Publication
Title
Keeping a watchful eye in times of turmoil? How repeated structural reform leads to more attention to political signals
Author
Abstract
An important rationale for the creation of semi‐autonomous agencies is to create some distance between politics and administration. As such, agencies are expected to shield policy implementation from the daily concerns of political life. However, political actors and politically controlled ministries still influence agencies in various intended and unintended ways. This article focuses on intensive long‐term series of structural reforms and how they may undermine the original design philosophy underpinning agencification. We utilize a dataset combining staff surveys and a structural reform database to perform multilevel analyses of employees nested in organizations. We find that the frequency with which agencies have experienced structural reform affects the weight that employees attach to signals from political and ministerial principals. Frequent structural reform may lead to heightened perceptions of the importance of political signals. Hence, frequent structural reforms may increase the risk of political influence on agencies that were designed to operate impartially.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Public administration / Royal Institute of Public Administration [London] - London, 1926, currens
Publication
Hoboken : Wiley , 2020
ISSN
0033-3298 [print]
1467-9299 [online]
DOI
10.1111/PADM.12653
Volume/pages
p. 1-21
ISI
000523631100001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Slow-healing wounds? How continuous structural reforms in the public sector reduce levels of job satisfaction and slow the recovery of job satisfaction in the long term.
Trust and distrust in multi-level governance: causes, dynamics, and effects (GOVTRUST).
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 29.01.2020
Last edited 12.12.2024
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