Perceived Barriers to Decision Quality in Three Swedish Public Authorities

Barriers to decision quality were reported by 473 administrative officers and investigators in three Swedish national public authorities: the Tax Agency, Social Insurance Agency, and Police Authority. In line with previous research, we assumed that limited possibilities to plan one’s work would hinder decision quality. Both disruption of workflow and high workload were reported to inhibit work planning, especially by police and social insurance workers. Moreover, time available (especially for tax and social insurance workers) and other actors involved in decision processes (especially for police and social insurance workers) were reported to inhibit decision quality. Differences between the organizations relate to organizational regulations, stipulated workload/time frames, distribution of responsibilities between actors, and urgent unplanned situations.