Measuring Organizational Effects on Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Discretionality: A Comparative Study of Three Italian Contexts

Recent studies on Street-Level Bureaucracy (SLB) have diversified significantly, especially following Brodkin's 2011 call to include non-public actors in analyses of public policy implementation. Discretionality remains central, often viewed as conflictual between management and workers, particularly in light of new organizational practices such as accountability and digitization. This paper shifts the focus from individual perspectives to examine discretionality as an organizationally embedded phenomenon. Based on a study of 72 social workers in various public and third-sector organizations in Rome, Italy, this research explores SLBs’ discretionality within contemporary, pluralistic contexts, allowing for an examination of the nuanced relationships between organizational frameworks, working conditions, and public service delivery. The findings presented here underscore a strong "organizational effect" in shaping how discretionality is perceived and practiced by the interviewees. This organizational effect suggests that discretionality is deeply embedded in the specific institutional settings and cultural contexts in which SLBs operate.