Senior Public Managers’ Engagement: A Person–Situation-Interactionist Perspective

This article examines the engagement of senior public managers by developing a person–situation-interactionist perspective. It integrates the literature on social exchange theory and person–organization fit to explore the effects of decision autonomy and shared vision on the engagement of more than 2,000 senior public sector managers in the central government agencies of three continental European countries: France, Germany, and The Netherlands. Then, it examines whether the locus of control of those managers moderates the decision autonomy–engagement and shared vision–engagement relationships. The structural equation modeling results suggest that there are positive relationships between both decision autonomy and shared vision and employee engagement. Further analysis revealed that an internal locus of control strengthened the decision autonomy–engagement relationship, but that it weakened the shared vision–engagement relationship.     

Changing aspects of government–society relations in South Korea: evidence from the evolution of environmental policy governance

In South Korea, the development of environmental policy did not garner much attention from either the government or society before the mid-1980s, although policy-making in this sphere had a long history prior to this time, as with other traditional policy areas. Moreover, it is significant that mid-1980s in Korea was a period characterised by a new political–economic landscape that induced changes in the aims and roles of the government and society in policy-making. Thus, specific developments of Korea's government–society relationship may be reflected in the evolution of its environmental policy. This paper aims to analyse the changing aspects of this relationship in the area of environmental policy by examining environmental policy governance since 1971. The research results show that the government–society relationship in this policy area has been gradually transformed – from a stage of confrontation to that of complex interactions. Per the findings, this paper argues that the relationship needs to be further enhanced to a stage of institutionalisation, and explores ways of achieving this goal.     

Funding,Management, and Individual-Level Factors: What Factors Matter in Predicting Perceived Organizational Effectiveness?

Scholars have examined organizational effectiveness in state and federal government agencies to determine which factors matter. Their findings revealed that public organizational effectiveness is affected by environmental, human resource management, organizational, and individual-level factors. However, what is conspicuously absent is the impact funding has on organizational effectiveness. To further previous literature, this article examined agency funding levels as well as management and individual-level factors to determine the relationship these factors had on organizational effectiveness. In doing so, a model was developed to predict perceived organizational effectiveness, and it was tested on 330 United States government workers in the state of New York. The findings from the analysis were clear: perceived organizational effectiveness was impacted by employee perceptions regarding the level of funding the agencies were allocated. Additionally, the level of role ambiguity and employee participation in decision-making as well as employee job performance and public service motivation levels were also found to matter. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed in the article.     

Models of Public Service Provision—When Will Knights and Knaves Be Responsive to Pawns and Queens?

This article extends the framework of Le Grand (2003 Le Grand, J. 2003. Motivation, agency and public policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2010 Le Grand, J. 2010. Knights and knaves return: Public service motivation and the delivery of public services. International Public Management Journal, 13(1): 56–71. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to encompass responsiveness, and the main argument is that the combination of employee motivation, user capacity, and models of public service provision potentially has serious implications for responsiveness across service areas. Although research on employee motivation thrives, especially in the public service motivation (PSM) literature, few studies have investigated user capacity empirically, and we know little about the combination of PSM, user capacity and models of service provision. Analyzing four central service areas (day care, schools, hospitals, and universities), we find variations in both user capacity and PSM. Taking this variation as a point of departure we discuss what implications different combinations of employee motivation, user capacity, and models of public service provision may have for responsiveness.     

In Search of the Holy Grail in Public Service: A Study on the Mediating Effect of Public Service Motivation on Organizational Politics and Outcomes

ABSTRACT

There appears to be a research gap in terms of examining whether PSM will hold fast even in the midst of a politically charged work environment. This article investigates how highly motivated government employees would react to the potentially adverse effects of political perception (POP) on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and workplace stress. The findings indicated that PSM exists among the respondent municipal social workers in the Philippines and that this motivation directly translates to positive outcomes. However, PSM did not have the expected mediating effect which is a departure from the commonly held view about its buffering power and mitigating role.     

The Impact of Mobbing and Job-Related Stress on Burnout and Health-Related Quality of Life: The Case of Turkish Territorial State Representatives

This study is to determine whether stress and mobbing are directly related to burnout; and whether burnout adversely affects the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Turkish territorial state representatives (TSRs). The results established that stress was positively and significantly associated with the burnout of TSRs, while mobbing was positively and significantly related to the burnout. HRQoL was negatively associated with the burnout. The findings showed that propositions of the theoretical frameworks of the study and literature were consistent with one another.     

Should Business and Non-Business Accounting be Different? A Comparative Perspective Applied to the French Central Government Accounting Standards

The French General Law of Finances of 2001 introduced a set of accounting standards including an explicit conceptual framework reconciling accrual basis accounting with the specific aspects of accounting for central government activities. This article analyzes this French set of accounting standards from a dualistic perspective that compares both business and non-business accounting. Three different views of accounting for business enterprises are addressed: the wealth-basis (static), the cash-basis, and the accrual-basis (dynamic). A dynamic view of the accrual basis is adapted to the specificities of non-business entities, including governments. The accounting representation is used here to explore further the nature and role of public sector activities within the economic system and their economic and monetary significance.     

A Serious Game: Performance Management in Italian Ministries

In 2009, extensive performance management measures were introduced in Italian ministries, following a significant legislative initiative. The objectives that were initially set, however, have not yet been reached. In the paper, the authors discuss this issue, starting with the consideration of the main limits on the introduction of performance measurement systems in public organizations. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the shortcomings of performance management depend not only on the persistence of an administrative paradigm, but also on the underestimated impact of control over organizational behavior; where the latter is linked not to mechanical logic processes, but to more sophisticated forms of reactivity or even counter-intuitive sense-making processes.     

Corporate Governance of Nonprofit Organizations: Cooperation and Control

Abstract

This article explores the limits of institutional economics regarding the cooperation of boards of directors and executive directors of nonprofit organizations. The normative separation of power between these central actors resulting especially from arguments derived from institutional economics is being reflected using the analytical approach from the resource-based view and empirical evidence based upon group and motivational theory. After analyzing the board’s role and the individual board member’s role within a nonprofit organization, the paper explores the limits to decision-making within governing bodies. The paper shows why a unitary board can improve the quality of decision-making within nonprofit organizations by raising the incentives for the executive director to act as desired. The paper also explores the impact of trust and different types of control upon the key actors within the governance process in order to derive the suitable form of control from that analysis.     

Fixers as Shadow “Public Servants”: A Case Study of Israel

Fixers can thrive in any level of political, bureaucratic, or institutional development. Paradoxically the academic research of the phenomenon of fixers is in its infancy. There exists no accepted definition of fixers; the boundaries between fixers and lobbyists remain murky, in terms of comparative administration only limited knowledge about the forces that breed different types of fixers in different political settings is available; and no deductive theory was articulated that might determine when and how fixing might become dysfunctional and corruptive. In an attempt to better understand the phenomenon of fixers more theoretically; this study analyzes fixers in view of three theories of bureaucratic corruption, and in view of the emerging theory of alternative politics. Using Israel as a case in point, the study shows that within certain national and local branches of government fixers not only create a shadow copy of official institutions, but also foster institutional corruption.