Replication Data for: Beyers, J. and S. Arras (2020). "Stakeholder consultations and the legitimacy of regulatory decision-making: A survey experiment in Belgium." Regulation & Governance DOI: 10.1111/rego.12323.

Agencies consult extensively with stakeholders such as industry associations, nongovernmental organizations, and trade unions. One rationale for consultations is that these improve procedural legitimacy and lead to greater acceptance of regulatory outcomes by citizens and the regulated industry. While this presumption of a positive relation between stakeholder consultations and the legitimacy of agencies is widespread, research analyzing this relationship remains scarce. Using a survey experiment, we examine the effect of open and closed consultations on the acceptance of procedures and regulatory outcomes in the field of environmental politics. The results demonstrate that consultation arrangements positively affect the acceptance of decision‐making procedures, especially when regulators grant access to different types of stakeholders. However, although the consultation arrangement itself does not directly affect acceptance of the regulatory outcome, procedural legitimacy matters, as it increases decision acceptance among individuals who are negatively disposed toward government regulation.

监管机构会与行业协会、非政府组织（Non-Governmental Organization, NGO）、工会等利益相关方开展广泛磋商。磋商的核心逻辑之一在于，其可提升程序合法性，并增强公众与受监管行业对监管结果的认可度。尽管学界普遍认可利益相关方磋商与监管机构合法性之间存在正向关联，但针对该关系的系统性研究仍较为稀缺。本研究采用调查实验法，针对环境政治领域，探讨了公开磋商与封闭磋商两种模式对程序认可度及监管结果认可度的影响。研究结果表明，磋商机制对决策程序的认可度具有正向促进作用，尤其当监管机构为不同类型利益相关方提供参与渠道时，该提升效果更为突出。不过，尽管磋商机制本身不会直接影响公众对监管结果的认可度，但程序合法性具有关键意义：它能够提升那些对政府监管持负面态度的群体的决策认可度。