Institutional theory suggests that organizations pursue legitimacy by conforming to isomorphic pressures in their environment. We extend previous research on institutional theory by distinguishing between two definitions of conformity (compliance and convergence) and by taking a comprehensive...

We develop a theory of the effect of top management succession on the performance of public organizations. The theory is rooted in the fundamental characteristics of an organization’s publicness: ownership, funding, and regulation. We construct the concept of publicness fit – the match...

Influences on agency heads’ length of tenure depend on the way in which tenure ends, distinguished by moving to elsewhere in the public sector; the private sector; or retiring. We estimate survival models of agency heads’ tenure using panel data on British central government executive...

This document presents the views of the participants of a two day workshop discussing the future of red tape research. To the greatest extent possible, the authors have tried to accurately represent the consensus view that emerged. But as is in any discourse of a moderately large number of...

A theoretical framework is developed for the analysis of the impact of executive succession in public organizations. The central concepts in the model are the motives of chief executives, the means at their disposal and the opportunities available for influencing performance. The main hypothesis...

Best Value has been presented by central government as a means of promoting local diversity and innovation. However, it contains a large superstructure for regulating the behaviour and performance of local authorities, through performance indicators, audit, and inspection. The characteristics of...

Governments have been encouraging public service organizations to innovate. However, little is known about the extent of innovation in public service organizations. A private sector approach to the measurement of innovation - the literature-based innovation output indicator (LBIOI) - is applied...

Critics of New Public Management argue that differences between public and private organizations are so great that business practices should not be transferred to the public sector. In this paper the theoretical arguments on the differences between private firms and public agencies are reviewed,...