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Issue prioritization is the first stage of attention-based theories of decision-making, but remains theoretically and empirically uncharted territory in public administration research. We propose and test how issue prioritization is informed by the characteristics of the performance information on which decision-makers rely, in particular its source (internal or external information), nature (objective or subjective information), aspiration level (historical, social, or coercive aspirations), and required cognitive effort (attention costs). Furthermore, we theorize how these characteristics of performance information determine issue prioritization decisions of political and managerial decision-makers in different ways. We empirically examine issue prioritization decisions in road maintenance and primary school education using a discrete choice experiment among 2,313 local government officials. The experiment reveals that decision-makers are more likely to prioritize issues that are signaled through objective performance measures and that are articulated relative to coercive aspirations, but that the effects of the information's source and attention costs differ between policy domains. Comparison of observational variation regarding decision-makers' roles indicates that public managers more strongly prioritize road maintenance issues that are articulated in objective performance information, but not in primary school education. The study advances public administration research and theory with a "horizontal" behavioral perspective on decision-makers' information processing to prioritize between simultaneous performance issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public service motivation (PSM) research has predominantly focused on the positive aspects of PSM, but there is a growing recognition of its potential negative implications. However, a comprehensive and systematic synthesis of empirical studies on the adverse consequences of PSM is lacking. This systematic review aims to bridge this research gap by adhering to the reporting guidelines outlined by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, and reviewing 32 relevant articles, each addressing the study's specific objectives. PSM's influence on negative outcomes varied, sometimes causing adverse consequences, while other times mediating the relationship between variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Public Administration Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article talks about the role and use of evidence in policymaking and in public administration research in Canada. It mentions Canadian Justin Trudeau has promised more reliance on evidence-based policymaking in his government, and scholars have pointed to the use of information in the public sector which is the product of careful analysis. It mentions consideration of science-based information by decision makers, such as intrusive political issues and non-linear policy processes.

Citizenship is a core concept in public administration research. This article examines how the concept was employed in 29 research articles published in Public Administration Review since 2009. It finds two difficulties. The first is a tendency to omit an explicit definition of the concept, contrary to good practice. The second is a tendency to adopt an implied definition of citizenship that encompasses all of the general population. The article considers possible justifications for current practice. Research would be improved by using the concept less frequently, defining it explicitly, adopting a definition that is closer to ordinary usage, and attending more carefully to the ways in which attitudes and behavior are influenced by a person's status within a jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A basic insight in public administration research is that career officials play an important role in public policy development as well as in its implementation. Surprisingly, however, despite being an enduring theme on the research agenda, the jury still seems to be out regarding how to account for bureaucrats' actual decision behaviour, a fact reflected in the numerous competing theories and perspectives available. By applying a novel large-N questionnaire survey as well as an alternative method, this article sheds new light on this highly contested area of research. We find that government bureaucrats' (formal) organizational position is by far the most important explanatory factor, while classical demographic factors like geographical background, gender and age play a rather minor role. Among officials' many early experiences, only their educational background and former job experience really count. The political attitudes of officials do not matter. The crucial role of bureaucrats' organizational position for understanding their behaviour does not depend on intra-organizational socialization. Importantly, the key role of factors that may be relatively subject to deliberate change, such as organization structure and the former job experience and educational background of those recruited, entails a considerable potential for organizational design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral public administration (BPA) research aspires not only to draw on developments in behavioral science but also, importantly, to address central themes in public administration. By focusing a symposium on bureaucratic red tape, administrative burden, and regulation, we encouraged BPA scholarship to engage with fundamental public administration topics that are also relevant for the broader literature on organizations and management. Indeed, the symposium contributions demonstrate how BPA can better meld the behavioral science and public administration literatures. They expand on existing conceptions of BPA, with respect to both methodology and topical focus, and provide a basis for demarcating what might and might not be usefully described as BPA. The symposium contributions provide a blueprint for how BPA research might usefully evolve and the introduction offers a philosophical reflection on the future development of BPA and behavioral science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the moderating effects of market orientation's intelligence generation and dissemination components on the response–performance relationship. We offer valuable insight into the application of, and subsequent returns to, market orientation in the public leisure sector, thereby helping to broaden the appeal, relevance, and usefulness of this important marketing theory to other contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 public leisure managers of local government leisure facilities in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed two important findings. First, intelligence generation efforts of the organisation can in part affect the performance returns to an organisation from its responsiveness to market intelligence. Second, intelligence generation coupled with organisation-wide dissemination of intelligence can have a destructive impact on the response–performance relationship, demonstrated by a negative significant moderating impact on this relationship. This paper provides an alternative explanation to the deployment of market orientation as a means to create value and an explanation that transcends its current linear portrayal in public-service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Entrepreneurship has become firmly established as a legitimate scholarly discipline. For entrepreneurship to influence managerial practice and public policy, however, we believe there needs to be a substantive shift in the focus, content, and methods of entrepreneurship research. We discuss ways this shift could occur, highlighting the need to recognize the multiple dimensions of entrepreneurial activities—and the importance of examining the heterogeneous aspects of context and factoring them into future theory building and testing efforts—and delineating the microfoundations of entrepreneurship. We also discuss how to strengthen the link between entrepreneurship research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent census in the UK, taken in March 2011, may also have been our last - since the Office for National Statistics has announced that it intends to explore alternative more cost-effective options for 'census taking' in the future. In this paper, we consider what the options may be, based on approaches and experiences from other countries, and assess their implications for users. We start by reminding ourselves about the value of the census and the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach. We then identify the principal methods being followed in other countries, together with their advantages and disadvantages. This leads us to review methodological work in the UK, building up to the current 'Beyond' 2011' ONS project. We focus on administrative records as a possible way of removing the need for a full population survey. Finally, we assess the options and discuss the implications for users in market research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public service accountability is a large and complex topic. One important aspect of the accountability of a public service provider is that they should be aware of what matters to the recipients of their service. This paper uses the Metropolitan Police as a case study to explore some of the implications of this aspect of account ability. It concludes that sometimes having fewer data points leads to more comprehensive insight than having more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the change in government control of privatized firms in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. At the end of 2000, after the largest privatization wave in history, governments retained control of 62.4% of privatized firms. In civil law countries, governments tend to retain large ownership positions, whereas in common law countries they typically use golden shares. When we combine these two mechanisms, we find no association between a country's legal tradition and the extent of government control. Rather, we document more prevalent government influence over privatized firms in countries with proportional electoral rules and with a centralized system of political authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning is a widely adopted management approach in contemporary organizations. Underlying its popularity is the assumption that it is a successful practice in public and private organizations that has positive consequences for organizational performance. Nonetheless, strategic planning has been criticized for being overly rational and for inhibiting strategic thinking. This article undertakes a meta‐analysis of 87 correlations from 31 empirical studies and asks, Does strategic planning improve organizational performance? A random‐effects meta‐analysis reveals that strategic planning has a positive, moderate, and significant impact on organizational performance. Meta‐regression analysis suggests that the positive impact of strategic planning on organizational performance is strongest when performance is measured as effectiveness and when strategic planning is measured as formal strategic planning. This impact holds across sectors (private and public) and countries (U.S. and non‐U.S. contexts). Implications for public administration theory, research, and practice are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possible existence of a research‐practice gap is the topic of a long‐standing debate in the field of public administration. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors examine the agendas of scholars and practitioners using the topic modeling technique of computational social science. Topic modeling a content analysis of 35 topics identified in Public Administration Review and PA Times (3,796 articles) showed that just over 50 percent of topics were common to both groups, indicating shared interests. There were, however, topics that the two groups distinctly focused on. Moreover, scholars and practitioners attached significant differences to the weights allocated to the prominent topics in their writing. Taken together, these findings indicate that topic modeling can shed new light on the research‐practice gap in public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant investment in anticorruption instruments in the past decades, confusion about their effectiveness remains. While a growing body of scholarship claims that anticorruption reforms have generally failed, other scholars have shown that particular anticorruption tools may actually work. A likely explanation for these puzzling outcomes is that public administration research holds a mistaken view of corruption, and improperly selected anticorruption strategies often target the wrong type of corruption. To overcome this problem, this article proposes a four‐cell typology of corruption, reflecting two critical dimensions along which most corrupt behaviors occur: the resource transfer and the primary beneficiary. Synthesizing recent research developments, this article introduces a new conceptualization of corruption that integrates perspectives from several disciplines. It also offers a series of propositions concerning how each corruption type could be fought. The article concludes with implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning (ML) methods have gained a great deal of popularity in recent years among public administration scholars and practitioners. These techniques open the door to the analysis of text, image and other types of data that allow us to test foundational theories of public administration and to develop new theories. Despite the excitement surrounding ML methods, clarity regarding their proper use and potential pitfalls is lacking. This article attempts to fill this gap in the literature through providing an ML “guide to practice” for public administration scholars and practitioners. Here, we take a foundational view of ML and describe how these methods can enrich public administration research and practice through their ability develop new measures, tap into new sources of data and conduct statistical inference and causal inference in a principled manner. We then turn our attention to the pitfalls of using these methods such as unvalidated measures and lack of interpretability. Finally, we demonstrate how ML techniques can help us learn about organizational reputation in federal agencies through an illustrated example using tweets from 13 executive federal agencies. All R code, analyses, and data described in this article can be found in the Supplementary Appendix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since most social science research relies on multiple data sources, merging data sets is an essential part of researchers' workflow. Unfortunately, a unique identifier that unambiguously links records is often unavailable, and data may contain missing and inaccurate information. These problems are severe especially when merging large-scale administrative records. We develop a fast and scalable algorithm to implement a canonical model of probabilistic record linkage that has many advantages over deterministic methods frequently used by social scientists. The proposed methodology efficiently handles millions of observations while accounting for missing data and measurement error, incorporating auxiliary information, and adjusting for uncertainty about merging in post-merge analyses. We conduct comprehensive simulation studies to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in realistic scenarios. We also apply our methodology to merging campaign contribution records, survey data, and nationwide voter files. An open-source software package is available for implementing the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented which addresses the authors' views about the "Public Administration Review" journal which enters its 79th year of publication in 2019, and it mentions recent trends in public administration research. Pay equity and gender differences in managerial networking are examined, along with social justice, the #MeToo sexual harassment-related social movement, and technology's role in the delivery of public services.

During the last five years the output of materials on comparative administration has increased significantly, and several bibliographies on this subject are now available. The recent comparative administration literature is surveyed under four broad categories: (1) materials on theory, approach, methodology, and model building, (2) comparative studies of Western societies, (3) comparative studies of non-Western societies, and (4) materials on individual countries of interest for comparative purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of bureaucratic organizations as instruments for efficient and effective implementation of goals on the one hand and for gaining, maintaining, and exercising power on the other are usually separate in the literature and have employed different sets of concepts and assumptions. The author suggests some ways through which analysis of both these major problems can converge. This can be done through analysis of the conditions which give rise to the development of bureaucratic organization, analysis of such organizations as composite social systems that are in continuous interaction with their environment, and analysis of the forces in this environment that impinge on these organizations. On the basis of these analyses some preliminary hypotheses about conditions of development of processes of bureaucratization and their relation to internal structure of bureaucratic organizations are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors, using a questionnaire, get the views of 46 of our state personnel administrators on the interrelationships of factors such as centralization, urbanization, merit rating and unionization [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpretive researchers, also in our field, often refer to Geertz’ work. They focus on taking the natives’ point of view, thick description and reading culture as a text. In this paper, it is argued that these guidelines cannot provide good reason to accept one interpretation of a social phenomenon over any other interpretation. On closer inspection, however, Geertz’ work displays a stronger approach. This approach on important points fits Lakatos’ ideal of sophisticated falsificationism. This reexamination of Geertz’ actual approach urges to reconsider the strict dichotomy that is often made between interpretive and other types of research in Public Administration and Political Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses highlights of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) research into improving government performance that need to be acknowledged by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to enhance operational efficiency. Topics explored include the enhancement of people development and risk management strategies, the counterintelligence and technical expertise needed to address national security concerns, and the professional development opportunities for CIA personnel.

Abstract: Replication studies relate to the scientific principle of replicability and serve the significant purpose of providing supporting (or contradicting) evidence regarding the existence of a phenomenon. However, replication has never been an integral part of public administration and management research. Recently, scholars have called for more replication, but academic reflections on when replication adds substantive value to public administration and management research are needed. This article presents the RNICE conceptual model, for assessing when and how a replication study contributes knowledge about a social phenomenon and advances knowledge in the public administration and management literatures. The RNICE model provides a vehicle for researchers who seek to evaluate or demonstrate the value of a replication study systematically. The practical application of the model is illustrated using two published replication studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic reviews of research methods in the public administration field have assessed the progress of research practice and offered relevant recommendations to further develop research quality. But most recent reviews examine quantitative studies, and the few assessments of qualitative scholarship tend to focus on specific dimensions. This article calls attention to the overall practice of qualitative research in the field of public administration. The authors analyzed 129 qualitative studies published during a five‐year period (2010–14) in the six top public administration journals, combining bibliometric and qualitative analyses. Three findings are drawn from the analysis. First, qualitative work represents a very small percentage of the journal articles published in the field. Second, qualitative research practice uses a small range of methodologies, mainly case studies. Finally, there is inconsistency in reporting methodological decisions. The article discusses the implications of these findings and offers recommendations to ensure methodological rigor while considering the integrity of the logic of inquiry and reporting standards of qualitative research practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Der Moderne Staat is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article builds on Fernandez et al.'s 2015 review of Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) research by focusing on two unexplored areas: measurement models and measurement quality. Employing the notion of an auxiliary measurement theory as an organizing framework, the author assesses the use of FEVS survey items to operationalize theoretical constructs and procedures in order to establish their psychometric quality. Results indicate that there is considerable variability in how FEVS items have been used to measure theoretical constructs, which is expressed as high levels of overlap across FEVS‐derived scales. Inconsistency in the assessment of measurement quality is evident as well, with a bias toward convergent validity. Three cautionary tales are presented to demonstrate the fragility of FEVS data when used with a compromised auxiliary measurement theory. The article concludes with recommendations for future FEVS studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the latest tendencies in Russian research on public administration (2010–14) as it appears in Russian academic journals. The study considers the subjects of articles, their methodological features, and the characteristics of contributors. Revealing problems in public administration research in Russia contributes both to the development of Russian science and to the ongoing international discussion regarding the need for better research on public administration and state policy. By drawing attention to the shortcomings and weaknesses of Russian public administration research, the study is meant to advance the current discussion on ways to strengthen the quality of policy research around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively linking public administration theory to practical relevance has proven a difficult task. We argue, however, that the theory–practice conundrum is but a symptom of a more fundamental problem in public administration: the hollowing out of the field. Despite research advances, hollowing occurs because of the field’s conceptually muddled and decontextualized normative pillars, problematic macrodynamic foundations, and imbalanced scaffolding for integrating its multiple research narratives and methodologies efficaciously for both scholars and practitioners. To illustrate our points, we first critique the logic and empirical basis of two major pillars of public administration: efficiency and social equity. We then show how and why the field also has problematic macrodynamic foundations due to its failure to incorporate important developments in cognate fields related to administrative history, contexts, and processes. We next offer a problem-centered organizational framework for the field to help address the scaffolding problem in public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open government is an important innovation to foster trustworthy and inclusive governments. The authors develop and test an integrative theoretical framework drawing from theories on policy diffusion and innovation adoption. Based on this, they investigate how structural, cultural, and environmental variables explain three dimensions of open government: accessibility, transparency, and participation. The framework is tested by combining 2014 survey data and observational data from 500 local U.S. government websites. Organizational structure, including technological and organizational capacity, is a determinant shared by all dimensions of open government. Furthermore, accessibility is affected by a mixture of an innovative and participative culture and external pressures. A flexible and innovative culture positively relates to higher levels of transparency, whereas capacity is a strong predictor of adopting participatory features. The main conclusion is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to fostering the three dimensions of open government, as each dimension is subject to a unique combination of determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public service motivation research has proliferated in parallel with concerns about how to improve the performance of public service personnel. However, scholarship does not always inform management and leadership. This article purposefully reviews public service motivation research since 2008 to determine the extent to which researchers have identified lessons for practice. The results of the investigation support several lessons-among them using public service motivation as a selection tool, facilitating public service motivation through cooperation in the workplace, conveying the significance of the job, and building leadership based on public service values. These results are important because they offer evidence that the field is coalescing around tactics that managers and leaders can use to address enduring concerns about employee motivation in the public sector. They also prompt us to articulate ideas that can guide a tighter integration of research and practice moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, Public Administration Review celebrated its 75th year of publication. For this milestone, the PAR Editorial Board selected the 75 most influential articles in the history of the journal and invited scholars to 'revisit a selection of these articles' in order 'to take stock of what these articles meant for the field.' Bibliometrics offers a complementary view of the history of a discipline and the evolution of its research and practice agendas through an analysis of its published literature. This article examines the changes over time in PAR from 1940 through 2013 in authorship: contributions, impact, gender composition, institutional and national affiliation, profession as scholar or practitioner, collaboration networks, and the status of the 75 influential articles. Through an extensive quantitative analysis of scholarly production, this article demonstrates PAR' s centrality to the discipline of public administration and its bridging role between public administration and political science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of public administration is often seen as a late adopter of cutting-edge research methods. Related disciplines like political science use more advanced research methods for single or small-ncase studies including techniques like process tracing. Many elements of process tracing are analogous to investigations. To inform process tracing practices, political scientists looked at Sherlock Holmes novels. We draw on the experiences of a police inspector and a former soldier who worked with intelligence to offer insights on the implementation of process tracing, bridge the academic–practitioner gap, and increase the methodological rigor in public administration research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses experimental research in public administration in Canada. Topics include methodology in public administration research, the need for evidence-based decision-making in public administration, and cooperation between social scientists and public administrators. The need for graduate students to be trained in experimental work is noted.

Collaboration is present throughout public administration as a means to address social issues that sit in the interorganizational domain. Yet research carried out over the last three decades has concluded that collaborations are complex, slow to produce outputs, and by no means guaranteed to deliver synergies and advantage. This article explores whether a 'paradox lens' can aid the development of practice-oriented theory to help those who govern, lead, and manage collaborations in practice. It draws on a long-standing research program on collaboration and a synthesis of relevant literature on paradox and collaboration. The article develops five propositions on the application of a paradox lens that explicitly recognizes the context of collaboration as inherently paradoxical; acknowledges the limitations of mainstream theory in capturing adequately the complex nature of and tensions embedded in collaborative contexts; and uses the principles of paradox to develop practice-oriented theory on governing, leading, and managing collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges the view that public leadership research should maintain a separate perspective in the study of public leadership. It discusses the benefits of further embedding the public leadership research domain within leadership studies, constructing a cross-fertilization that contributes to advance both. The article maps key concerns in relational leadership theories, contrasting them with current work in the public leadership research domain and offering suggestions to close the gap. It highlights public leadership scholarship's competitive advantage to contribute to theorizing about leadership, given the importance of context for building contemporary theories of relational leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]