Understanding Public and Nonprofit Managers' Motivation Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

Contemporary public and nonprofit management research has disproportionally emphasized the importance of intrinsic motivation (especially service motivation) but has given comparatively little attention to non-intrinsic motivation. According to self-determination theory (SDT), non-intrinsic motivation moves from identified motivation, introjected motivation, external motivation, to amotivation, depending on their disparate levels of self-determination. The authors examine empirically whether public managers differ from nonprofit managers on these intrinsic and non-intrinsic motivational styles. The findings show that public managers exhibit stronger service motivation, identified motivation, external motivation, and amotivation when compared to their nonprofit peers. In addition, public managers' strong external motivation and amotivation compromise their overall level of self-determination, suggesting that they may be less motivated by their work requirements than are nonprofit counterparts.     

Institutional analysis for new public governance scholars

ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades, prominent public management and policy scholars have repeatedly identified institutional analysis as a promising tool for empirical research, particularly for the study of ‘new governance’ phenomena where policy is enacted and implemented by actors that span organizations, sectors, jurisdictions, and governance levels. Yet, relatively few empirical studies directly measure and model institutions in management and policy settings. In a systematic review of the literature, we identify challenges and barriers that may prevent management and policy scholars from engaging with institutional analysis, along with examples of studies that illustrate how to overcome these challenges in practice.     

Political Authority and Bureaucratic Resilience

Abstract

Consumerism and choice have become prominent ideas in the design and delivery of public services. Often perceived as a way to improve the quality and value of public services, potential downsides and areas of concern that relate to a consumerist approach are frequently ignored. This review essay takes a critical stance on the application of a consumerist discourse to public service provision and management by exploring four key areas of concern: definitional problems, questions about the concept's transferability from a private to a public sector setting, the problematic nature of ‘choice’, and difficulties associated with implementing consumerist ideas within public service contexts..     

Evolution of Strategic HRM as Seen Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field

Two pioneering books published in 1984 arguably launched the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM). The first is Strategic Human Resource Management by Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna; the second is Managing Human Assets by Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, and Walton. This article provides a 30th anniversary review of the two books, partly to honor their pioneering contributions but also to use them as a lens for examining how the field has subsequently evolved and developed. Two recently published SHRM books are used as a benchmark for this analysis. The review identifies areas of SHRM constancy and change, major theoretical and empirical innovations, and newly developed research questions and directions, largely in an American context. Diagrammatic models of SHRM are synthesized and compared from the four books; also, nine specific dimensions of evolution in the field are highlighted with discussion of advances and shortcomings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey

Abstract

This article presents a systematic review of 122 articles and books (1987–2013) of co-creation/co-production with citizens in public innovation. It analyses (a) the objectives of co-creation and co-production, (b) its influential factors and (c) the outcomes of co-creation and co-production processes. It shows that most studies focus on the identification of influential factors, while hardly any attention is paid to the outcomes. Future studies could focus on outcomes of co-creation/co-production processes. Furthermore, more quantitative studies are welcome, given the qualitative, case study, dominance in the field. We conclude with a research agenda to tackle methodological, theoretical and empirical lacunas.     

The effect of organizational culture on deviant behaviors in the workplace

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of organizational culture (OC) on deviant behaviors in the workplace (workplace deviant behaviors: WDB). We tested the hypothesis that different types of OC (according to the Competing Values Framework model) had an impact on WDB, in addition to the effect of Big Five personality traits. Survey research was undertaken with 954 employees of 30 enterprises in the public and private field, using a hierarchical model approach (HLM) to test the effects of four types of OC (Clan; Adhocracy; Market, Hierarchy) on WDB, over and above the effect of Five Personality traits. The HLM results partially supported our hypotheses, showing that the OC had a significant effect on WDB, with the adhocracy and clan cultures characterized by lower levels of WDB. Managerial implications about the importance of managing the OC are discussed.     

Disclosed Values of Option-Based Compensation – Incompetence,Deliberate Underreporting or the Use of Expected Option Life?

Abstract

This paper provides a commentary on Mark Christensen's (2005) analysis of the role of private sector management consultants in the pursuit of accruals-based accounting reforms in the state of New South Wales. The commentary gives particular consideration to the role and responsibilities of public sector officials in choosing to pursue accruals-based accounting reforms. It questions the claimed knowledge basis underpinning such an initiative and reviews the more general pertinence of accruals accounting to practical public sector financial management issues. In seeking to reinforce a number of the messages emanating from Christensen's work, the commentary makes a number of suggestions for developing accounting research in this area. In particular, it emphasises the need to enhance understanding of the operation of accrual accounting systems in practice, the epistemic ‘communities’ serving to promote them and the importance of challenging the privileged status so often attached to such reforms/technologies.     

Strategic management and public leadership

Abstract

As a new and flatter organization replaces the traditional public organization, it would need more of strategic public management. Key decisions in team production relate to the employment of outcome measures for both monitoring of real activities as well as the reform of the structuring of these activities. Only outcome measures could constitute the starting-point for public sector strategic management. A concept of strategic management for public services must include a theory of public leadership, resulting from the mechanism of credit and commitment on the part of the team providing services. A theory of strategic public management must take into account the specific features of the public sector as well as include the implications of rule of law. Given the criticisms of the rational decision model, a theory of strategic management must pay attention to the lessons from public administration about bounded rationality and the possibility of pathologies or organized foolishness in public organization.     

Working in Kazakhstan and Russia: perception of French managers

The purpose of this exploratory research study is to provide an understanding of how French managers perceive major characteristics of Kazakhstani and Russian management cultures. Based on literature review about culture, the paper uses the cultural dimensions developed by such researchers as Adler, Hall, Hofstede, Schein, Trompenaars, etc., and summarized by Schneider and Barsoux (1997). A qualitative research method - an adaptation of the critical incident technique developed by Flanagan (1954) - is used to explain the peculiarities of Kazakhstani and Russian management culture that create problems for the French managers interviewed (fifteen in Kazakhstan and twelve in Russia). The results indicate that French managers find many common points in the management cultures of Kazakhstan and Russia: both cultures are perceived as cultures with a higher power distance and as more particularistic cultures where a social orientation prevails over a task orientation. Other common points concern human nature, time and truth and reality dimensions. However, there are important differences noted by French managers. Kazakhstani management culture is perceived by them as about being rather than doing and a more collectivist culture, with an orientation towards higher uncertainty avoidance. In the case of Russia, the most importance difference is about hierarchy and affectivity dimensions.     

Value Co-Creation through Patient Engagement in Health Care: A micro-level approach and research agenda

Abstract

Patient engagement has gained increasing prominence within academic literatures and policy discourse. With limited developments in practice, most extant academic contributions are conceptual, with initiatives in the National Health Service (NHS) concentrating at macro- rather than at micro-level. This may be one reason why the issue of ‘value co-creation’ has received limited attention within academic discussions of patient engagement or policy pronouncements. Drawing on emerging ideas in the services marketing and public management literatures, this article offers the first elucidation of the importance of studying ‘value co-creation’ as a basis for further empirical analysis of patient engagement in micro-level encounters.     

Weakening the glass ceiling: does organizational growth reduce gender segregation in the upper tiers of Danish local government?

ABSTRACT

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.     

Public Management Research

Abstract

Are public management researchers sufficiently addressing the contemporary challenges and changes in the real world of public management, including the challenges identified by public management practitioners themselves? If research is to be relevant for senior public managers, it should engage with these contemporary trends and challenges. The article thus raises some normative as well as analytical aspects of research. Research effort should place considerable weight on understanding and responding to the challenges articulated by public management practitioners. This will enable researchers and practitioners to navigate better the ‘swamp’ of complex and wicked problems, rather than be content with theory-building on the ‘high ground’.     

Flexibility and Rigidity in Crisis Management and Learning at Swedish Public Organizations

Abstract

To date the relationship between crises, organizational crisis management, and learning has been understudied. In an effort to broaden theoretical understandings of the relation between crisis and learning, this article analyses the crisis management and learning processes of two public organizations during a sequence of two failures. A framework of rigidity versus flexibility in response is utilized in the analysis. The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for the nexus between crisis and learning. The study concludes by raising four hypotheses for further research.     

The Intellectual Structure Of Research Into PPPs

Abstract

Public–private partnerships (or PPPs) encompass a broad spectrum of public sector infrastructure and service initiatives. Recently, some scholars have undertaken literature review studies of the various definitions of the concept of PPPs and its research traditions, identifying several distinct PPP research approaches. This article aims to: (1) enhance the findings of these literature reviews; (2) identify the cited works and authors (intellectual structure) in the published research on PPPs; (3) define the subfields that constitute the intellectual structure of PPP research fields. The methodology is based on the bibliometric techniques of citation and author co-citation analysis applied to published research on PPPs included in the Social Science Citation Index.     

Not every public sector is a field: evidence from the recent overhaul of the English NHS

ABSTRACT

A structural interpretation of institutionalism has become dominant in public management research. Yet, studies tend to assume an institutional-level phenomenon without specifying how an organizational field was identified or whether structural characteristics can indeed be found in the organizational population studied. This lacuna is illustrated by exploring the structural interpretation of the field construct in the case of the recent overhaul of English primary care. Findings demonstrate the need for a more robust application of institutionalism in empirical research. Possible research problems for public management and a future research agenda based on a more relational approach to fields are discussed.     

Service Quality,Administrative Process,and Citizens’ Evaluation of Local Government in the US

Abstract

It is often assumed that citizens evaluate government based on service quality or outcomes (such as safe neighbourhoods or good schools), but aspects of administrative process (such as fairness and respect) are also important. Using data from two US surveys, this study examines how service quality and administrative process influence citizens’ evaluations of government. Results indicate that service quality matters most to ratings of the community; in contrast, administrative process is the dominant driver of trust; and both quality and process have large effects on judgements about government’s overall job performance. Implications for public management research and practice are discussed.     

Accountability – are We Better off Without It?

Abstract

Public managers increasingly lament about negative effects of accountability. Despite these reports and the importance of accountability in public organizations, it is yet unknown when it has positive or negative effects on managers. Overcoming two major obstacles in accountability research, this study therefore investigates ‘how accountability affects public manager's work behaviour’. Firstly, this study applies a cognitive theory offering a promising way out of the current theoretical dead-end. Secondly, the quasi-experimental research design makes the complex concept of accountability more tangible and findings transferable to practice. Moreover, individual level characteristics such as motivation are used to investigate a potential interaction between contingency and individual level characteristics. Results indicate both positive and negative effects of accountability on work behaviour and hence strongly challenge the positive normative connotation of accountability.     

Managing in Disorderly Times

Abstract

The management of cities has to address new risks, insecurities and emergencies. In this article we analyse the management of the aftermath of two crises – a tornado that hit a part of Birmingham in the UK, and a fireworks explosion that hit a part of the city of Enschede in The Netherlands – in order to understand how local institutions and communities deal with (sudden) disorder and how they restore social order. We do not see this as ‘crisis management’, however, as the management of disorder and renewal will be related to the capacity of public management in everyday and orderly circumstances. Cities have to manage dispersed public and private acts, and these may be the sources of both problems and solutions in the face of disorder, depending on how they are inflected. We therefore wonder whether and how cities help constitute public spaces through which publics can be effectively engaged in the process of restoration and renewal. Managerial templates must be made meaningful not only after, but also before, emergencies. This can be done, the case studies show, by investing in local cultures, and by using ‘political’ intermediaries.     

Industrial relations and the management of whistleblowing after the Francis report: what can be learned from the evidence?

This article focuses on the results obtained from the quantitative surveys conducted for the independent review into creating an open and honest report culture in the NHS. It examines the management of whistleblowing and discusses the research findings in the light of the recommendations made by Sir Robert Francis QC in his ‘Freedom to Speak Up’ report published in February 2015. The authors believe that the principles and actions set out in this report and the detailed Annexe describing various aspects of good practice are generally applicable in both the public and private sectors. In so far as it provides evidence that those who follow their employer's procedure when raising a concern have better outcomes than others, the authors conclude that the quantitative research for Francis is consistent with other findings that power resources and institutional arrangements can be critical to the whistleblowing process.     

Conflict of Interest in Policing and the Public Sector

Abstract

Conflicts of interest are a key factor in the contemporary decline of trust in government and public institutions, eroding public trust in government and democratic systems. Drawing on two unique empirical studies involving policing and the broader public sector, this paper explores the meaning and dimensions of conflict of interest by examining public complaints about conflict of interest and providing distinctive insights into the nature of conflict of interest as a problem for public sector ethics. The paper analyses and explores appropriate regulatory and management approaches for conflict of interest, focusing on three elements: (1) dealing with private interests that are identifiably problematic in the way they clash with the duties of public officials; (2) managing conflicts as they arise in the course of public sector work (manifested in preferential and adverse treatment, and other problematic areas); and (3) developing ethical and accountable organisational cultures. It is concluded that effective and meaningful public sector ethics in the pursuit of the public interest must be based on an ethos of social accountability and a commitment to prioritise the public interest in both fact and appearance.