Authority of inspectorates is key for the acceptance of their decisions by the public and regulatees. This authority is increasingly under pressure because of mediatization and societal polarization around value conflicts, such as between safety or sustainability and economic development. Enforcement increasingly politicizes, but inspectorates still mainly derive their authority from technical-rational reputations. In these turbulent times, inspectorates need to increase their public authority.

The project ‘Authoritative reputations of inspectorates in turbulent times’ has been funded by NWO. Next to carrying out a research project, prospective PhD students will contribute to impact of research in collaboration with a consortium of five Dutch inspectorates. You will actively participate in meetings with consortium partners, consisting of inspectorates and universities (UU and EUR).

The project consists of three sub projects (work packages) that will be carried out by three PhD students. Please note that because this is a joint project with Utrecht University and Erasmus University Rotterdam, position 1 and 3 will have main office at the EUR and position 2 will have main office at UU.

Important note: To respond to position 2, please click here to go to the vacancy of Utrecht University.

PhD position 1: Regulatory Reputation in a Mediatized Environment (main office: EUR. Supervisors: Klijn (EUR) & Grimmelikhuijsen (UU))

The PhD student will investigate reputation as an institutional characteristic of inspectorates: how do stakeholders perceive the reputations of regulatory agencies and what is the (protective or undermining) role of reputations in dynamics of attention, such as media storms? Building on institutional and governance theories, and on branding, public relation and mediatization literature, we investigate the determinants of reputation of participating inspectorates with businesses and institutional stakeholders (e.g. experts; politicians; media). You will also explore what conditions reputation influences (media) attention and dynamics.

Research activities include:

• Q-sort methodology to assess and compare current reputations of Dutch inspectorates and regulatory agencies among inspectees (e.g. businesses) and their most important determinants;
• Media analysis of representations of inspectorates’ reputations; and how media evaluations of reputation evolve over time; through case-studies and large scale data processing of media messages;
• QCA (qualitative comparative analysis) of cases of regulatory intervention to assess which conditions connected to reputation matter in determining the level; tone; and dynamics of media attention.

 PhD position 2: Regulatory strategies for reputable agencies (Main office: UU. Supervisors: Van Erp (UU) & Van der Steen (EUR))

The PhD student will investigate the relation between (a) strategies of inspectorates and regulatory reputation, and (b) dimensions of reputation. Regulatory strategies (e.g. enforcement policies) can range from punitive and coercive (sanctions; naming and shaming) to persuasive and collaborative (behavioral nudges; sandboxes). These strategies have reputational consequences, and these may differ between audiences. For example, a collaborative strategy may be perceived as procedurally fair by regulatees, whereas a punitive strategy may positively impact performative reputation with political principals. Hence, the question is whether different dimensions of reputation conflict, or can be pursued simultaneously.

Research activities:

• Case studies to assess how punitive versus collaborative regulatory strategies impact reputations among various audiences (citizens, media, political principals, regulatees);
• QCA (qualitative comparative analysis) generating insight in the composition of moral reputation and strategies underlying it;
• Vignette studies exploring how different dimensions of reputations impact each other.

PhD position 3: Influence of information on citizen’s assessments of reputation (Main office: EUR. Supervisors: Grimmelikhuijsen (UU) & Klijn (EUR))

The PhD student will investigate micro-level dynamics driving the reputation of inspectorates. You specifically focus on reputation amongst citizens, since little is known about what drives the reputation of inspectorates amongst individual citizens. Generally, citizens develop more trust once they learn more about inspectorate’s activities. The psychological mechanism behind this effect is unclear, however. This project looks at micro-level mechanisms that condition the effect of information on reputation. We use insights from social-psychological theories on message evaluation and psychological distance to better understand these mechanisms.

Research activities:

• Measurement of bureaucratic reputations of various inspectorates among Dutch citizens through a representative survey;
• Focus groups and case-based interviews with citizens to gain rich, in-depth knowledge about what drives citizen’s reputational assessments;
• Survey experiments to gain causal insight into how information impacts the formation of reputational assessments, using psychology. We will consider citizens’ motivation and capacity to process information; and characteristics that make regulatory information salient to citizens.

Host institute and team

The project will be carried out in a collaboration between Utrecht University School of Governance (prof. dr. Judith van Erp and others), Erasmus University Rotterdam (prof. dr. Erik-Hans Klijn and others) and consortium of five Dutch inspection agencies. PhD students will be part of the consortium and will actively participate in meetings and impact activities.

PhD students on project 1 and 3 will be employed at the department of Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). The PhD student on project 2 will be employed at Utrecht School of Governance and participate in the Graduate School of the faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (USG). There is frequent exchange within the research team. Coaching; a good support structure; as well as extensive training and education opportunities are part of the strengths of USG’s and EUR’s PhD programme. The PhD candidates will be involved in the research communities of USG and EUR, and will benefit from the interdisciplinary environment in the two institutes. The project is funded through the NWO program “Vernieuwing van Toezicht” (Grant NWA.1334.19.007).

Host institute and team

The project will be carried out in a collaboration between Utrecht University School of Governance (prof. dr. Judith van Erp and others), Erasmus University Rotterdam (prof. dr. Erik-Hans Klijn and others) and consortium of five Dutch inspection agencies. PhD students will be part of the consortium and will actively participate in meetings and impact activities.

PhD students on project 1 and 3 will be employed at the department of Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). The PhD student on project 2 will be employed at Utrecht School of Governance and participate in the Graduate School of the faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (USG). There is frequent exchange within the research team. Coaching; a good support structure; as well as extensive training and education opportunities are part of the strengths of USG’s and EUR’s PhD programme. The PhD candidates will be involved in the research communities of USG and EUR, and will benefit from the interdisciplinary environment in the two institutes. The project is funded through the NWO program “Vernieuwing van Toezicht” (Grant NWA.1334.19.007).

We encourage applications from candidates who:

• Have competed a degree in: public administration, political science, (empirical) legal studies, sociology, criminology  or adjacent field in the social sciences;
• Have solid research skills at least one of the methodologies mentioned in the preferred sub project;
• Good writing skills in English;
• Are team players with a substantial degree of independence;
• Excellent passive command of Dutch language (understanding and reading), speaking Dutch is a plus;
• A proven interest in doing research with strong societal impact.

An internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with good working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).

The envisioned start date is September 1, 2022 with some flexibility. The PhD candidate is full time employed at Erasmus University Rotterdam (project 1 and 3) for 1,0 fte with a maximum of 0,1 teaching.

Your salary will be € 2.443 gross per month on a fulltime basis, in accordance with scale P0 of the CAO-NU. In addition, we offer an 8% holiday allowance, an end-of-year payment of 8.3%, and a very generous paid leave scheme. Furthermore, EUR is affiliated with ABP for the pension provision, and we offer partially paid parental leave, fully paid extended birth leave for partners, a personal career budget, work-life balance coaches, discounted collective health insurance, and more. As an employee, you can also use EUR facilities such as the University library and receive a discount on subscriptions for the Erasmus sports center.

Erasmus University Rotterdam offers a Dual Career Programme (DCP) to assist the life partners of new academic staff (on payroll) in finding employment in The Netherlands. The programme is offered in close cooperation with the nearby universities of Delft and Leiden.

Erasmus University Rotterdam aspires to be an equitable and inclusive community. We nurture an open culture, where everyone is supported to fulfill their full potential. We see inclusivity of talent as the basis of our successes, and the diversity of perspectives and people as a highly valued outcome. EUR provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, functional impairment, citizenship, or any other aspect which makes them unique. We look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences

The Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) is home to a vast diversity of scientific disciplines: public administration, pedagogical sciences, psychology and sociology. In addition, the Erasmus University College, IHS, and two research institutes RISBO and DRIFT are linked to the faculty. This also reflects in the content of the (international) bachelor's and master's programs and in research.  Our activities are always focused on people and society. At the ESSB fundamental, internationally oriented research is of paramount importance. In addition, social research for professionals, policy makers, and the society is part of our research activities. ESSB offers a stimulating research environment where major national and international research grants are received. Appealing guest researchers and ambitious PhD candidates come along to conduct their research. Our education is small-scale and works with innovative forms of education such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL). Both the Dutch and English programs are highly ranked by students and alumni. ESSB is home to over 4000 students and more than 400 staff-members. The different disciplines are supported by the Faculty Office (for more information, please visit www.eur.nl/essb).

Department of Public Administration and Sociology (DPAS)

DPAS covers the disciplines of Public Administration and Sociology. Two related scientific fields with different profiles. Public Administration studies governance capacity and policy interventions. It focuses on the institutional power to organize and intervene in the relations between different social, political and economic actors. Public Administration in Rotterdam goes well beyond the public realm itself and pays attention to public-private cooperation and networks of organizations. Sociology investigates the social structure of societies and the way it evolves. Sociologists in Rotterdam focus among other things on processes of globalization and individualization and on the effects of these processes on international social relations, the labor market or family relations. Related social problems that are studied are migration, flexibilization and solidarity. The perspectives of Public Administration and Sociology complement each other. Together they guarantee a highly relevant and scientific approach to topical administrative and social issues. The bachelor- and masterprogrammes of DPAS are build on this profile and educate students to become scientifically schooled professionals.