INTRODUCTION: DETERMINANTS OF PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

The performance of public organizations is one of the key topics in public administration research and practice. This topic was examined at the 'The Determinants of Performance in Public Organizations II' conference held at the University of Hong Kong in December 2006. The conference was held in association with the Public Management Research Association . In the present symposium we introduce four of the articles presented at conference. The articles explore: network performance (Kenis and Provan), goal ambiguity (Lee et al .), environmental shocks (Meier and O'Toole), and diversity (Pitts and Jarry). Alongside this we spotlight the importance of this field and introduce three research themes—contingency theory, measurement and data, and analysis.     

Locating parties, factions and ministers in a policy space: a contribution to understanding the party-policy link

Abstract. The article examines approaches to the study of the party-policy link and argues that two generally held assumptions - the unidimensionality of party political conflict and the party as unitary actor - should be treated as matters for empirical dedermination rather than a priori assumption. Having briefly reviewed interpretations of dimensionality in the Irish party system, the article puts forward an empirical approach to both issues based on multidimensional scaling of preference data from a sample of parliamentarians. The results of the application of such an approach in the Irish case indicate at least a two dimensional policy space and considerable intra-party factionalism. This evidence is then used to interpret the party-policy link in three areas: capital taxation, abortion and divorce, and Northern Ireland policy.     

The Effect of Curfew Laws on Motor Vehicle Crashes

Twelve states in the U.S. have curfew laws, which prohibit young drivers from operating motor vehicles during late evening or early morning hours. The effect of such laws on motor vehicle crashes was studied in four of these states. In each state the laws were found substantially to reduce the crashes of sixteen year olds. Sixteen year old driver crash involvements during curfew hours were reduced by an estimated 69 percent in Pennsylvania, 62 percent in New York, 40 percent in Maryland, and 25 percent in Louisiana. Except in Maryland, the percentage of the sixteen year old population licensed was lower in curfew than comparison states. It is possible that curfew laws reduce early licensure, in which case reductions in crash involvements resulting from curfews are greater than shown above.     

Coercion and Consent: A Tale of Two Court Reforms*

The state courts in Maine have improved compliance with small claims judgments through two distinct reforms: an automatic disclosure process and a court-based mediation program. The first of these survived only briefly but the second is well institutionalized. After showing the similar effects on compliance rates of these two reforms, we conclude that contrasting fortunes of mediation and automatic disclosure can be attributed to their different effects on the costs and work life of courts as organizations and can be further understood in terms of their impact on the court as an institution with fragile authority.