Intersectional representative bureaucracy in the European Union

Representative bureaucracy theory posits that when bureaucrats share backgrounds with clients, more equitable outcomes can result. Yet, the intersectional nature of passive representation remains undertheorized and understudied—especially within the diverse context of European Union (EU) multilevel governance and beyond gender and race. Mobile EU citizens accessing welfare services abroad often face differential treatment by national bureaucracies based on nationality, gender, and age. This paper theorizes how intersectional representation affects such treatment, either additively—where multiple shared characteristics strengthen effects—or multiplicatively, where unique identity combinations yield distinct outcomes. A conjoint online survey experiment involving 2,403 bureaucrats from Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, and Spain evaluated responses to information requests from mobile French and Bulgarian citizens. Analyses used marginal means and AMCEs by match subgroup. Findings reveal that distant nationality, young age, and male gender lower mobile EU citizens’ chances of being prioritized by welfare bureaucracies. Single-characteristic matches provide minimal equalizing effects. However, strong additive intersectional representation emerges: the more characteristics shared with bureaucrats, the lower the risk of unfavorable treatment. Additionally, multiplicative effects appear—particularly for male Bulgarian applicants, who benefit when represented by male bureaucrats sharing a migration background. Modeling intersectional bureaucrat-client matches and distinguishing additive from multiplicative effects enhances our understanding of representative bureaucracy in important ways.