American Review of Public Administration, The

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-10-06

ISBN:: 0275-0740

Issue Number

Latest documents

Organizational Image and Employee Engagement: Exploring the Inter-Relationships Between Construed External Image and Perceived Organizational Identity
Organizational image, defined as internal members’ evaluations of their organization, is a critical managerial issue since it influences employee work attitudes and subsequent performance. While the public administration discipline has observed an increasing scholarly interest in the influence of organizational image on employee engagement, it leaves the potential inter-relationships between two distinctive organizational image dimensions—construed external image (CEI) and perceived organizational identity (POI)—unexplored. We examine the influence of these two organizational images on employee engagement, with an emphasis on both the mediating and moderating role of POI between CEI and employee engagement. Empirical results show that both image dimensions positively influence employee engagement. More importantly, we find that POI acts as a moderator in the CEI–employee engagement relationship, that is, the positive influence of CEI on the outcome depends on the level of POI. Empirical findings imply that public employees treat two dimensions of organizational image differently and weigh POI more than CEI. In particular, the findings suggest that attractive or positive POI may serve as a catalyst to reinforce employee engagement even in the presence of a long-lasting negative external image for public organizations.
Organizational Image and Employee Engagement: Exploring the Inter-Relationships Between Construed External Image and Perceived Organizational Identity
Organizational image, defined as internal members’ evaluations of their organization, is a critical managerial issue since it influences employee work attitudes and subsequent performance. While the public administration discipline has observed an increasing scholarly interest in the influence of organizational image on employee engagement, it leaves the potential inter-relationships between two distinctive organizational image dimensions—construed external image (CEI) and perceived organizational identity (POI)—unexplored. We examine the influence of these two organizational images on employee engagement, with an emphasis on both the mediating and moderating role of POI between CEI and employee engagement. Empirical results show that both image dimensions positively influence employee engagement. More importantly, we find that POI acts as a moderator in the CEI–employee engagement relationship, that is, the positive influence of CEI on the outcome depends on the level of POI. Empirical findings imply that public employees treat two dimensions of organizational image differently and weigh POI more than CEI. In particular, the findings suggest that attractive or positive POI may serve as a catalyst to reinforce employee engagement even in the presence of a long-lasting negative external image for public organizations.
Procedural Justice and the Unintended Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes
What role do the perceptions of clients about the procedural justice that street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) use when implementing policy play in prompting citizens to engage in vigilante actions? Using qualitative methods, we examine the unintended effects of SLBs’ implementation of policy on citizens’ vigilantism. We contribute to the literature by showing that procedural justice on the street level is in fact an important factor in citizens’ decisions to act as vigilantes. Our findings identified three significant factors in these decisions: the citizens’ ability to voice their complaint, the sense that they were treated respectfully and their trust that the police officers would do what they could to deal with their complaint. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that citizens and SLBs do not share the same perceptions of the role of the police as service providers, and that this gap increases citizens’ motivations to act independently.
Advancing Public Entrepreneurship through State Government Capacity and Competitiveness: The Impact of Discretionary Fiscal Policy of American States on Worldwide Manufacturing Industries
Many policymakers and administrators have directed efforts to increase foreign manufacturing investment (FMI) due to its potential to raise the employment rate, technological progress, and productivity in their regions. Despite foreign manufacturers’ significant influence on the economies of their host countries, institutional and policy uncertainty creates significant entry barriers for multinational manufacturers. Focusing solely on American state performance in economic development as measured by amounts of FMI, this study suggests that different institutional designs and regulations that affect state taxing and spending decision-making make a difference in FMI in American states. This research empirically assesses the relationship between fiscal federalism and FMI by focusing on the level of fiscal decentralization, federal grants, and fiscally constraining institutions. Testing two different FMI datasets that cover all 50 American states by source country between 1987–2006 and 2008–2016, this study finds that manufacturing firms increase their investment in the states that exercise higher discretion in managing fiscal policy, receive more federal grants, and implement more restrictive taxing and spending regulations. The observed positive impact of fiscal institutions and constraints is more prominent for foreign manufacturing firms in the tax-exemption group.
Procedural Justice and the Unintended Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes
What role do the perceptions of clients about the procedural justice that street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) use when implementing policy play in prompting citizens to engage in vigilante actions? Using qualitative methods, we examine the unintended effects of SLBs’ implementation of policy on citizens’ vigilantism. We contribute to the literature by showing that procedural justice on the street level is in fact an important factor in citizens’ decisions to act as vigilantes. Our findings identified three significant factors in these decisions: the citizens’ ability to voice their complaint, the sense that they were treated respectfully and their trust that the police officers would do what they could to deal with their complaint. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that citizens and SLBs do not share the same perceptions of the role of the police as service providers, and that this gap increases citizens’ motivations to act independently.
Advancing Public Entrepreneurship through State Government Capacity and Competitiveness: The Impact of Discretionary Fiscal Policy of American States on Worldwide Manufacturing Industries
Many policymakers and administrators have directed efforts to increase foreign manufacturing investment (FMI) due to its potential to raise the employment rate, technological progress, and productivity in their regions. Despite foreign manufacturers’ significant influence on the economies of their host countries, institutional and policy uncertainty creates significant entry barriers for multinational manufacturers. Focusing solely on American state performance in economic development as measured by amounts of FMI, this study suggests that different institutional designs and regulations that affect state taxing and spending decision-making make a difference in FMI in American states. This research empirically assesses the relationship between fiscal federalism and FMI by focusing on the level of fiscal decentralization, federal grants, and fiscally constraining institutions. Testing two different FMI datasets that cover all 50 American states by source country between 1987–2006 and 2008–2016, this study finds that manufacturing firms increase their investment in the states that exercise higher discretion in managing fiscal policy, receive more federal grants, and implement more restrictive taxing and spending regulations. The observed positive impact of fiscal institutions and constraints is more prominent for foreign manufacturing firms in the tax-exemption group.
Moving Away from Patronage: A Feedback Approach
Patronage appointments in government are a continuing issue in many administrative systems. Especially for countries in Latin America and Africa patronage is considered a major impediment to developing more effective administrative systems. A great deal has been written describing patronage and discussing the causes for patronage, but much less research has addressed the dynamics of moving away from patronage to more merit-based systems. This paper reviews the patronage literature and then develops a dynamic feedback model for movement away from patronage. The model links the quality of the services provided by the government, the nature of the political party system, and levels of trust to patronage. The model uses several reinforcing and balancing feedback loops to demonstrate the possible dynamics of change in administrative appointments.
Unboxing International Public Administrations: The Politics of Structural Change in the UN System (1998–2019)
Recent debates in international relations increasingly focus on bureaucratic apparatuses of international organizations and highlight their role, influence, and autonomy in global public policy. In this contribution we follow the recent call made by Moloney and Rosenbloom in this journal to make use of “public administrative theory and empirically based knowledge in analyzing the behavior of international and regional organizations” and offer a systematic analysis of the inner structures of these administrative bodies. Changes in these structures can reflect both the (re-)assignment of responsibilities, competencies, and expertise, but also the (re)allocation of resources, staff, and corresponding signalling of priorities. Based on organizational charts, we study structural changes within 46 international bureaucracies in the UN system. Tracing formal changes to all internal units over two decades, this contribution provides the first longitudinal assessment of structural change at the international level. We demonstrate that the inner structures of international bureaucracies in the UN system became more fragmented over time but also experienced considerable volatility with periods of structural growth and retrenchment. The analysis also suggests that IO's political features yield stronger explanatory power for explaining these structural changes than bureaucratic determinants. We conclude that the politics of structural change in international bureaucracies is a missing piece in the current debate on international public administrations that complements existing research perspectives by reiterating the importance of the political context of international bureaucracies as actors in global governance.
Do Opinions of Policy Target Population Deservingness Correlate to Public Service Motivation? Insights from Medicaid
Perceptions of the deservingness of policy target populations play a vital role in the policy process. Yet, little research has modeled assessments of deservingness as a function of core concepts from public administration. Arguably, one of the most robust insights into deservingness assessments is that they correlate to beliefs about who receives a policy's benefits—likely because of how different groups have been socially constructed over time. Using Medicaid as a lens of study, we test whether deservingness assessments also correlate to public service motivation (PSM). We find that deservingness assessments relate to PSM in many models. However, PSM is often insignificant in models that control for racial sentiments. We also fail to find evidence that PSM moderates the relationship between deservingness assessments and beliefs about who benefits from a policy.
Unboxing International Public Administrations: The Politics of Structural Change in the UN System (1998–2019)
Recent debates in international relations increasingly focus on bureaucratic apparatuses of international organizations and highlight their role, influence, and autonomy in global public policy. In this contribution we follow the recent call made by Moloney and Rosenbloom in this journal to make use of “public administrative theory and empirically based knowledge in analyzing the behavior of international and regional organizations” and offer a systematic analysis of the inner structures of these administrative bodies. Changes in these structures can reflect both the (re-)assignment of responsibilities, competencies, and expertise, but also the (re)allocation of resources, staff, and corresponding signalling of priorities. Based on organizational charts, we study structural changes within 46 international bureaucracies in the UN system. Tracing formal changes to all internal units over two decades, this contribution provides the first longitudinal assessment of structural change at the international level. We demonstrate that the inner structures of international bureaucracies in the UN system became more fragmented over time but also experienced considerable volatility with periods of structural growth and retrenchment. The analysis also suggests that IO's political features yield stronger explanatory power for explaining these structural changes than bureaucratic determinants. We conclude that the politics of structural change in international bureaucracies is a missing piece in the current debate on international public administrations that complements existing research perspectives by reiterating the importance of the political context of international bureaucracies as actors in global governance.