam a22001337a 4500
999			_c531962 _d531962
008			251113b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_a Rimkutė, Dovilė and Mazepus, Honorata _957860
245			_a Citizens' perceptions of the legitimacy of independent agencies: The effects of expertise-based and reputation-sourced authority
260			_aPublic Administration Review
300			_a82(5), Sep-Oct, 2025: p.1495-1511
520			_aLegitimacy is a central concern for independent agencies tasked with shaping policies. While expertise-based and reputation-sourced authority bases are assumed to be relevant for agency legitimacy, their individual and joint effects on citizens' perceptions lack comprehensive examination. To address this gap, the study integrates insights from bureaucratic politics, bureaucratic reputation, and cognitive psychology. Our survey experiment with Dutch citizens, focusing on the European Food Safety Authority, suggests that expertise-based authority positively affects perceived agency legitimacy, while a negative reputation has detrimental effects. Furthermore, expertise-based authority moderates the impact of reputation, amplifying positive effects and mitigating negative ones. This implies that agencies are more susceptible to reputational threats when they lack expertise-based authority. The study advances the theoretical tenets of bureaucratic reputation theory and offers effective strategies for agencies to strengthen their legitimacy among the most critical audience in democratic political systems—citizens.- Reproduced https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/puar.13916
773			_aPublic Administration Review
942			_cAR