Administration & Society

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-08-11

ISBN:: 0095-3997

Issue Number

Latest documents

Promoting Ethics Management Strategies in the Public Sector: Rules, Values, and Inclusion in Sweden
This article studies two Swedish organizations with key roles in the facilitation and promotion of ethics management vis-à-vis other public-sector organizations. The study offers insights into how organizations combine and prioritize ethics management measures, involve submanagement employees, and consider external stakeholders, in contexts of democratic governance and public concern about corruption. Our findings suggest that these types of bird’s-eye view organizations studied are important as they are in a position less prone to ad hoc scandal-driven responses. They can thus promote strategies that consider a combination of aspects and avoid a narrow rules-based focus.
What’s the Hold Up? The FDA’s Delayed Implementation of Menu-Labeling Policy
Calorie labeling on menus became a federal law in 2010 but was not implemented until 2018, 8 years after adoption. This study reconstructs the history of the federal menu-labeling mandate using a process-tracing approach and finds that the delays in implementation resulted not from direct agency capture by the regulated industry, but rather from a system of indirect influence whereby lawmakers continue to influence policy-making even after adoption. Excessive legislative control can contribute to substantial implementation delays that undermine legislative intent. However, administrative agencies can serve as trustees to hold elected officials accountable to their own policy commitments.
Does Policy Influence Hollow Out Public Managers’ Political Neutrality?
Consequences of public officials’ policy influence have been at the center of debates on political–administrative relations. Based on a survey of public managers in Swedish local government (N = 1,430), this study examines whether policy politics hollows out political neutrality. The analysis shows that although managers are highly involved in policy politics, attitudinal support for the neutrality principle is strong. The enquiry into behavioral intentions shows more variation. In relation to a set of dilemmas, most managers would defend neutral competence, but significant minorities would also act for more partisan reasons. However, we find no empirical evidence that policy influence undermines political neutrality.
The Iterative Process of Legitimacy-Building in Hybrid Organizations
Hybrid organizations face the fundamental challenge of building legitimacy. To deal with this challenge in administrative theory and practice, we apply an analytical framework following an organizational logic of legitimacy building to an exemplary case of hybridity—the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine. Our framework application illustrates that pragmatic legitimacy (i.e., establishing instrumental value) must be built before moral legitimacy (i.e., fostering normative evaluation) and cognitive legitimacy (i.e., creating comprehensibility), followed by an iterative process of mutual influence between the legitimacy forms. Originating in the management literature, the framework promises new insights for public administration research on hybrids.
Incorporating Public Values Through Multiple Accountability: A Case Study on Quality Regulation of Emergency Care in the Netherlands by an Independent Regulatory Agency
In this paper, we explore how multiple accountability (MA) can enable an independent regulatory agency to deal with multiple conflicting public values in a complex and politically salient decision-making process. We examined the decision-making process of the Dutch National Health Care Institute on quality regulation of emergency care in the Netherlands. Using insights derived from ethnography, document analysis, and interviews, we show that MA resulted from strategic interactions between the Institute’s vertical and horizontal accountability forums. We argue that MA impeded efficiency but also enabled the Institute to deal with multiple conflicting public values.
Co-creation: A New Pathway for Solving Dysfunctionalities in Governance Systems?
Although governance systems play a crucial role in securing an accountable public sector, they can grow overly resource demanding, cause problematic distortion of welfare tasks and crowd out motivation among employees. This study contributes to existing literature by conceptualizing co-creation as a pathway for solving dysfunctionalities in governance systems and explores the prospects of such an approach. Based on a case study of the development of a municipal supervision system, the study outlines the characteristics of co-creating governance systems. The results points to co-creation as a promising, although resource demanding, pathway for finding robust solutions to dysfunctionalities in governance systems.
Confidence in Merit-Based Public Administration in the Context of Right-Wing Authoritarian Populism
The rise of right-wing authoritarian populism (RWAP) challenges modern democratic governance and the legitimacy of a career-service, nonpartisan, merit-based public administration—hallmarks of modern democratic institutions. Using citizen survey data collected for the first 2 years of the Trump presidency, this study finds that some core features of RWAP are negatively related to confidence in public administration. Generally speaking, the populist tendency appears to be a significant source of negative affect toward public administration.
Cop Wisdom and the Democratic Consequences of Citizen–State Interactions
The existing literature on citizen–state interactions lacks variation, and new research must be conducted to better understand the consequences of such interactions. Using the theoretical frame of cop wisdom, defined as strategies that citizens change or adapt based on the circumstances of their previous interactions with police, interactions between individuals and police officers are interrogated utilizing the 2015 Police-Public Contact Survey. The existence of cop wisdom within these encounters is demonstrated, along with findings that consider the impact of race, class, and citizenship on aggressive behavior in police–citizen encounters.
A Good Servant But a Poor Master: The Side Effects of Numbers and Metrics
A common practice in managerial and public service contexts is to quantity, calculate, and use numbers and metrics which provide a presumption of scientificity, a sense of measurability, objectivity, reliability, and precision upon which smarter decisions can be made. Besides providing a theoretical background, we analyze counter-productive effects of over-relying on numbers and metrics, notably in public administration. We discuss the following traps: preferring what is measurable over what is important, replacing the strategy by a measure and dehumanizing the decision making. We suggest some practical ways to facilitate a more parsimonious, smarter, and adequate use of numbers.
Understanding the Spirit of the Sectors: Exploring Identity in a New Era of Organizing
While sector distinction debates often re-emerge during periods of cultural and institutional upheaval, none have considered an identity-orientation perspective. Identity orientation is a natural domain in which to address these debates as it considers the individualistic, relational, and collectivistic foundations of organizations. This study explores whether organizational members across sectors view their organization’s identity orientation differently. Findings suggest that member perceptions of identity orientation are significantly different across sectors and align with traditional sector values and motivations. However, no one sector can be defined solely as individualistic, relational, or collectivistic. These findings are discussed and future research paths laid out.