Public Administration

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• A behavioral view on responsibility attribution in multi‐level governance: Upward and downward responsibility attribution in response to performance below aspirations

  Multi‐level governance systems provide decision‐makers with many avenues for external responsibility attribution in response to lacking performance. This study provides a behavioral perspective that examines responsibility attribution to the national government (upward) and policy implementers (downward) as a function of performance relative to decision‐makers' aspiration levels. The study proposes that perceived accountability increases the propensity of external responsibility attribution, and that decision‐makers' political alignment to actors on other governance levels explains when responsibility is deflected upwards or downwards. Using a survey experiment that presents factual information on youth care overspending to 1086 elected local government officials, the study finds consistent evidence that performance below aspirations increases upward responsibility attribution. Accountability strengthens responsibility attribution for negative performance downward to policy implementers. Finally, responsibility is attributed upward less frequently by decision‐makers who are politically aligned with the national government, but information that signals performance below aspirations attenuates this tendency.

• Finding a mission in bureaucracies: How authentic leadership and red tape interact

  Abstrakt Eine Mission zu haben ist für Mitarbeiter:innen im öffentlichen Dienst wichtig, um gute Arbeitsleistungen zu erbringen. Bisherige Forschung hat gezeigt, dass Führung die Valenz einer Mission unter den Mitarbeiter:innen fördern kann. Es ist jedoch unklar, ob und wie Führung diesen Effekt entfaltet, wenn die Bürokratie ein exzessives Ausmaß erreicht hat. Diese Wechselwirkung ist besonders interessant im Falle authentischer Führung (ein positiver Führungsstil, der auf Selbstbewusstheit, konsistentem Verhalten und transparenten Beziehungen zu den Mitarbeiter:innen beruht). Exzessive Bürokratie kann den Zusammenhang zwischen authentischer Führung und der Valenz der Mission entweder neutralisieren oder verstärken. Wir testen diese konkurrierenden Hypothesen anhand einer Stichprobe aus einer zweiwelligen Umfrage unter Mitarbeiter:innen des öffentlichen Dienstes in Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für die Neutralisierungshypothese, da sich der Zusammenhang zwischen authentischer Führung und der Valenz der Mission bei einem geringeren Maß an Bürokratie verstärkt. Personalverantwortliche sind daher gefordert, Bürokratie abzubauen und öffentliche Organisationen zu authentischen Orten zu machen, an denen Führungskräfte durch Selbsterkenntnis Authentizität entwickeln können.

• COVID‐19‐induced governance transformation: How external shocks may spur cross‐organizational collaboration and trust‐based management

  Persistent efforts to meet the demand for cross‐organizational collaboration and trust‐based management have been halted by a mixture of bureaucratic inertia and entrenched New Public Management thinking. This article explores whether the COVID‐crisis has broken the reform deadlock. Based on a handful of recent surveys and interviews conducted by Danish public sector organizations, we look at the crisis‐induced transformations in local public administration. The main finding is that the pandemic has forced administrative agencies to collaborate with each other to solve new and pressing problems in a turbulent environment. Similarly, it has urged public managers to trust the skills and motivation of their employees, who must solve administrative tasks in innovative ways and with limited managerial support, supervision and monitoring. While changes may amount to little more than a temporary departure from normalcy, lesson‐drawing, learning retention and proactive leadership may help to produce a sustainable transformation.

• Understanding the organizational learning culture—Innovative behavior relation in local government: The roles of knowledge sharing and job autonomy

  Drawing from research on organizational learning culture, knowledge sharing (KS), and job characteristics theory, this study investigates the mediating role of KS in the link between organizational learning culture (OLC) and employee's innovative behavior (IB), as well as how this mediating effect might be moderated by job autonomy (JA). Data captured from 1420 public employees of 33 local governments in South Korea shows that OLC affects employees' IB, while the effect size is reduced when controlling for the role of KS. Further, JA moderates the positive relationship between KS and IB, such that the relationship becomes invigorated at higher levels of JA. The findings also reveal that the indirect effect of OLC on IB through KS is more pronounced at higher levels of JA, which offers evidence of moderated mediation. We discuss the significant implications of our findings for future research and practice.

• Unpacking value destruction at the intersection between public and private value

  公共服务并非必然创造价值。相反，失序的服务可能破坏价值，降低服务对象的生活水平与质量。然而，相较于近些年来日趋火热的‘价值共创' 研究，‘价值破坏'这一概念并未在公共管理学界得到应有的重视。基于对四个城市碳减排项目的质性分析，本文力图添补这一研究不足。在对复杂情境下价值目标多元性的充分认识的基础上，我们著重探讨了公共价值目标与私人价值目标之间的潜在冲突，分析了由这一冲突所引发的 ‘价值破坏' 后果。作为研究发现，我们构建了一个概念框架。该框架厘清了解读 ‘价值破坏’ 现象的两种维度，进而将公共服务中的 ‘价值破坏' 现象解构为四种具体情形: ‘价值失灵’、‘价值失衡’、‘价值抗爭' 与 ‘价值牺牲’。 文章的最后，我们针对以上四种情形提出了一系列应对策略，系统的讨论了这一概念框架的理论贡献和现实参考，并在此基础上为未来研究指出了方向。.

• Meet all changes with constancy: The dynamic adaptation process of county governments in China

  摘要 随着公共部门的任务环境变得越来越不稳定, 它们迫切需要建立调适能力。通过将组织视为问题解决系统, 本研究构建了一个制度‐过程框架以分析中国地方政府调适自上而下任务冲击的机制和模式。基于中国三个县级政府完成精准扶贫政策的经验, 本研究发现, 在应对自上而下的任务冲击的过程中, 中国的地方政府建立了制度化的调适过程, 包括注意力分配、决策系统构建以及边界工作, 这些过程是嵌入在特定的制度结构之中的。本研究将这种制度化的调适过程界定为动态的保守主义。在这一调适模式中, 中国地方政府很少观察和管理环境, 相反地, 它们整合了现有的结构性和稳定性因素, 以应对来自上级政府的任务冲击。. 关键词: 制度化调适; 动态的保守主义; 动态调适能力; 中国地方政府.

• The effect of human versus automated interaction on willingness to participate in government programs: The role of representation

  Increased reliance on automated systems in government raises important questions about the impact of these systems on program participation. We look at the relationship between an automated application process and program participation through a representation lens. From a representative bureaucracy perspective, we examine whether gender representation increases participation intentions compared with interacting with an automated system. We also consider a political dimension of representation, investigating whether interacting with an automated system increases participation intentions among those whose policy preferences do not align with program goals. While we do not see differences based on gender representation in our survey experiment, we do find evidence that an automated system leads to greater willingness to participate among those whose policy preferences do not align with the program. These results provide insight into when automated systems may influence participation, suggesting a potential positive role among those who are not politically favorable toward a program.

• Keep going on: A qualitative comparative analysis on the durability of solidarity initiatives during and after crisis

  During the COVID‐19 lockdowns in the Netherlands, numerous solidarity initiatives emerged, providing relief to those affected by lockdown measures. These initiatives have an important added value for a society under crisis as they provide instant solutions to timely, crisis‐related needs, strengthen connectivity between stakeholders and divide the burdens of the crisis. The durability of these initiatives is however a concern and although the literature on durability of community‐based initiatives is growing, there is a lack of understanding how initiatives can sustain under the challenging dynamics of a major crisis. Using a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 14 COVID‐19 solidarity initiatives in Rotterdam, this article explores whether conditions for the durability of community‐based initiatives in general (social capital, organizational resources, transformational leadership, and government support) also apply during a crisis, with special attention of the configurations of conditions under the challenging context of the COVID‐19 pandemic.

• Hambleton, Robin. Cities and communities beyond Covid‐19. Great Britain: Bristol University Press. 2020. pp. 177. ISBN: 9781529215854
• Municipal fiscal stress, bankruptcies, and other financial emergencies. By Tatyana Guzman, Natalia Ermasova, New York: Routledge. 2022. pp. 310. ISBN: 9781032349381

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