When are Interest Groups Representative? Testing the Conditions Under Which Citizens Feel Represented by Interest Groups

There is growing research on citizens’ perceptions of different representative actors, including interest groups (Rasmussen & Reher, 2024). Existing literature suggests that an equal and balanced interest group system, interest congruence, and responsive behaviour are prerequisites for citizens to feel represented by interest groups (cf. Junk et al., 2021; Flöthe, 2019). Yet, this provides only a limited understanding of the specific conditions under which citizens may feel represented (Blumenau et al., 2024), and of how representation in the context of interest groups is conceived (Saward, 2010). Rather than focusing on issue positioning or responsiveness, this study examines how citizens evaluate the ‘representativeness’ of interest groups (Kohler-Koch, 2010). Specifically, whether citizens recognise, trust, and believe in these groups, and view them as capable and legitimate actors. Using a conjoint experiment conducted in the Netherlands and the UK, we test whether citizens feel represented under three possible representative claims made by interest groups: who they claim to be (identity statement) (Heaney, 2004), how they claim to act (activity statement), and what they claim their success is (outcome statement) (De Mulder, 2023; Bernauer et al., 2020). The study explores when citizens prefer interest groups to provide representation compared with electoral representatives (Celis et al., 2014).