Public responsiveness of government organizations: testing a preliminary model

Few studies have empirically assessed the factors that affect government agencies' public responsiveness from a public management perspective. This article tests a preliminary model that explains the level of public responsiveness with variables about external political environments and internal organizational characteristics. The hypotheses are tested with survey data from state health and human service agencies. The results show that the support of elected officials, the influence of the public and media, and decentralization of decision making have a positive impact on public responsiveness. Results-based management changes have a quadratic [intersection]-shaped relation with public responsiveness. Further, the influence of client groups has a negative impact on public responsiveness. KEYWORDS: government organizations, organizational structure, public responsiveness, results-based management