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. Discretion remains central, often framed as a source of tension 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 discretion 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’ discretion within contemporary, pluralistic contexts, thereby allowing for a nuanced examination of the relationships between organizational frameworks, working conditions, and public service delivery. The findings presented here underscore a strong “organizational effect” in shaping how discretion is perceived and practiced by the interviewees. This organizational effect suggests that discretion is deeply embedded in the specific institutional settings and cultural contexts in which SLBs operate.