Abstract
This article develops and empirically validates a conceptualization of reputation management in a public sector context. We define reputation management as management behaviors intended to ...identify and affect how external audiences perceive an organization, including their perceptions of what the organization is, what it strives to be, and the organization’s positive impact on society more broadly. Such behaviors include strategically communicating the organization’s vision to its most important external audiences. The empirical analysis is based on survey responses from 499 employees and 59 managers from three Danish agencies. The analysis yields support for our measure of reputation management. We conclude with a future research agenda on how our conceptualization and scale can be used to further develop Bureaucratic Reputation Theory, as well as public management research aimed at investigating the simultaneous use as well as simultaneous external and internal effects of different types of public management and leadership behaviors.
Abstract
Network effectiveness is heavily theorized in the public management and administration literatures. In this article, I synthesize the literature on network effectiveness and the role of ...organizational theory within this literature. The review illustrates a considerable amount of organization theorizing, which suggests that the subfield of organizational theory, while not always explicit, is very much alive and well. Next, I identify what the literature does well, areas for improvement, and recent work addressing those gaps. One such gap is the mismatch between the theory in its formulation and the methods used to test said theory. While theory is configurational, testing rarely makes use of configurational methods. Further, the majority of the literature treats networks as static despite widespread recognition that networks are in fact quite dynamic. Recent theoretical and methodological advancements have been made to address these shortcomings, but these efforts continue to be the aberration rather than the norm. Finally, I provide an example of one future direction for theorizing which builds upon recent advancements. More specifically, I provide two ideal type configurational paths to network effectiveness which account for one dynamic aspect of a network, namely the sequential introduction of actors into the network.
There are growing pressures for the public sector to be more innovative but considerable disagreement about how to achieve it. This article uses institutional and organizational analysis to compare ...three major public innovation strategies. The article confronts the myth that the market-driven private sector is more innovative than the public sector by showing that both sectors have a number of drivers of as well as barriers to innovation, some of which are similar, while others are sector specific. The article then systematically analyzes three strategies for innovation: New Public Management, which emphasizes market competition; the neo-Weberian state, which emphasizes organizational entrepreneurship; and collaborative governance, which emphasizes multiactor engagement across organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. The authors conclude that the choice of strategies for enhancing public innovation is contingent rather than absolute. Some contingencies for each strategy are outlined.
Abstract
Outsourcing may lead public administrators to regard service recipients as customers to be satisfied rather than as citizens demanding access and empowerment. This research investigates the ...extent to which social service nonprofits might bridge the gap between citizenship and customer service to advance shared values and reinforce public institutions. Due to unique institutional and organizational features, such as value-driven commitments, restrictions to financial distribution, and special knowledge of under-represented groups, social service nonprofit contractors may offer distinct advantages over for-profit firms in contract management. We begin by analyzing the conflicting and complementary aspects of citizenship and customer service in democracy and identify the advantages of nonprofit contractors. Then, using the lenses of transaction cost economics and agency theory, we explore how nonprofits can mitigate contract risks while bolstering citizenship. We present several suggestions to guide public agencies and future scholarship on reasserting the importance of public values in modern governance.
Technology-driven disruption is taking place at a pace and scale not witnessed before in history. Waves of technology, such as the internet of things, big data, machine learning, and artificial ...intelligence, are reshaping our personal and professional lives in profound ways. A new world is emerging in which many of the current job classes will disappear, while new ones, requiring entirely different sets of skills, are emerging. Public administrators are unprepared for the challenges they must face in order to cope with this nonincremental and exponential change. Many of the existing government structures and processes that have evolved over the last few centuries will likely become irrelevant in the near future. There is a compelling need to lay the groundwork for governments to rethink how they will be able to best serve their constituents.
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