Public participation processes promise that citizens will be heard, but rarely guarantee they will be heeded. This distinction between procedural acknowledgment and substantive influence lies at the heart of bureaucratic responsiveness, yet these two forms of responsiveness are often conflated in empirical research. I demonstrate that in federal rulemaking, procedural acknowledgment (being heard) is empirically distinct from substantive policy influence (being heeded). Drawing on theories of bureaucratic responsiveness, I argue that agencies strategically cite commenters not primarily to signal agreement but to build defensible administrative records that satisfy procedural requirements while preserving their policy autonomy. Analyzing 854 federal rules from 2017 to 2023, I use semantic text analysis to track changes in binding regulatory provisions distinct from the explanatory preamble. I show that agencies systematically cite comments they ultimately reject, particularly from well-resourced groups. Roughly two-thirds of comment citations are not accompanied by any responsive change to the regulatory text. This reveals that procedural responsiveness can function as a strategic substitute for substantive policy change. These findings suggest that procedural engagement and substantive influence operate as distinct modes of bureaucratic responsiveness, with agencies often prioritizing legal defensibility over policy adaptation when facing potential judicial review.
{"title":"Hearing, Not Heeding: Procedural Acknowledgment and Substantive Influence in Rulemaking","authors":"Alexander Love","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muag003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muag003","url":null,"abstract":"Public participation processes promise that citizens will be heard, but rarely guarantee they will be heeded. This distinction between procedural acknowledgment and substantive influence lies at the heart of bureaucratic responsiveness, yet these two forms of responsiveness are often conflated in empirical research. I demonstrate that in federal rulemaking, procedural acknowledgment (being heard) is empirically distinct from substantive policy influence (being heeded). Drawing on theories of bureaucratic responsiveness, I argue that agencies strategically cite commenters not primarily to signal agreement but to build defensible administrative records that satisfy procedural requirements while preserving their policy autonomy. Analyzing 854 federal rules from 2017 to 2023, I use semantic text analysis to track changes in binding regulatory provisions distinct from the explanatory preamble. I show that agencies systematically cite comments they ultimately reject, particularly from well-resourced groups. Roughly two-thirds of comment citations are not accompanied by any responsive change to the regulatory text. This reveals that procedural responsiveness can function as a strategic substitute for substantive policy change. These findings suggest that procedural engagement and substantive influence operate as distinct modes of bureaucratic responsiveness, with agencies often prioritizing legal defensibility over policy adaptation when facing potential judicial review.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146135525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rosanna Nagtegaal, Machiel van der Heijden, Noortje de Boer, Lars Tummers
This study investigates whether reducing administrative burdens can increase interest in active labor market programs among job-seeking women. Employing a user-centered approach, the research is divided into two phases. In phase 1, we conducted interviews with women and a focus group with service providers to identify relevant barriers for take-up. The qualitative data showed that learning costs were the most prominent barrier, which could be further differentiated into three specific types: learning about program existence, the specific services offered, and the eligibility criteria. In phase 2, we test whether reducing these three components of learning costs increases program interest. We conduct an online quasi-experimental platform study (N = 75,451), in collaboration with a service provider, in which we adapt advertisements to inform citizens about (a) the specific services offered and (b) the eligibility criteria. A logistic regression shows that the interventions (a and b) attract more people to active labor market programs. Although women are overall more likely to click on the ads, we do not find a differential treatment effect by gender. The findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the importance of distinguishing among different types of learning costs in administrative burden interventions. Moreover, the article shows how a user-centered design can be utilized to design meaningful interventions.
{"title":"Breaking Down Administrative Burdens: A User-Centered Approach to Increase Interest in Active Labor Market Programs by Women","authors":"Rosanna Nagtegaal, Machiel van der Heijden, Noortje de Boer, Lars Tummers","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf039","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates whether reducing administrative burdens can increase interest in active labor market programs among job-seeking women. Employing a user-centered approach, the research is divided into two phases. In phase 1, we conducted interviews with women and a focus group with service providers to identify relevant barriers for take-up. The qualitative data showed that learning costs were the most prominent barrier, which could be further differentiated into three specific types: learning about program existence, the specific services offered, and the eligibility criteria. In phase 2, we test whether reducing these three components of learning costs increases program interest. We conduct an online quasi-experimental platform study (N = 75,451), in collaboration with a service provider, in which we adapt advertisements to inform citizens about (a) the specific services offered and (b) the eligibility criteria. A logistic regression shows that the interventions (a and b) attract more people to active labor market programs. Although women are overall more likely to click on the ads, we do not find a differential treatment effect by gender. The findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the importance of distinguishing among different types of learning costs in administrative burden interventions. Moreover, the article shows how a user-centered design can be utilized to design meaningful interventions.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146089534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
How do public agencies manage diverse programs under limited budgets? Resource constraints force agencies to prioritize tasks, requiring strategic decisions about how to allocate resources effectively. In this paper, I develop a gametheoretical model that explores how agencies shape and restructure their task portfolios under budgetary constraints. In response to budget reductions, I argue that agencies reallocate resources by prioritizing more efficient tasks for improved performance, within their portfolios. To test my theoretical claims, I analyze an original dataset of antitrust cases filed by the U.S. Antitrust Division (AD) from 1970 to 2019. Using compositional analysis, I find systematic associations between budgetary changes and the AD’s litigation portfolios. Specifically, budget cuts are associated with a higher share of antitrust criminal cases—the most efficient type for improving performance metrics—and with relatively lower shares for other case types. This study offers new insight into how public agencies navigate budgetary constraints to achieve their public missions while meeting performance expectations.
{"title":"How Do Public Agencies Respond to Budgetary Control? A Theory of Strategic Task Portfolios in Public Administration","authors":"Jonghoon Lee","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muag001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muag001","url":null,"abstract":"How do public agencies manage diverse programs under limited budgets? Resource constraints force agencies to prioritize tasks, requiring strategic decisions about how to allocate resources effectively. In this paper, I develop a gametheoretical model that explores how agencies shape and restructure their task portfolios under budgetary constraints. In response to budget reductions, I argue that agencies reallocate resources by prioritizing more efficient tasks for improved performance, within their portfolios. To test my theoretical claims, I analyze an original dataset of antitrust cases filed by the U.S. Antitrust Division (AD) from 1970 to 2019. Using compositional analysis, I find systematic associations between budgetary changes and the AD’s litigation portfolios. Specifically, budget cuts are associated with a higher share of antitrust criminal cases—the most efficient type for improving performance metrics—and with relatively lower shares for other case types. This study offers new insight into how public agencies navigate budgetary constraints to achieve their public missions while meeting performance expectations.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145961881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines blame shifting, where elected officials attempt to deflect blame for negative outcomes onto other actors. While prior research suggests that citizens generally disapprove of this tactic, this study re-evaluates how contextual factors shape these reactions, focusing specifically on cases of public service failure. In many areas of public management, service delivery is delegated or contracted out to public or private organizations, raising the question of whether such institutional arrangements make it easier for politicians to shift blame onto these agents. A survey experiment (n = 955) was conducted in the United Kingdom involving a hypothetical public service failure. Information cues varied the response strategy of local elected officials (shifting blame or accepting responsibility) and the service delivery model (public or private sector; high or low delegation). The results from OLS regression analyses show that participants were generally less approving of blame shifting compared to accepting responsibility. However, approval increased when the organization being blamed was viewed by participants as carrying more blame for failures in service delivery than the official. Although delegation levels did not directly moderate the effect of blame shifting, further logistic regression analysis shows that higher delegation made participants more likely to view the service provider as culpable, which in turn influenced how they reacted to blame shifting tactics. These findings highlight the conditional nature of public reactions to blame avoidance behavior, showing that citizens’ evaluations of tactics like blame shifting depend on their beliefs about who is responsible, which can be shaped by institutional context. The study offers new insights into when blame shifting may appear more credible or justified and underscores the role of context in shaping the effectiveness of political blame avoidance strategies.
{"title":"Judging the blame game: how do citizens react to blame shifting in public service delivery?","authors":"Oscar Nowlan","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf038","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines blame shifting, where elected officials attempt to deflect blame for negative outcomes onto other actors. While prior research suggests that citizens generally disapprove of this tactic, this study re-evaluates how contextual factors shape these reactions, focusing specifically on cases of public service failure. In many areas of public management, service delivery is delegated or contracted out to public or private organizations, raising the question of whether such institutional arrangements make it easier for politicians to shift blame onto these agents. A survey experiment (n = 955) was conducted in the United Kingdom involving a hypothetical public service failure. Information cues varied the response strategy of local elected officials (shifting blame or accepting responsibility) and the service delivery model (public or private sector; high or low delegation). The results from OLS regression analyses show that participants were generally less approving of blame shifting compared to accepting responsibility. However, approval increased when the organization being blamed was viewed by participants as carrying more blame for failures in service delivery than the official. Although delegation levels did not directly moderate the effect of blame shifting, further logistic regression analysis shows that higher delegation made participants more likely to view the service provider as culpable, which in turn influenced how they reacted to blame shifting tactics. These findings highlight the conditional nature of public reactions to blame avoidance behavior, showing that citizens’ evaluations of tactics like blame shifting depend on their beliefs about who is responsible, which can be shaped by institutional context. The study offers new insights into when blame shifting may appear more credible or justified and underscores the role of context in shaping the effectiveness of political blame avoidance strategies.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Morten Hjortskov, Nanna Vestergaard Ahrensberg, Jesper Asring Jessen Hansen, Jakob Majlund Holm, Simon Calmar Andersen
The challenges of implementing public policies and interventions have long been recognized, and a wide range of well-documented barriers frequently hinder effective implementation. We develop a framework of implementation support approaches, distinguishing between two types: fidelity and professional responsibility. We test the framework in a large-scale, preregistered field experiment involving 250 Danish schools implementing an evidence-based reading intervention. Regression results show that, at the family level, a professional responsibility approach emphasizing discretion led to behavioral changes in program take-up and, to some extent, use. A plausible mechanism is increased encouragement from teachers in this group, as indicated by the parents. Somewhat unexpectedly, teachers most appreciated the fidelity approach. Overall, the findings suggest that even minor changes in the framing of implementation support have detectable consequences, and while the fidelity approach may ease teachers’ workload in the short run, granting greater discretion through a professional responsibility approach ultimately enhances benefits for the target group.
{"title":"Implementation Support: A Field Experiment on the Effects of Fidelity and Professional Responsibility Approaches","authors":"Morten Hjortskov, Nanna Vestergaard Ahrensberg, Jesper Asring Jessen Hansen, Jakob Majlund Holm, Simon Calmar Andersen","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf040","url":null,"abstract":"The challenges of implementing public policies and interventions have long been recognized, and a wide range of well-documented barriers frequently hinder effective implementation. We develop a framework of implementation support approaches, distinguishing between two types: fidelity and professional responsibility. We test the framework in a large-scale, preregistered field experiment involving 250 Danish schools implementing an evidence-based reading intervention. Regression results show that, at the family level, a professional responsibility approach emphasizing discretion led to behavioral changes in program take-up and, to some extent, use. A plausible mechanism is increased encouragement from teachers in this group, as indicated by the parents. Somewhat unexpectedly, teachers most appreciated the fidelity approach. Overall, the findings suggest that even minor changes in the framing of implementation support have detectable consequences, and while the fidelity approach may ease teachers’ workload in the short run, granting greater discretion through a professional responsibility approach ultimately enhances benefits for the target group.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145895705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While gender biases in public service delivery are well-established, we still lack empirical insights on the underlying behavioral micro-mechanisms. This paper contributes towards closing this perennial gap by investigating gender-differences in the complexity and emotionality of verbal bureaucrat-client communication. We build on a dataset comprising 154 dialogs recorded across different local public services in Germany. Combining rule-based and machine learning classification, we analyze differences in verbal administrative communication across 20,000 utterances. We find no association between bureaucrats’ gender and their communication. Conversely, clients’ gender yields a significant difference, with officials communicating more complex and emotional when interacting with male clients. No differences prevail for gender-matching. As the first study to systematically examine implicit (gender) biases in bureaucrats’ communication, the paper advance our existing understanding of the micro-mechanisms of administrative inequality: The findings contradict expectations from gender socialization theory, they confirm expectations linked to gender stereotypes, and they challenge the idea that in-group settings reduce stereotypical biases at the level of communication.
{"title":"Inequality in frontline communication: Bureaucrats talk differently to men and women","authors":"Laurin Friedrich, Steffen Eckhard","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf036","url":null,"abstract":"While gender biases in public service delivery are well-established, we still lack empirical insights on the underlying behavioral micro-mechanisms. This paper contributes towards closing this perennial gap by investigating gender-differences in the complexity and emotionality of verbal bureaucrat-client communication. We build on a dataset comprising 154 dialogs recorded across different local public services in Germany. Combining rule-based and machine learning classification, we analyze differences in verbal administrative communication across 20,000 utterances. We find no association between bureaucrats’ gender and their communication. Conversely, clients’ gender yields a significant difference, with officials communicating more complex and emotional when interacting with male clients. No differences prevail for gender-matching. As the first study to systematically examine implicit (gender) biases in bureaucrats’ communication, the paper advance our existing understanding of the micro-mechanisms of administrative inequality: The findings contradict expectations from gender socialization theory, they confirm expectations linked to gender stereotypes, and they challenge the idea that in-group settings reduce stereotypical biases at the level of communication.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145836065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) is promoted as a model that improves results, enhances quality, reduces costs, and increases accountability. It has become a standard element of government contracting worldwide and a key component of newer pay-for-success models. However, scholarly evaluations remain scattered and often lack a solid theoretical foundation. This study conducts a meta-analysis of 740 observations from 38 studies across 10 service areas to evaluate genuine performance. Utilizing principal–agent, incomplete-contract, and goal-setting theories, we examine what influences the performance of PBC. By combining these perspectives within a single empirical framework, the paper offers a systematic test of core assumptions about incentive alignment, contract incompleteness, and goal design in public contracting. Results indicate that outcome-focused contracts are more successful than those targeting process- or output-based results. This finding provides quantitative evidence supporting incomplete-contract theory’s claim that performance depends on the contractibility of outcomes and extends principal–agent logic by demonstrating when and why incentives fail in multidimensional public settings. Although context matters, factors such as residual control, collaboration, and shared goals are central to PBC success. The study thus makes a theoretical contribution by bridging economic and behavioral contracting theories and empirically grounding their predictions in public-sector evidence.
{"title":"The Performance of Performance-Based Contracting in Public Outsourcing: A Meta-regression Analysis","authors":"Germà Bel, Pedro Espaillat, Marc Esteve","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf037","url":null,"abstract":"Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) is promoted as a model that improves results, enhances quality, reduces costs, and increases accountability. It has become a standard element of government contracting worldwide and a key component of newer pay-for-success models. However, scholarly evaluations remain scattered and often lack a solid theoretical foundation. This study conducts a meta-analysis of 740 observations from 38 studies across 10 service areas to evaluate genuine performance. Utilizing principal–agent, incomplete-contract, and goal-setting theories, we examine what influences the performance of PBC. By combining these perspectives within a single empirical framework, the paper offers a systematic test of core assumptions about incentive alignment, contract incompleteness, and goal design in public contracting. Results indicate that outcome-focused contracts are more successful than those targeting process- or output-based results. This finding provides quantitative evidence supporting incomplete-contract theory’s claim that performance depends on the contractibility of outcomes and extends principal–agent logic by demonstrating when and why incentives fail in multidimensional public settings. Although context matters, factors such as residual control, collaboration, and shared goals are central to PBC success. The study thus makes a theoretical contribution by bridging economic and behavioral contracting theories and empirically grounding their predictions in public-sector evidence.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145812768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the relationship between social vulnerabilities and the attention paid to them by local governments. Drawing from collective action and cognitive theories, we conceptualize planning as an organization-level inference process of selecting strategies to minimize gaps between expected and desired futures. Responding to public administration scholars who have called for advancing theories of managing risks, we examine whether local planning processes are responsive to community disadvantages and how the administrative arrangements and coordination efforts of local governments influence this sensitivity. In doing so, we highlight a phenomenon labeled organizational divergence, in which a collective’s perceived community disadvantages differ from reality. Examining climate action, economic development and sustainability plans, combined with survey and spatial data on environmental burdens for 462 municipal governments, we find evidence, using a multiphase Bayesian analytic strategy, that institutional designs which empower professional city managers increase the probability cities will engage in broader types of planning but decrease the odds they will prioritize social vulnerabilities. However, these cities are more likely to minimize divergence relative to mobility and water-related vulnerabilities. Conversely, greater functional coordination across governmental units increases the probability of prioritizing vulnerabilities in planning but also increases organizational divergence.
{"title":"Seeing No Evil? Social Vulnerabilities, Collective Inference and Organizational Divergence","authors":"Aaron Deslatte, Eric Stokan, Juwon Chung","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf034","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the relationship between social vulnerabilities and the attention paid to them by local governments. Drawing from collective action and cognitive theories, we conceptualize planning as an organization-level inference process of selecting strategies to minimize gaps between expected and desired futures. Responding to public administration scholars who have called for advancing theories of managing risks, we examine whether local planning processes are responsive to community disadvantages and how the administrative arrangements and coordination efforts of local governments influence this sensitivity. In doing so, we highlight a phenomenon labeled organizational divergence, in which a collective’s perceived community disadvantages differ from reality. Examining climate action, economic development and sustainability plans, combined with survey and spatial data on environmental burdens for 462 municipal governments, we find evidence, using a multiphase Bayesian analytic strategy, that institutional designs which empower professional city managers increase the probability cities will engage in broader types of planning but decrease the odds they will prioritize social vulnerabilities. However, these cities are more likely to minimize divergence relative to mobility and water-related vulnerabilities. Conversely, greater functional coordination across governmental units increases the probability of prioritizing vulnerabilities in planning but also increases organizational divergence.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"132 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145704490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lena E Bygballe, Ragnhild Kvålshaugen, Anne Helena Kokkonen
Purpose-oriented networks (PONs) face multiple tensions, but although their existence is well-documented, there is limited research on how network tensions emerge and how they are managed over time to enable network sustainability. We conducted a longitudinal process study of a public PON in the natural hazards field in Norway to explore how network participants experience and manage network tensions. The study identifies four tension-managing practices that help sustain networks. The analysis reveals how network tensions are interrelated and (re)emerge as the network unfolds, and how the participants’ use of these practices yields different outcomes but enables them to sustain the network over time. The study answers recent calls in the public administration literature for process studies to better understand network phenomena and contributes with a “networks-as-practice” perspective on managing network tensions. This perspective helps to reconcile and extend the dominant network governance and management perspectives because, by focusing on practice, it captures how structures and actions mutually shape one another—an interaction that is fundamental to network processes and dynamics.
{"title":"A Process Study of Managing Tensions for Sustaining Public Purpose-Oriented Networks: Toward A “Networks as Practice” Perspective","authors":"Lena E Bygballe, Ragnhild Kvålshaugen, Anne Helena Kokkonen","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf030","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose-oriented networks (PONs) face multiple tensions, but although their existence is well-documented, there is limited research on how network tensions emerge and how they are managed over time to enable network sustainability. We conducted a longitudinal process study of a public PON in the natural hazards field in Norway to explore how network participants experience and manage network tensions. The study identifies four tension-managing practices that help sustain networks. The analysis reveals how network tensions are interrelated and (re)emerge as the network unfolds, and how the participants’ use of these practices yields different outcomes but enables them to sustain the network over time. The study answers recent calls in the public administration literature for process studies to better understand network phenomena and contributes with a “networks-as-practice” perspective on managing network tensions. This perspective helps to reconcile and extend the dominant network governance and management perspectives because, by focusing on practice, it captures how structures and actions mutually shape one another—an interaction that is fundamental to network processes and dynamics.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"172 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145254944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates leadership representation and the perceptions of public employees, specifically focusing on a fire department led by a Black fire chief. Drawing from literature on representative bureaucracy and relational demography, we explore how leadership representation influences street-level bureaucrats’ views on diversity and representation within the organization. Through in-depth interviews with both Black and White firefighters, we find distinctions in their perceptions regarding racial diversity and representation. Firstly, Black firefighters viewed the presence of a Black leader as empowering, leading to opportunities for professional advancement and a commitment to community representation. In contrast, White firefighters perceived race-based diversity efforts as undermining meritocracy. Secondly, White firefighters preferred to avoid having discussions about race and diversity within the workplace, often referring to their familial bond and collective firefighter identity that minimized racial differences among their colleagues. Moreover, White firefighters are colorblind until race poses a material threat to them. Black firefighters reported selectively engaging in discussions depending on the context or cultural environment, or avoiding conversations, especially when they perceived potential consequences. Our findings suggest that leadership representation serves as a context to further interrogate these divergences. This research expands our understanding of leadership representation within public agencies and practically highlights the importance of managing diversity issues to foster inclusivity and mitigate tensions.
{"title":"Internal Representation? How Black and White firefighters view racial diversity within the Fire service","authors":"James E Wright, Andrea M Headley, Youghyun Cho","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muaf029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf029","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates leadership representation and the perceptions of public employees, specifically focusing on a fire department led by a Black fire chief. Drawing from literature on representative bureaucracy and relational demography, we explore how leadership representation influences street-level bureaucrats’ views on diversity and representation within the organization. Through in-depth interviews with both Black and White firefighters, we find distinctions in their perceptions regarding racial diversity and representation. Firstly, Black firefighters viewed the presence of a Black leader as empowering, leading to opportunities for professional advancement and a commitment to community representation. In contrast, White firefighters perceived race-based diversity efforts as undermining meritocracy. Secondly, White firefighters preferred to avoid having discussions about race and diversity within the workplace, often referring to their familial bond and collective firefighter identity that minimized racial differences among their colleagues. Moreover, White firefighters are colorblind until race poses a material threat to them. Black firefighters reported selectively engaging in discussions depending on the context or cultural environment, or avoiding conversations, especially when they perceived potential consequences. Our findings suggest that leadership representation serves as a context to further interrogate these divergences. This research expands our understanding of leadership representation within public agencies and practically highlights the importance of managing diversity issues to foster inclusivity and mitigate tensions.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":"102 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145141506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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