Publication
Title
Nature or nurture? Agency life‐cycles as a function of institutional legacy, political environment, and organizational hardwiring
Author
Abstract
A growing body of literature attempts to explain the life‐cycles of public sector organizations. Of particular interest have been the form and incidence of their birth and termination, and connecting these events to such variables as legal status and political ideology. Less attention has been given to the effect of intermediary life‐cycle events, the tasks performed by agencies, and their policy domains. This study builds on existing fixed characteristics (nature) and dynamic environmental (nurture) approaches and uniquely supplements them with a new institutional legacy paradigm that examines how previous organizational reforms influence future reform. Moreover, we advance existing studies by providing more comprehensive tests of the role that task type and policy domain play. Finally, we retest “classic” nature and nurture variables, namely, political turnover and legal form. Results suggest that nature and nurture provide important pieces of the organizational life‐cycle puzzle and that nurture comprises both external and intra‐organizational dynamics.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Public administration review / American Society for Public Administration. - Chicago, Ill.
Publication
Chicago, Ill. : 2023
ISSN
0033-3352 [print]
1540-6210 [online]
DOI
10.1111/PUAR.13741
Volume/pages
83 :6 (2023) , p. 1833-1854
ISI
001104781000009
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
The author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version Available from 05.10.2024
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.01.2024
Last edited 11.04.2024
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