Projects conducted at the LAB
NWO Vidi Project: Emotion Infused Risk Regulation: Rethinking the fundamentals of Regulation for Citizen-Centric Rule-Making (2025-2030)
Funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO (€850,000), the project investigates the role of emotions in regulatory governance, examining how emotions shape both regulators’ formulation of rules and citizens’ reception of regulatory responses. It is structured around three interlinked objectives: (1) Emotion and Regulatory Responsiveness: To what extent and why do regulators respond to citizens’ emotion-laden concerns? (2) Citizens’ Emotional Responses in Regulatory Encounters: To what extent and how are citizens’ emotions elicited during interactions with regulators? (3) Emotions and Regulatory Legitimacy: What are the effects of citizens’ emotions on their perceptions of regulators’ legitimacy?
Read more about this research agenda in the following link: Affective regulatory governance: towards an emotion-based understanding of citizen-regulator interactions in regulatory politics.
Key publications:
Rimkutė, D. (2025). Affective regulatory governance: towards an emotion-based understanding of citizen-regulator interactions in regulatory politics. Journal of European Public Policy, 1-26.
Maor, M., Rimkutė, D., & Capelos, T. (2026). Emotions and reputation learning by audience networks: A research agenda in bureaucratic politics. Public Administration Review, 86(1), 156-170.
Mazepus, H., & Rimkutė, D. (2026). Bureaucratic Responsiveness and Legitimacy: The Effects of Independence, Competence, and Warmth on Citizens' Legitimacy Perceptions. Governance, 39(1), e70102.
NWO Veni Project: Risk Regulation in the European Regulatory State
Funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO (€250,000, 2020–2024), “Risk Regulation in the European Regulatory State: Science-Based or Reputation-Induced?” investigated how reputational considerations shape regulatory behavior and how regulatory decisions are perceived and legitimized by relevant stakeholders. Using a combination of experimental and qualitative methods, the project examined whether societal risks are underregulated or overregulated due to regulators’ concern for reputational consequences.
The research addressed issues of high societal significance, including: the legitimacy of the European Medicines Agency in authorizing vaccines during the global pandemic; public perceptions of the European Food Safety Authority’s decision on the controversial pesticide glyphosate; and the European Central Bank’s reputation amid its expanding mandate on sustainability and the EU’s green agenda.
Key publications:
Rimkutė, D. (2020). Building organizational reputation in the European regulatory state: An analysis of EU agencies' communications. Governance, 33(2), 385-406.
Rimkutė, D. (2020). Strategic silence or regulatory talk? Regulatory agency responses to public allegations amidst the glyphosate controversy. Journal of European Public Policy, 27(11), 1636-1656.
Rimkutė, D., & Van der Voet, J. (2024). When do bureaucrats respond to external demands? A theoretical framework and empirical test of bureaucratic responsiveness. Public Administration Review, 84(6), 1095-1116.
Rimkutė, D., & Mazepus, H. (2025). Citizens' perceptions of the legitimacy of independent agencies: the effects of expertise‐based and reputation‐sourced authority. Public Administration Review, 85(5), 1495-1511.
Cerdeira, A., & Rimkutė, D. (2024). Reputational pragmatism at the European Central Bank: preserving reputation (s) amidst widening climate interventions. New Political Economy, 29(6), 927-943.
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