1. 1 Deep impact for High Impact Agencies? Assessing the role of bureaucratic encounters in evaluations of government Steven Van de Walle Public Management Institute K.U.Leuven www.kuleuven.ac.be/io/trust

2. 2 High impact agencies Core functions of the state 3 dependent variables –Trust in government –Satisfaction with the functioning of public services –Service delivery satisfaction Working on Government Survey (2002), N=1248 (series of 3 surveys; N=6000)

3. 3

4. 4 Conclusion What does ‘satisfaction with the functioning of public services’ measure? = is it a service evaluation or a political evaluation ? Encounters certainly have an influence on service delivery satisfaction, but not necessarily on the satisfaction with the functioning of public services.