The federal government continues to face persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled talent, particularly in high‐demand technical fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. While compensation gaps are often cited, growing evidence suggests that institutional rigidities and non‐pecuniary disincentives—ranging from opaque hiring procedures to limited flexibility—constrain the public sector's ability to attract and retain expertise. This paper provides a comprehensive review of federal hiring pathways and opportunities to expedite the attraction of talent under existing authorities. Using the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in February 2025 as a case study, I contextualize how it was used to facilitate personnel reforms via alternative hiring mechanisms. The paper concludes with a set of practical policy recommendations for personnel reform for both the short and long run.
{"title":"Beyond Traditional Civil Service Hiring: Alternative Pathways for Recruiting Technical Expertise","authors":"Christos A. Makridis","doi":"10.1111/puar.70087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70087","url":null,"abstract":"The federal government continues to face persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled talent, particularly in high‐demand technical fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. While compensation gaps are often cited, growing evidence suggests that institutional rigidities and non‐pecuniary disincentives—ranging from opaque hiring procedures to limited flexibility—constrain the public sector's ability to attract and retain expertise. This paper provides a comprehensive review of federal hiring pathways and opportunities to expedite the attraction of talent under existing authorities. Using the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in February 2025 as a case study, I contextualize how it was used to facilitate personnel reforms via alternative hiring mechanisms. The paper concludes with a set of practical policy recommendations for personnel reform for both the short and long run.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146146003","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}
The personal background and traits of top organizational leaders matter for organizational strategies, policymaking, and outcomes. Drawing on upper echelons theory, imprinting theory, and scholarship on managerial decision-making and the transferability of private-sector management approaches to the public sector, this study examines the relationship between US governors' top business experience and budgetary outcomes. Competing hypotheses are proposed and tested to assess whether governors with significant business experience enhance or hinder budgetary outcomes. Using a panel dataset of 48 states spanning 1960–2010 and a regression discontinuity design, the analysis finds that electing governors with high-level business experience leads to improved budget equilibrium during their terms. These findings suggest that governors with business backgrounds are likely to be better able to align revenues with expenditures, thus reducing deviations from the budget. The results are robust across alternative model specifications and offer critical theoretical and practical insights into leadership dynamics and fiscal governance.
{"title":"State Budgetary Outcomes: Do CEO Governors Make a Difference?","authors":"Can Chen, Boyuan Zhao, Qiushi Wang","doi":"10.1111/puar.70090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70090","url":null,"abstract":"The personal background and traits of top organizational leaders matter for organizational strategies, policymaking, and outcomes. Drawing on upper echelons theory, imprinting theory, and scholarship on managerial decision-making and the transferability of private-sector management approaches to the public sector, this study examines the relationship between US governors' top business experience and budgetary outcomes. Competing hypotheses are proposed and tested to assess whether governors with significant business experience enhance or hinder budgetary outcomes. Using a panel dataset of 48 states spanning 1960–2010 and a regression discontinuity design, the analysis finds that electing governors with high-level business experience leads to improved budget equilibrium during their terms. These findings suggest that governors with business backgrounds are likely to be better able to align revenues with expenditures, thus reducing deviations from the budget. The results are robust across alternative model specifications and offer critical theoretical and practical insights into leadership dynamics and fiscal governance.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146135477","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}
Despite its importance in theory and practice, little is known about whether, how, when, and for whom a collaborative governance strategy achieves socially equitable outcomes. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we analyze how well Oregon counties that adopted collaborative governance bridge racial disparities in healthcare access compared to non-adopting counties. We find that collaborative governance is associated with reducing racial and ethnic disparities in financial barriers to visiting a doctor after 3 years of implementation and that such effects grow stronger over time. In addition, the estimated effect of collaborative governance on having a personal doctor is greatest for Hispanics. This article points to potential benefits of a collaborative governance strategy that designs and scales collaboration through a collaborative platform and collaborative governance regimes, sustains long-term efforts to meet health equity goals, and identifies and serves the most vulnerable populations.
{"title":"Collaboration as a Tool for Equity? Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare Access","authors":"Jiho Kim, Tina Nabatchi","doi":"10.1111/puar.70091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70091","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its importance in theory and practice, little is known about whether, how, when, and for whom a collaborative governance strategy achieves socially equitable outcomes. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we analyze how well Oregon counties that adopted collaborative governance bridge racial disparities in healthcare access compared to non-adopting counties. We find that collaborative governance is associated with reducing racial and ethnic disparities in financial barriers to visiting a doctor after 3 years of implementation and that such effects grow stronger over time. In addition, the estimated effect of collaborative governance on having a personal doctor is greatest for Hispanics. This article points to potential benefits of a collaborative governance strategy that designs and scales collaboration through a collaborative platform and collaborative governance regimes, sustains long-term efforts to meet health equity goals, and identifies and serves the most vulnerable populations.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146135471","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}
Shahidul Hassan, Bradley E. Wright, Justine E. Tinkler
The “racist cop” stereotype is one of the most prominent social representations of law enforcement in the United States. Drawing on theories of stereotype threat and stigma, this article suggests that this negative stereotype creates an identity threat that heightens anxiety and stress among law enforcement officers, increasing the risks of their burnout. Using survey data collected from officers in a state-level law enforcement agency in 2021, we find that White officers, as well as those who reported greater stress during the 2020 protests, express stronger concerns about being perceived as racist. These concerns are associated with elevated levels of burnout, and efforts to maintain a positive self-image partially mediate this relationship. These findings hold even after controlling for burnout levels reported by the same officers in 2019. Overall, our results extend stereotype-threat research to a high-power public service context and underscore the need for organizational interventions that reduce stereotype-related stress and support officer well-being.
{"title":"Anticipated Stigma and Burnout: The Impact of Concerns About Being Perceived as Racist Among Law Enforcement Officers","authors":"Shahidul Hassan, Bradley E. Wright, Justine E. Tinkler","doi":"10.1111/puar.70085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70085","url":null,"abstract":"The “racist cop” stereotype is one of the most prominent social representations of law enforcement in the United States. Drawing on theories of stereotype threat and stigma, this article suggests that this negative stereotype creates an identity threat that heightens anxiety and stress among law enforcement officers, increasing the risks of their burnout. Using survey data collected from officers in a state-level law enforcement agency in 2021, we find that White officers, as well as those who reported greater stress during the 2020 protests, express stronger concerns about being perceived as racist. These concerns are associated with elevated levels of burnout, and efforts to maintain a positive self-image partially mediate this relationship. These findings hold even after controlling for burnout levels reported by the same officers in 2019. Overall, our results extend stereotype-threat research to a high-power public service context and underscore the need for organizational interventions that reduce stereotype-related stress and support officer well-being.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"287 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146115752","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}
The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) is in a position to respond to current threats to public administration. ASPA is a curator of knowledge and can help achieve the key ideas of the United States of America. We should advance the science of administration by improving our theories. While we have not achieved the ideals the founding of the United States, we should continue to strive to improve governance.
{"title":"Let Us Be Guided by the Light of Progress by John R. Bartle","authors":"John R. Bartle","doi":"10.1111/puar.70089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70089","url":null,"abstract":"The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) is in a position to respond to current threats to public administration. ASPA is a curator of knowledge and can help achieve the key ideas of the United States of America. We should advance the science of administration by improving our theories. While we have not achieved the ideals the founding of the United States, we should continue to strive to improve governance.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146109867","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}
Ge Wang, Wenbo Song, Tao Wang, Shurui Jiang, Yang Li
Institutional distance shapes how private partners participate in cross‐country public–private partnership (PPP) projects, yet its effects remain underexplored. Drawing on organizational institutionalism, we argue that institutional distance generates adaptation pressures that prompt private partners to engage in sustained collaborations. Such collaborations lead private partners to build relationships and connect into networks, within which positional advantages are accumulated. Using data on 3223 PPP projects across 91 countries from 1998 to 2022, we establish longitudinal networks and measure three types of positional advantages: linkage, brokerage, and independence. Our results show that greater institutional distance is associated with the accumulation of these advantages over time. Moreover, host countries' involvement in economic‐political alliances moderates these relationships in contrasting ways, weakening the effect on linkage and brokerage advantages while strengthening the effect on independence advantages. We highlight implications for how governments can better support private partners' participation in cross‐country PPP projects.
{"title":"Navigating Institutional Distance: How Private Partners Accumulate Network Positional Advantages in Cross‐Country Public–Private Partnership Projects","authors":"Ge Wang, Wenbo Song, Tao Wang, Shurui Jiang, Yang Li","doi":"10.1111/puar.70086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70086","url":null,"abstract":"Institutional distance shapes how private partners participate in cross‐country public–private partnership (PPP) projects, yet its effects remain underexplored. Drawing on organizational institutionalism, we argue that institutional distance generates adaptation pressures that prompt private partners to engage in sustained collaborations. Such collaborations lead private partners to build relationships and connect into networks, within which positional advantages are accumulated. Using data on 3223 PPP projects across 91 countries from 1998 to 2022, we establish longitudinal networks and measure three types of positional advantages: linkage, brokerage, and independence. Our results show that greater institutional distance is associated with the accumulation of these advantages over time. Moreover, host countries' involvement in economic‐political alliances moderates these relationships in contrasting ways, weakening the effect on linkage and brokerage advantages while strengthening the effect on independence advantages. We highlight implications for how governments can better support private partners' participation in cross‐country PPP projects.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146101403","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}
Administrative burdens are deliberate policy choices, as governments can proactively design rules and procedures to shape burdens experienced by citizens. While existing research has examined the effects of burden reduction strategies, less is known about the factors driving burden reduction actions at the local level. This paper investigates why city governments adopt streamlining ordinances to reduce burdens in permit service delivery, focusing on the electric vehicle charging station permitting process. Using data from 482 California cities between 2015 and 2023, we find that cities with stronger fiscal capacity, more climate‐concerned, and whiter populations are more likely to institutionalize burden reduction practices in streamlining ordinances. Contrary to expectations, neither mass political ideology nor political leader (mayoral) partisanship has a significant impact on municipal permitting reforms. Our findings demonstrate how capacity constraints, distributive politics, and policy‐specific constituency preferences jointly shape local governments' willingness to reduce burdens in public service delivery.
{"title":"Explaining Burden Reduction in Municipal Service Delivery: The Case of Streamlined Electric Vehicle Charger Permitting in California","authors":"Shan Zhou, Emma Mast","doi":"10.1111/puar.70088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70088","url":null,"abstract":"Administrative burdens are deliberate policy choices, as governments can proactively design rules and procedures to shape burdens experienced by citizens. While existing research has examined the effects of burden reduction strategies, less is known about the factors driving burden reduction actions at the local level. This paper investigates why city governments adopt streamlining ordinances to reduce burdens in permit service delivery, focusing on the electric vehicle charging station permitting process. Using data from 482 California cities between 2015 and 2023, we find that cities with stronger fiscal capacity, more climate‐concerned, and whiter populations are more likely to institutionalize burden reduction practices in streamlining ordinances. Contrary to expectations, neither mass political ideology nor political leader (mayoral) partisanship has a significant impact on municipal permitting reforms. Our findings demonstrate how capacity constraints, distributive politics, and policy‐specific constituency preferences jointly shape local governments' willingness to reduce burdens in public service delivery.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146098405","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}
Ad hoc commissions are well known in policymaking, yet their strategic deployment during crises remains less understood. This study examines how governments rely on expert commissions to manage blame and political risk in response to critical events. I argue that while commissions facilitate blame avoidance, their use is constrained when delegating authority to experts poses greater risks than benefits. Using logit models on longitudinal data from Chile (1990–2022), I assess how critical events affect commission appointments. The study draws on a novel dataset constructed through archival research and develops an original indicator of critical events using billions of media records from Google Jigsaw's Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT). The findings reveal a conditional logic: high presidential disapproval and frequent critical events are associated with greater use of commissions, whereas sustained or severe events are linked to lower use. These results suggest that the deployment of expert commissions as a blame avoidance strategy is conditional on governments' political risk calculus.
{"title":"Strategic Use of Ad Hoc Commissions for Blame Avoidance: Evidence From Chile","authors":"Carla Cisternas","doi":"10.1111/puar.70082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70082","url":null,"abstract":"Ad hoc commissions are well known in policymaking, yet their strategic deployment during crises remains less understood. This study examines how governments rely on expert commissions to manage blame and political risk in response to critical events. I argue that while commissions facilitate blame avoidance, their use is constrained when delegating authority to experts poses greater risks than benefits. Using logit models on longitudinal data from Chile (1990–2022), I assess how critical events affect commission appointments. The study draws on a novel dataset constructed through archival research and develops an original indicator of critical events using billions of media records from Google Jigsaw's Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT). The findings reveal a conditional logic: high presidential disapproval and frequent critical events are associated with greater use of commissions, whereas sustained or severe events are linked to lower use. These results suggest that the deployment of expert commissions as a blame avoidance strategy is conditional on governments' political risk calculus.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048679","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}
Sandy Zook, Peter Adjei‐Bamfo, Thema Monroe‐White, Justice N. Bawole
Globally, technological innovations are driving governments towards e‐government adoption. Digitization efforts have met with more resistance and challenges in the Global South context due to high levels of financial, logistical, and technical constraints. The information and communication technology for development literature provides two lenses for examining e‐government adoption: structural conditions (e.g., infrastructure, financial resources) and the affective orientations (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, values) of actors towards technology. Connecting these two lenses frames the analysis of a case study on a nascent digital nonprofit registration process in Ghana built by drawing on historical information, country context, observations, and interviews with public bureaucrats representing the central government and 17 local government authorities. The findings identify key structural conditions and affective orientations, including informal bring‐your‐own‐device norms, that have become necessary for leveraging technological capabilities. Insights may be extended to other world regions and contexts that face similar constraints in their pursuit of digital transformations.
{"title":"e ‐Government Adoption in Ghana: Structural Conditions and Employee Affective Orientation","authors":"Sandy Zook, Peter Adjei‐Bamfo, Thema Monroe‐White, Justice N. Bawole","doi":"10.1111/puar.70068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70068","url":null,"abstract":"Globally, technological innovations are driving governments towards e‐government adoption. Digitization efforts have met with more resistance and challenges in the Global South context due to high levels of financial, logistical, and technical constraints. The information and communication technology for development literature provides two lenses for examining e‐government adoption: structural conditions (e.g., infrastructure, financial resources) and the affective orientations (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, values) of actors towards technology. Connecting these two lenses frames the analysis of a case study on a nascent digital nonprofit registration process in Ghana built by drawing on historical information, country context, observations, and interviews with public bureaucrats representing the central government and 17 local government authorities. The findings identify key structural conditions and affective orientations, including informal bring‐your‐own‐device norms, that have become necessary for leveraging technological capabilities. Insights may be extended to other world regions and contexts that face similar constraints in their pursuit of digital transformations.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"85 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146042684","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}
The nature and epistemological foundations of Public Administration (PA) have long been debated, primarily by scholars from the Global North who draw on their own historical and institutional contexts. Recently, leading international journals in Public Administration have increasingly and proactively incorporated the experiences of Global South countries, recognizing the diversity and heterogeneity in how PA is understood and taught. However, these contributions often stop short of engaging with the deeper epistemological and ontological tensions within the PA discipline's intellectual development. This article aims to represent how the Chilean PA community engages the field-discipline tension through the qualitative analysis of 18 interviews with directors of undergraduate PA programs. The findings highlight a dual challenge: first, a limited understanding of the intellectual traditions shaping PA, which hinders its consolidation as a discipline; and second, a fragmented discourse on interdisciplinarity that lacks coherence and strategic integration. The study contributes to broader discussions on the identity of PA in the Global South.
{"title":"Disciplinary Tensions and Institutional Diversity in the Study of Public Administration in Chile","authors":"Nicolas Didier, Juan Pablo Araya-Orellana","doi":"10.1111/puar.70081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70081","url":null,"abstract":"The nature and epistemological foundations of Public Administration (PA) have long been debated, primarily by scholars from the Global North who draw on their own historical and institutional contexts. Recently, leading international journals in Public Administration have increasingly and proactively incorporated the experiences of Global South countries, recognizing the diversity and heterogeneity in how PA is understood and taught. However, these contributions often stop short of engaging with the deeper epistemological and ontological tensions within the PA discipline's intellectual development. This article aims to represent how the Chilean PA community engages the field-discipline tension through the qualitative analysis of 18 interviews with directors of undergraduate PA programs. The findings highlight a dual challenge: first, a limited understanding of the intellectual traditions shaping PA, which hinders its consolidation as a discipline; and second, a fragmented discourse on interdisciplinarity that lacks coherence and strategic integration. The study contributes to broader discussions on the identity of PA in the Global South.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146000528","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}