Public Accountability beyond Institutional Control: Who do Citizens Blame for Failures in Governing Systemic Risk?

Why are public institutions blamed for crises caused by private actors’ mismanagement? Building on accountability and attribution theory, this study investigates the mechanisms of blame attribution during crises, when public institutions fail to prevent systemic risks caused by private sector agents. Data from a survey quasi-experiment with 1,652 Swiss citizens reveals how perceived situational control, causal responsibility, normative accountability expectations, and accountability performance shape citizens’ blame attribution. The findings reveal asymmetries in the responsibility-accountability logic, showing that citizens hold public institutions accountable for private sector failures if they strongly believe that they had causal responsibility and situational control over the crisis. Citizens’ normative expectations of public institutions’ obligation to govern systemic risks are strong drivers of blame, while public institutions’ accountability performance does not impact citizens’ blame attribution. These novel findings provide critical insights for policymakers to manage perceptions, maintain trust, and safeguard legitimacy during crises. This study advances accountability theory by highlighting the contingent nature of blame, which is particularly relevant for crisis governance.