JournalTOCs

American Review of Public Administration
Journal Prestige (SJR): 2.062

Citation Impact (citeScore): 2
Number of Followers: 18

Hybrid journal * Containing 2 Open Access article(s) in this issue *
ISSN (Print) 0275-0740 - ISSN (Online) 1552-3357
Published by Sage Publications

[1074 journals]

Patients, Protocols, and Prosocial Behavior: Rule Breaking in Frontline
Health Care
- Authors: Erin L. Borry, Alexander C. Henderson
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Rules are essential components of organizations, especially given their foundational role in inducing organizationally preferred behavior and reducing behavioral variability among its members. Despite the existence and prevalence of these centrally important tools, rule deviation occurs. This study proposes to understand the ways in which emergency medical service (EMS) professionals break rules for prosocial purposes—to help patients. In particular, this research seeks to understand how specific organizational and personal attributes influence rule-breaking tendencies. Results indicate that aspects of ethical climate are significantly related to prosocial rule-breaking (PSRB) tendencies, whereas empathy is not. In addition, this study finds that other characteristics, such as a conformist personality, risk taking, expertise, and experience on the job influence PSRB. These findings contribute to the literature on rule deviation and EMS practices and shed light on the complexity of decision making in frontline public services.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-11T06:54:28Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019862680
Understanding Collaboration in Disaster Assistance Networks:
Organizational Homophily or Resource Dependency'
- Authors: Alka Sapat, Ann-Margaret Esnard, Aleksey Kolpakov
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Greater collaboration among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) after disasters is important in helping them deliver services, share information, and avoid resource duplication. Following a disaster, numerous NGOs, including a large number of faith-based NGOs, typically offer disaster assistance. But to what extent do these NGOs providing disaster assistance collaborate with each other' Does organizational homophily prevail' Or is the need to acquire resources an incentive for collaboration' Are collaborations characterized by relationships of dependency' To answer these questions, we analyze collaboration between international NGOs, local NGOs, faith-based organizations, and other organizations providing disaster assistance in Haiti in the 3-year period following the 2010 earthquake. Data on these organizations and their networks were analyzed using social network analysis methods. The major findings are that most organizations collaborate within sectoral boundaries and that homophily is one of the main drivers of collaboration, illuminating power relationships in disaster assistance networks.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-11T06:53:16Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019861347
Cross-Sector Emergency Information Networks on Social Media: Online
Bridging and Bonding Communication Patterns
- Authors: Clayton Wukich, Qian Hu, Michael D. Siciliano
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  A key challenge for public administrators is facilitating communication among diverse actors. This article illustrates the information seeking and sharing preferences of notable emergency information suppliers on social media who operate primarily within four states. Through homophily and brokerage analyses, two basic communication preferences were noted: (a) bridging patterns in which actors interact with diverse sources of information, and (b) bonding patterns in which actors rely on sources from similar backgrounds. Both provide value for practitioners. A crucial task, then, is to balance those approaches and adjust to the shifting demands of the external environment.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-09T11:42:57Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019861701
Where Are the Revolving Doors in Brussels' Sector Switching and Career
Progression in EU Business–Government Affairs
- Authors: David Coen, Matia Vannoni
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  By applying event history analysis to a unique large sample of more than 300 government affairs managers working for companies active in the European Union (EU), this article investigates whether managers with work experience in the public or nonprofit sector are more likely to progress in their career in their current company and whether career progression depends on when that experience takes place. The findings suggest that managers with experience in the public and nonprofit sector are less likely to progress in their careers. This effect becomes stronger when the stage of the career at which the manager had experience in the public sector is taken into consideration. These findings are contrary to the expectations from the public and private management literature and suggest that we should see less revolving door activity in Brussels. We propose that these findings are driven by the distinct EU public policy process and the variance in individual and organizational incentives in the EU public sector.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-09T11:42:37Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019861360
Values of Public Craftsmanship: The Mismatch Between Street-Level Ideals
and Institutional Facilitation in the Prison Sector
Open Access Article
- Authors: Hester L. Paanakker
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Public craftsmanship, as the normative prescription of a myriad of public values, is receiving renewed attention. This study aims at empirical insight into how such abstract principles acquire practical meaning in specific professional settings, and how they are practically facilitated on the shop floor. We use an explorative case study among Dutch prison professionals (N = 32) to contrast perceptions of ideal values and practices with perceptions of institutional facilitation at street level. In the case of prison officers, the institutional context of the prison was found to substantially restrain rather than support the ideals that professionals attach to good street-level craftsmanship. The study’s theoretical contribution is to show craftsmanship as uniquely localizing the normative underpinnings of good work. Empirically, the findings show how an unyielding neoliberalist administrative practice can hamper the potential of public craftsmanship and is likely to have negative impact on staff commitment and successful public service delivery. We end with implications for the further examination and development of public craftsmanship in public administration theory and practice.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-05T06:37:04Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019859944
Minority Public Administrators: Managing Organizational Demands While
Acting as an Advocate
- Authors: Kristen Carroll, Kenicia Wright, Kenneth J. Meier
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Building on the work of Adam Herbert, this research examines how minority managers navigate the pressures of their organization versus the pressures of their community. Organizational socialization suggests that the socialization process will introduce employees to the goals and priorities of the organization and result in similar behaviors among managers. However, social identities (i.e., race, gender) also significantly influence the values, attitudes, and behaviors of a public servant. Navigating these two competing pressures, minority managers often experience role conflict in their work. We theoretically explore and empirically examine how race affects minority managers’ perceptions, networking behaviors, and hiring outcomes. We test our hypotheses using 6 years of school superintendent survey data. We find that racial minority managers behave in similar ways to their White peers as they have similar perceptions of their role in the organization and engage in professional networking behavior at similar rates. However, minority managers separately address the interests of their same-race minority community by hiring same-race street-level bureaucrats. As public organizations have grown increasingly diverse, this research revisits the experiences of minority public administrators and contributes to our understanding of how race and social identities contemporarily influence public managerial behaviors.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-07-05T06:36:04Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019859942
The Non-Randomness of Municipal Government Reorganization: Evidence From
Village Dissolution in New York
- Authors: Pengju Zhang
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Municipal government dissolution used to be a rare occurrence in American history and has thus far received little attention in the literature. More than 300 of municipal governments, however, have dissolved since the mid-1990s. To understand this emerging momentum in practice and to fill the gap in literature, this article focuses on the increasing trend of village dissolution in New York, builds an analytical framework, and investigates the driving forces behind the possibility of dissolution, which is measured either by the presence of any dissolution-related activity or by the passage of a dissolution referendum. Based on a representative survey sample and a rich set of secondary data, this article consistently finds that dissolution does not randomly occur. Rather, dissolution is more likely to be considered and approved in a village where the economy struggles, the population declines, political trust undermines, and fiscal health deteriorates. In other words, the research suggests dissolution may not be as appealing or take place in economically strong and politically dynamic areas.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-26T05:48:17Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019858066
Fostering Civic Health: An Analysis of the Generative and Mediating
Activities of Community-Based Organizations
- Authors: Kandyce Fernandez, Robbie Robichau, Jennifer Alexander
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Civic engagement in U.S. political life has declined since the 1950s resulting in a deluge of studies that explore its causes and implications. Research to date has directed little attention to the institutional role of associations as the foundation for civic engagement in all of its forms. This article utilizes institutional theory as a lens to examine the ways in which community-based organizations (CBOs), in tandem with local government, foster civic engagement, and enhance representation in their communities. Through interview data obtained from stakeholders of 18 local education foundations (LEFs) in Florida, we examine the ways in which CBOs nurture civic health with client communities (generative role) and represent their interests in local policy arenas (mediating role). Based on the results of this initial study, we argue that greater attention should be directed to the relationships between CBOs and measures of civic health given their unique capacity to foster it. Results indicate the relationship between generative and mediating activities is such that CBOs’ engagement with client communities establishes the foundational knowledge necessary for representing their interests in the interorganizational arena. In addition, CBOs were found to establish both bridging and bonding capital in the interorganizational arena through their efforts to exert influence on behalf of client communities.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-19T12:11:20Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019854177
Artificial Intelligence, Discretion, and Bureaucracy
- Authors: Justin B. Bullock
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  This essay highlights the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in governance and society and explores the relationship between AI, discretion, and bureaucracy. AI is an advanced information communication technology tool (ICT) that changes both the nature of human discretion within a bureaucracy and the structure of bureaucracies. To better understand this relationship, AI, discretion, and bureaucracy are explored in some length. It is argued that discretion and decision-making are strongly influenced by intelligence, and that improvements in intelligence, such as AI, can help improve the overall quality of administration. Furthermore, the characteristics, strength, and weaknesses of both human discretion and AI are explored. Once these characteristics are laid out, a further exploration of the role AI may play in bureaucracies and bureaucratic structure is presented, followed by a specific focus on systems-level bureaucracies. In addition, it is argued that task distribution and task characteristics play a large role, along with the organizational and legal context, in whether a task favors human discretion or the use of AI. Complexity and uncertainty are presented as the major defining characteristics for categorizing tasks. Finally, a discussion is provided about the important cautions and concerns of utilizing AI in governance, in particular, with respect to existential risk and administrative evil.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-18T08:43:49Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019856123
Social Vulnerability and Procedural Equity: Exploring the Distribution of
Disaster Aid Across Counties in the United States
- Authors: Simone J. Domingue, Christopher T. Emrich
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  To date, there has been limited research conducted on disaster aid allocation across multiple regions and disasters within the United States. In addition, there is a paucity of research specifically connecting social indicators of vulnerability to public assistance grants aimed at restoring, rebuilding, and mitigating against future damages in disasters. Given these gaps, this article inquires as to whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) public assistance program is characterized by procedural inequities, or disparate outcomes for counties with more socially vulnerable populations. Specifically, this article analyzes county-level FEMA’s Public Assistance distribution following major disaster declarations, while controlling for damages sustained, population, household counts, and FEMA Region. Results indicate that FEMA’s Public Assistance program operates well when accounting only for disaster losses across the years, however, findings also show that county social conditions influence funding receipt. Although socioeconomic characteristics were significant drivers of assistance spending, additional vulnerability indicators related to county demographic and built environment characteristics were also important drivers of receipt. Cases of both procedural inequity and equity are highlighted, and implications for equitable disaster recovery are discussed along with recommendations.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-18T08:42:49Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019856122
Which Countries Have More Open Governments' Assessing Structural
Determinants of Openness
- Authors: Sabina Schnell, Suyeon Jo
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  An increasing number of countries are adopting open government reforms, driven, in part, by the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a global effort dedicated to advancing such initiatives. Yet, there is still wide variation in openness across countries. We investigate the political, administrative, and civic factors that explain this variation, using countries’ fulfillment of OGP eligibility criteria as a proxy for minimum standards of openness. We find that countries with strong constraints on the executive and high levels of citizen education have governments that are more open. A dense network of civil society organizations is associated with more budget transparency and higher civil liberties, but not with access to information or asset disclosure laws. The results suggest that if the value of openness is to be translated in practice, it is not enough to have capable bureaucracies—countries also need informed citizens and strong oversight of executive agencies.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-18T07:24:56Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019854445
Outsourcing and Organizational Performance: The Employee Perspective
- Authors: Gyeo Reh Lee, Shinwoo Lee, Deanna Malatesta, Sergio Fernandez
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  We develop a conceptual framework that integrates and extends existing explanations of outsourcing’s effects on the government workforce and organizational performance. We then test our logic using 5 years of panel data (2010-2014) from U.S. federal agencies. The evidence presents modest negative effects of outsourcing on organizational performance as perceived by employees. The analysis also reveals that outsourcing affects perceived performance through its influence on job satisfaction.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-13T06:07:26Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019855469
Citizen Participation and Its Impact on Performance in U.S. Nursing Homes
- Authors: Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Ohbet Cheon, Jourdan A. Davis, Kenneth J. Meier, Fei Wang
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  Fundamental to democratic societies, citizen participation is an important tool for promoting active, informed, and empowered citizenry as well as responsive and accountable administration. Past literature on citizen participation has focused on its determinants, forms, and prevalence. This study examines the relationship between a specific form of citizen participation—client participation—and organizational performance. We use hybrid data on U.S. nursing homes that combine a survey of nursing home administrators’ managerial practices with federal performance appraisal data. Our empirical findings suggest that more intense levels of client participation, such as the use of clients’ feedback in decision-making, are positively associated with performance: They increase the overall five-star ratings and lower health deficiencies. In contrast, less intense client participation efforts, such as merely communicating with client/family groups, are not significantly related to performance. This study highlights the role of participation intensity, suggesting that public administrators should not only go beyond informing and listening to their stakeholders, but also take steps to use the obtained feedback in organizational decision-making.
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-11T12:23:04Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019854172
Mechanisms of Social Capital in Organizations: How Team Cognition
Influences Employee Commitment and Engagement
- Authors: Alexander Kroll, Leisha DeHart-Davis, Dominik Vogel
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-10T08:55:54Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019851894
What Makes Neighborhood Associations Effective in Urban Governance'
Evidence From Neighborhood Council Boards in Los Angeles
- Authors: Hui Li, Bo Wen, Terry L. Cooper
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-06-06T08:42:41Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019854160
Conceptualizing the Collaborative Toolbox: A Dimensional Approach to
Collaboration
- Authors: Christopher R. Prentice, Mark T. Imperial, Jeffrey L. Brudney
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-05-20T08:22:47Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019849123
Beyond NPM to Post-NPM' A Study of China’s Government Reforms
Over the Past 40 Years
- Authors: Tian Xiaolong, Tom Christensen
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-05-18T11:00:20Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019849122
The Costs and Benefits of Volunteering Programs in the Public Sector: A
Longitudinal Study of Municipal Governments
- Authors: Mikhail Ivonchyk
  First page: 689
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-05-18T11:01:20Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019849125
Contracts, Agency Vulnerability, and the Allocation of Federal Funds
- Authors: Stuart Kasdin, Luona Lin
  First page: 720
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-05-18T11:00:39Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019849124
Public Professionals’ Engagement in Coproduction: The Impact of the Work
Environment on Elderly Care Managers’ Perceptions on Collaboration With
Client Councils
Open Access Article
- Authors: Carola van Eijk, Trui Steen, René Torenvlied
  First page: 733
  Abstract: The American Review of Public Administration, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: The American Review of Public Administration
  PubDate: 2019-04-12T08:29:10Z
  DOI: 10.1177/0275074019840759