Representative bureaucracy, organizational strategy, and public service performance: An empirical analysis of English local government Academic Article

abstract

• The theory of representative bureaucracy suggests that organizations perform better if their workforces reflect the characteristics of their constituent populations. The management literature implies that the impact of representative bureaucracy is contingent on organizational strategy. Our empirical evidence on English local government is inconsistent with the basic theory of representative bureaucracy but supports a moderating effect of organizational strategy. Representative bureaucracy is negatively associated with citizens' perceptions of local authority performance. However, organizations pursuing a prospector strategy are able to mitigate this negative relationship.

authors

• Meier, Kenneth

published proceedings

• JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY

altmetric score

• 3

author list (cited authors)

• Andrews, R., Boyne, G. A., Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., & Walker, R. M.

citation count

• 147

complete list of authors

• Andrews, R||Boyne, GA||Meier, KJ||O'Toole, LJ||Walker, RM

publication date

• October 2005

publisher

• Oxford University Press (OUP)  Publisher

published in

• Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research  Journal

keywords

• 44 Human Society
• 4407 Policy And Administration
• 4408 Political Science

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1093/jopart/mui032

start page

• 489

end page

• 504

volume

• 15

issue

• 4

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mui032