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The aim of this study is to research how leaders’ subordinates, peers, and superiors perceive changes in leadership behavior (measured as task, relation, and change orientations) when leaders in their organization participate in formal leadership education. This question is addressed in a longitudinal 3-year study. This article uses data from a panel of respondents ( n = 860–897) from four Danish municipalities. Descriptive statistics and leader fixed effects indicate that formal leadership education has a substantial short-term perceived impact on leadership behavior. The most robust finding in the study are the statistically significant correlations between the perception of leadership behavior and the perceiver’s hierarchical position. The study shows significant differences between subordinates, peers, and superiors in their perceptions of the development of leadership behavior over time. Subordinates rate change in leadership behavior as significantly lower than do peers and superiors.

Rapid individual cognitive phenotyping holds the potential to revolutionize domains as wide-ranging as personalized learning, employment practices, and precision psychiatry. Going beyond limitations imposed by traditional lab-based experiments, new efforts have been underway towards greater ecological validity and participant diversity to capture the full range of individual differences in cognitive abilities and behaviors across the general population. Building on this, we developed Skill Lab, a novel game-based tool that simultaneously assesses a broad suite of cognitive abilities while providing an engaging narrative. Skill Lab consists of six mini-games as well as 14 established cognitive ability tasks. Using a popular citizen science platform (N = 10725), we conducted a comprehensive validation in the wild of a game-based cognitive assessment suite. Based on the game and validation task data, we constructed reliable models to simultaneously predict eight cognitive abilities based on the users' in-game behavior. Follow-'-up validation tests revealed that the models can discriminate nuances contained within each separate cognitive ability as well as capture a shared main factor of generalized cognitive ability. Our game-based measures are five times faster to complete than the equivalent task-based measures and replicate previous findings on the decline of certain cognitive abilities with age in our large cross-sectional population sample (N = 6369). Taken together, our results demonstrate the feasibility of rapid in-the-wild systematic assessment of cognitive abilities as a promising first step towards population-scale benchmarking and individualized mental health diagnostics., 24 pages, 8 figures, and 4 tables. Supplementary Information: osf.io/pnw5z//

We review 10 years of research published in the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) and find the wide use of log-transformed dependent variables (LTDVs) to be based on statistical myths, with possible detrimental effects for the validity of research findings. We find that many researchers use LTDVs for the wrong reasons, and very often in a way that is misaligned with the hypothesis they intend to examine. Researchers also appear unaware of the severe shortcomings of LTDVs. Using LTDVs implies estimating an exponential model, which represents a non-linear relationship. We identify three myths that are widely followed by researchers: (1) LTDVs should be used to make distributions more normal; (2) linear hypotheses can be tested with LTDVs; and (3) LTDVs are the best way to estimate an exponential model. We call on researchers to exhibit caution when planning to use LTDVs and recommend instead the use of generalized linear models (GLMs) with quasi-maximum likelihood estimation. The superiority of GLMs is demonstrated by two empirical examples from recently published studies.

Turnover among top executives in government organizations warrants our research interest because of their importance for executive politics, public policy, and the management and performance of public organizations. Whereas the literature so far has primarily studied political, organizational and individual antecedents of turnover, we focus on the relational level. Based on homosocial reproduction, relational demography and social identify theory, we hypothesize that demographic similarities between senior executives and their political counterparts influence executive turnover. Using longitudinal register data of Danish mayors and chief administrative officers (CAOs), our results suggest that gender dissimilarity (specifically, a male mayor and a female CAO) increases the risk of CAO turnover. Similarly, the risk of CAO turnover is higher when the CAO is older than the mayor. Contrary to expectations, however, differences in education reduces turnover risk (specifically when the CAO has more education than the mayor). Our study illustrates the relevance of understanding turnover as a relational phenomenon based on factors beyond rational, political, and functional explanations.

Research has underscored the role of executive turnover in organizational processes and outcomes. However, little research has linked turnover events to externally oriented outcomes such as government transparency. We theorize that executive changes are likely to increase transparency as new incumbents respond to demands from the public and superior government levels, but that this effect is contingent on contextual conditions. Using panel data from 113 Chinese cities, this paper explores the impact of executive turnover on government transparency in environmental information. Results show that mayoral and party secretary’s turnover positively affect government transparency. This effect is weakened by severe air pollution, which harms organizational reputation. Career incentive shows no moderating effect. Implications for research on executive turnover and government transparency are discussed.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether and why multinational corporations (MNCs) seek to reduce institutional costs of foreign direct investments (FDIs) by aligning with transnational political frameworks.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to test whether MNCs’ subsidiaries in China increase FDI into BRI-affiliated countries after the BRI’s launch. This study compares FDIs by Chinese subsidiaries of foreign MNCs in the year before and two years after the BRI’s announcement. Hypotheses are tested for two explanations of why foreign MNCs seek to exploit the BRI.FindingsInvestments into BRI-affiliated countries increased after the announcement of the BRI, and this increase is positively moderated by institutional distance between the MNC home country and the BRI-affiliated target country. This shows that the greater the institutional costs of investing in a BRI-affiliated country, the more responsive the MNCs’ Chinese subsidiary will be to the BRI.Research limitations/implicationsThis study demonstrates that MNCs respond to transnational political frameworks. This study only studies the immediate response because the BRI is an infrastructure project. Better infrastructure will, over time, lead to more investments; however, the immediate response is due not to infrastructure but political structure.Originality/valueThe results show how MNCs use transnational political frameworks. The idea that MNCs can channel FDI through existing subsidiaries for this purpose has not previously been discussed in the literature.

International business researchers commonly estimate proportions, percentages, rates, or fractions – so-called “proportional dependent variables”. In this paper, we posit that two regression strategies are particularly pertinent to the international business field: Tobit and fractional regression. Reviewing recent international business research, we find that, while fractional regression is rarely used, analyses from Tobit regression are often incomplete or erroneously interpreted with consequences for the validity of the reported results. Accordingly, we clarify how researchers should choose between Tobit and fractional regression and interpret their results. We present insights based on simple simulations and data examples with associated Stata code and a decision tree for choosing between types of models for use with proportional dependent variables.

Equal treatment is a key feature of modern bureaucracy. However, several studies have shown that public organizations discriminate against ethnic and racial minorities to different degrees. Which organizational features explain differences in discrimination is largely unknown. This article proposes that organizational performance relates to an organization's likelihood of engaging in employment discrimination and argues that poor-performing organizations tend to be less open to new ideas and that decision makers in such organizations are more prone to stereotyping behavior. The study combines a field experiment in which applications were sent to real job vacancies in 71 Danish public schools with administrative data on the schools. Bayesian analyses show that minority applicants generally faced discrimination but that they experienced a higher callback rate from better-performing schools than from poorer-performing schools. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Field experiments have long been the gold standard in studies of organizational topics such as ethnic discrimination in recruitment. The recent use of survey experiments, also known as experimental vignettes, suggests that some researchers believe that survey experiments could be used as an alternative to field experiments. In this study we put this notion to the test. We perform a field experiment followed by two survey experiments on ethnic discrimination in recruitment. While the results of our field experiment are consistent with previous evidence on discrimination, one survey experiment concludes no difference between native and immigrant employees while another concludes positive discrimination. These results should invoke caution in researchers wanting to investigate organizational topics using survey experiments.

Increasing immigration is creating multiethnic labor markets in many countries. As convincingly identified by a growing body of research, substantial ethnic discrimination inhibits immigrants' access to employment. The public sector may play an important role in creating labor market integration by setting a good example. Yet, little is known about sector differences in employment discrimination and whether public sector organizations are more or less likely than private firms to ethnically discriminate against prospective employees. Both theory and empirical studies suggest that public sector organizations discriminate less. To investigate these phenomena, we conducted two studies. Study 1 is a field experiment designed to explicitly investigate private and public sector differences in ethnic discrimination in Danish organizations' recruitment processes. Observing extensive discrimination favoring applicants with a Danish name, we find little evidence that the public sector is fairer in hiring decisions. Study 2, which is based on register data, highlights that sector differences and similarities in discrimination are context contingent and depend on organizational size and location. We propose a framework of sector and context interaction to explain organizational differences in ethnic discrimination.

Many outcomes of interest to management and strategy researchers are in the form of fractions, proportions, or percentages. We review 10 years of research in seven leading strategy and management journals. Instead of implementing best-practice techniques, such as fractional logistic regression, management scholars rely primarily on linear regression, log-odds regression, or the Tobit model. Following up on our review, we present re-estimations of two published papers to show how best-practice methods yield substantially different results than the most commonly used methods. Using simulations, we confirm the results from the reproduced examples in a broader context. Finally, we present a worked example that researchers can lean on when they deal with fractional outcomes.

This article synthesizes empirical research on top managers in public organizations. We present a systematic literature review of 138 studies focused on public sector top managers between 2005 and 2020. The paper provides descriptive results suggesting that the empirical focus on top managers in the public sector is increasing, though still limited compared to research on upper-echelons in private firms. We develop an empirically-based framework to guide the analysis by identifying essential elements of existing top management studies and linking them into relationships. Based on the findings of the analysis, we outline an agenda for future research on top management studies in the public sector that we call for more studies focusing on top management teams, psychological aspects of top managers, developing strong and unifying theories, and employing comparative research as well as diverse methodology.

Strategy and management researchers often employ log-transformed dependent variables (LTDVs). Such a transformation means that researchers estimate an exponential model, which implies estimating a ...

There has been an increasing focus on managerial external networking behaviourwithin public administration. While most previous quantitative research has analysedsuch behaviour one-dimensionally, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptualizationbased on the concepts of weak and strong ties. Utilizing measures resemblingprevious research, we explore the utility of the approach in an exploratory study ofDanish local government. Our findings suggest that the two dimensions of externalnetworking behaviour are distinct. We discuss our approach compared to previousapproaches and argue that a conceptualization based on the distinction between strong and weak ties provides a promising framework for future research.

The theory of representative bureaucracy highlights gender segregation in the public sector and its detrimental implications for public policy outcomes. Focusing attention on organisational responses to this protracted problem, we supply evidence on whether organizational growth provides potential for change in the upper echelons of the public sector. An evaluation of the relationship between new hires and gender representation within the management tiers of Danish local government reveals an association between the recruitment of additional employees and improved gender integration. This is particularly pronounced for public organizations that employ fewer women. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Turnover among executives warrants our research interest both out of functional and political reasons. Whereas the literature so far has primarily been interested in explanations at the organizational and individual level, we theorize the relationship between senior executives and their political counterparts using social identity theory, social comparison theory and social network theory and present competing hypotheses regarding the effects of demographic similarities and dissimilarities on turnover. Using register longitudinal data of Danish mayors and CAO’s we find that greater age differences increase the likelihood of CAO turnover as does similar educational levels. We argue that our study illustrates the relevance of understanding turnover as a relational phenomenon based on factors beyond rational, political and functional explanations.

We argue that vertical interlocks in Chinese state-owned business groups are important mechanisms for coordination and information exchange between the apex firm and affiliated firms, and that they are also mechanisms for government owners of the business groups to exercise control. By combining resource dependence theory with elements from transaction cost economics and agency theory, we propose that the need for interlocks increases the higher the level of government ownership. The central government is therefore more likely to use vertical interlocks than the provincial governments, which again are more likely to use vertical interlocks than the municipal governments. We develop three hypotheses based on these arguments. A regression analysis of a hand-collected data set finds strong support for our hypotheses. Our results shed light on coordination and governance issues within the state-owned sector in China and on an important means for mitigating these issues used by the government owners and firms affiliated with state-owned groups.

In many countries, the rules and statutes governing public employment promote both transparency and accountability in employee hiring, promotion, and wage setting. These aspects of public employment might mitigate the pay inequalities women face in the public workplace relative to the private sector. At the same time, these formal aspects of public sector employment and payment systems might also limit the ability of women in the public sector to leverage human capital increases as a means of reducing pay inequalities. Utilizing 25 years of employee-level data from Denmark, we find that women professionals in the Danish public sector face a smaller wage penalty than their private sector counterparts. However, our findings also suggest that public employment may place structural limits on their ability to leverage educational attainment to close the gap even further.

Public sector reforms are increasingly blurring the boundaries between the public and private sectors, making way for hybrid organizations existing between the two sectors. While research has begun to explore organizational hybridity and how it affects employee identities and outcomes, knowledge about employee behaviour in hybrid organizations is scarce. Public–private hybrid organizations face the challenge of balancing some degree of privateness with traditional public sector practices and values. In this article we focus on public sector companies as an increasingly prevalent type of hybrid organization, and how employee turnover is affected by the degree of organizational privateness. We suggest that highly socialized public sector employees are more likely to leave when their organization exhibits higher levels of privateness. In an empirical study of all employees in public sector companies in Denmark we find support for this theory. The article contributes new knowledge about employee turnover dynamics and how the balance of opposing demands in hybrid organizations has implications for employee behaviour.

Although development in China is quite heterogeneous across regions, little research has explored how the value of Chinese firms’ political ties is contingent on the institutional and economic development of firms’ regional environment. This article explores some of the factors that moderate the benefit of political ties, differentiating between ties to central and local government. The study investigates how benefits of ties to central and local government are moderated by regional market and economic development, respectively. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of 858 listed Chinese firms. The results suggest that firms enjoy a positive effect of political ties but mainly ties to central government. The analysis, furthermore, finds these ties to be less valuable in economically well-developed regions. Market development, on the other hand, does not moderate the effects of local or central government ties.

Researchers have for a long time been interested in the consequences of creating larger public organizations. So far the outcomes of changes in the size of public organizations have been relatively widely studied, however, much less is known about the internal processes through which these outcomes are actually achieved. This paper explores whether changes in organizational size affect public management. As endogeneity is an inherent problem when studying outcomes of organizational size, we apply a quasi-experimental design in order to establish the causal linkage between size and different elements of public management. We use unique survey data collected before and after a large reform that changed the size of most Danish municipalities. Results suggest that public management related to daily operations is generic and not affected by size, whereas public management related to overall tasks such as creating a vision, servicing the mayor, and maintaining external relations is positively affected by size changes

Globalization of labor markets have provided specialists opportunities to work around the world. In the war for talent, firms and countries struggle to retain specialists and avoid their next posit...

While the organizational structures and strategies of public organizations have attracted substantial research attention among public management scholars, little research has explored how these organizational core dimensions are interconnected and influenced by pressures for similarity. In this paper I address this topic by exploring the relation between expenditure strategy isomorphism and structure isomorphism in Danish municipalities. Different literatures suggest that organizations exist in concurrent pressures for being similar to and different from other organizations in their field of action. It is theorized that to meet this challenge organizations may substitute increased similarity on one core dimension for increased idiosyncrasy on another, but only after a certain level of isomorphism is reached. Results of quantitative analyses support this theory and show that an inverse U-shaped relation exists between expenditure strategy isomorphism and structure isomorphism in a longitudinal quantitative study of Danish municipalities.

This study examines the relation between executive succession and corporate capacity. Because corporate capacity is a significant determinant of organizational performance it is an important task to identify its antecedent factors. The study suggests three mechanisms explaining why executive succession is likely to be related to subsequent corporate capacity changes; namely that it for new executives constitutes a means of performance improvement, a signaling device, and a venue for building a power base. It is argued that these mechanisms will relate differently to executive successors with different backgrounds explaining variation in post-succession corporate capacity. The expectations are tested in a longitudinal study of executive succession and corporate capacity in Danish municipalities 1984 -2000. The findings support the forwarded theory and suggest that corporate capacity is smaller following inside succession and larger following outside succession. The study’s contributions to research on executive succession and corporate capacity in public organizations are discussed.

There is a large literature on both why local governments and public organisations choose internal or external production of services and what explains the performance of internal and external production. A range of different theories have been used to answer these questions. However, these studies show mixed results. In this study we investigate four theories: transaction cost economics, neoclassical economics, the resource-based view of strategy and institutional theory. Can these theories explain whether local governments choose internal or external production and can they explain the satisfaction with the internal and external production? Do the same variables explain the choice and the satisfaction? Based on a survey of four different service areas in Danish municipalities, it is shown that different theoretical variables explain the choice and satisfaction with the sourcing mode. Internal expertise is strongly related to the choice of internal or external production, whereas most transactio...

The question of whether public organizations should provide services themselves or buy them from external suppliers has become increasingly relevant due to public-sector modernization. The literature has focused on it as a question of either make or buy. Contrarily, we focus on the reasons for public organizations to simultaneously produce and contract out similar services. The article investigates different theoretical explanations for concurrent make and buy. A survey of Danish municipalities shows that make and buy seems to be a steady choice. However, the results show little support for the theoretical explanations indicating the need for more public-oriented explanations.

Comparing public and private managers is a major subject in the public management literature, but there have been only a few empirical studies of the differences in their respective leadership styles. Traditionally, leadership style is explained by the characteristics of the manager, the employees, and their job. This study explains leadership by the manager's job context: the degree of job complexity, role clarity, and job autonomy. We argue that differences in job context explain the use of different leadership styles in the public and private sector. To clearly specify the importance of sector, the study investigates direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Based on a survey of Danish public and private managers with 949 respondents, this article shows that job context variables vary significantly between public and private sector managers. The article provides some explanations for why public managers use more participative leadership, while private ones use more directive leadership.

Many outcomes of interest to management and strategy researchers are fractional in nature. Fractional outcomes are attractive to researchers because they are easy to understand and facilitate inter...

Integrating ethnic and racial minorities into the labor market is one of the grand challenges societies face today. In the public sector, this challenge may be especially important as research on r...

Using organizational new institutional theory, this paper explores a core mechanism underlying contracting decisions in public organizations. A central proposition of this branch of institutional theory is that uncertainty leads to organizational isomorphism. The present study investigates this proposition by asking: When does perceived uncertainty lead public managers to imitative behavior in contracting out decisions? Contrary to most previous studies, we apply an individual level approach and relate different types of perceived uncertainty of decision makers to mimetic decision making. We define mimetic decision making as when decision makers deliberately obtain information about other organizations in order to possibly imitate them. In a survey of Danish municipal managers facing important and complex contracting decisions, we test our hypotheses about three types of perceived uncertainty and mimetic decision making. The results show that technological uncertainty is strongly related to mimetic decision making among public managers. However, we do not find significant results for either volume uncertainty or performance uncertainty. The paper illustrates how uncertainty, through mimetic decision making, is connected to organizational isomorphism. It further highlights that future studies should pay attention to the multidimensionality of uncertainty and its consequences.

Recent research has illustrated that demographic diversity influences the outcomes of public sector organizations. Most studies have focused on workforce diversity; by comparison, little is known about how managerial diversity affects organizational outcomes. This article focuses on gender diversity in the top management teams of public organizations and its relationship to financial performance. Theory suggests that management diversity can be a positive asset for organizations, allowing for the use of more diverse knowledge and human skill sets. Results of this study, however, suggest that organizations may only be able to leverage these advantages if they have a supporting management structure. In a longitudinal study of top management teams in Danish municipalities, the authors find that gender diversity in top management teams is associated with higher financial performance, but only in municipalities with a management structure that supports cross-functional team work. These results are interpreted in light of existing theory, and implications are suggested.

Managing diversity is an important challenge in public sector organizations. A substantial amount of research has explored antecedents to diversity in public organizations, yet surprisingly little research has explored outcomes of diversity in public organizations. The present study contribute to research by exploring how employee diversity is related to turnover behavior. Specifically, we explore the importance of demographic diversity on turnover among employees from that same demographic grouping. We focus on three widely studied demographic groups: gender, ethnicity, and age. Using Danish register data we find that turnover does seem to be affected by employee composition but in surpiring and unexpected ways. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Recent research has illustrated how human demographic diversity influences the outcomes of public sector organizations. Most studies focus on workforce diversity and little is known about how managerial diversity affects organizational outcomes. This study focuses on top management team gender diversity. Theory suggests that diversity can lead to varied outcomes. It may provide knowledge and new ideas used for organizational development. However, team diversity is likely to slow down decision making and make consensus more difficult to reach. In a longitudinal study of top management teams in Danish municipalities this study finds diversity to be associated with an increased use of contracting but also higher budgetary instabilities. These results are interpreted in light of existing theory and implications are suggested.

Research has found considerable ethnic discrimination in employment decisions of private firms. Yet, little is known about sector differences in employment discrimination and whether public organiz...

We suggest that both making and buying the same product or service has several effects on supplier performance. A model is developed and tested by use of answers gathered from the Danish municipalities. The results support the three hypotheses that (1) the negative effects of technological uncertainty on supplier performance decrease when buyers combine internal production and external sourcing, (2) the negative effects of performance uncertainty on supplier performance decrease when buyers combine internal production and external sourcing, and (3) the negative effects of asset specificity on supplier performance decrease when buyers combine internal production and external sourcing. However, the moderating effects depend on how the plurality is measured. The results indicate that internal production may facilitate effective governance of the relationships with external suppliers. Implications for research on make-or-buy decisions and for practice are also discussed.