Abstract | The characteristics of participatory institutions can be articulated in three main dimensions – input, process and output. The common assumption is that a dependency relationship exists, with process serving as a mediator between input and output. This paper puts this model to a rare empirical test drawing on a unique dataset of a mix of objective and subjective data on 70 Spanish advisory councils, a relatively ubiquitous form of public participation, often overlooked in the desire to study “democratic innovations”. Through a combination of exploratory factor and path analyses, we analyse the dimensionality of input, process and output and investigate the direct and indirect impact of inputs on process and outputs. Our analysis provides evidence that input factors have a direct impact on the output factor transparency, but its impact on effects on policy and participant satisfaction is mediated by the process factor deliberation. Finally, our findings indicate the extent to which the capacity of the public administration to steer the advisory council – the process factor wardship –mediates negatively the impact of input variables on transparency. Our analysis provides a nuanced account of how different input and process design characteristics of participatory institutions have profound direct and indirect effects on their outputs. |
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