A Replication and Extension of “Getting what you expect: How civil servant stereotypes affect citizen satisfaction and perceived performance”

This study replicates and extends Bertram et al.’s (2024) “Getting what you expect: How civil servant stereotypes affect citizen satisfaction and perceived performance” in the context of public service delivery in China. The original study shows that the activation of negative stereotypes leading to lower levels of satisfaction and perceived performance. Building on that design, we implement a 3 (stereotype activation: negative vs. positive vs. control) × 3 (public service context: regulation oriented vs. service oriented vs. both regulation and service oriented) between-subjects vignette experiment in China. Beyond this, we distinguish between experimentally activated stereotypes and individuals’ internalized stereotypes about civil servants, and test how their interplay affects subsequent perceptions and evaluations of public services. Specifically, we address three research questions: (1) Does the activation of stereotypes about civil servants shape citizens’ perceived performance and satisfaction with public services? (2) Do the activation of stereotypes and individuals’ internalized stereotypes interact in shaping perceived performance and satisfaction? (3) Are the effects of stereotypes on perceived performance and satisfaction heterogeneous across different types of public services? By providing a cross-cultural replication in a non-Western administrative context, this study clarifies how stereotypes operate as predictive expectations in citizens’ experiences of public service delivery, and contributes to broader debates on the classic Expectancy–Disconfirmation Model in citizen satisfaction research.