Special issue introduction: integrating Asia Pacific influences and public management research

IF 1.6 Q3 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Chung-an Chen, Soojin Kim, Liang Ma
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Hofstede (2007) argues that the Asia context is special enough to merit more Asia management research. Indeed, public management lessons from the Asia Pacific region may open new windows that allow scholars to improve public management theory and practice. One example is the response of Asia Pacific countries to the COVID-19 pandemic. States in Asia Pacific region took measures that greatly differ from those in North America and West Europe, but their performance in combating the pandemic was no less effective than Western countries. Scholars argue that high performance in many Asian states can be attributed to people’s high trust in government, which is embedded in Confucian culture’s submission to authority (Chen & Hsieh, 2017). However, research that systematically examines Asia Pacific public management remains lacking. As Hofstede (2007) claims, Asian scholars should have more confidence in developing their own research agenda. In our view, the agenda for scholars in the Asia Pacific region should address the following themes. First, it should propose concepts or phenomena tailored for the Asia Pacific context. Many cultural or institutional concepts that cannot be found in the Western context, but meanwhile affect administrative behaviour and public management practices in Asia Pacific region, need to be treated seriously. For example, 2015) propose the concept of “guanxi”, a behavioural pattern grounded in the Confucian culture, and test whether promotion in the Chinese public sector is guanxi-based or merit-based. Second, it should compare public management across the borders, either between the East and the West or among Asian states. Comparative public administration has long been an important branch in public administration research. For example, Chen et al. (2019) find that people’s interest in and attraction to a public service career differs greatly among New Zealand, the United States, and Taiwan, with New Zealand being the lowest and Taiwan being the highest. Reasons for this variation in the attractiveness of public careers has been attributed to radical administrative reform in New Zealand and the high prestige of public servants in Taiwan. Additional research is needed to fully understand the differences across these countries. Finally, it should examine the applicability of propositions developed in the West. For example, in Western countries, most scholars agree that those who are high in public service motivation (PSM) tend to prefer a public-sector than a private-sector career. Some scholars in Asia Pacific countries, however, have failed to reach the same conclusion (Lee & Choi, 2016). In addition, facing competitive public service exams, high-PSM individuals in the East Asian countries are more likely to be “winnowed out” from public service (Chen et al., 2020). We
特刊导论:整合亚太影响与公共管理研究
Hofstede(2007)认为,亚洲的背景足够特殊,值得更多的亚洲管理研究。事实上,来自亚太地区的公共管理经验可以为学者们改进公共管理理论和实践打开新的窗口。亚太国家应对新冠肺炎疫情就是一个例子。亚太区域各国采取的措施与北美和西欧的措施大不相同,但它们在防治这一流行病方面的表现并不逊于西方国家。学者们认为,许多亚洲国家的高绩效可归因于人们对政府的高度信任,这植根于儒家文化对权威的服从(Chen & Hsieh, 2017)。然而,系统考察亚太地区公共管理的研究仍然缺乏。正如Hofstede(2007)所言,亚洲学者应该更有信心制定自己的研究议程。我们认为,亚太地区学者的议程应涉及以下主题:第一,提出适合亚太地区的概念或现象。许多在西方环境中找不到,但同时又影响亚太地区行政行为和公共管理实践的文化或体制概念需要认真对待。例如,2015年)提出了“关系”的概念,这是一种基于儒家文化的行为模式,并测试了中国公共部门的晋升是基于关系还是基于绩效。其次,它应该比较跨国界的公共管理,无论是在东方和西方之间还是在亚洲国家之间。比较公共行政一直是公共行政研究的一个重要分支。例如,Chen et al.(2019)发现新西兰、美国和台湾对公共服务职业的兴趣和吸引力差异很大,其中新西兰最低,台湾最高。公共事业吸引力差异的原因被归因于新西兰激进的行政改革和台湾公务员的高声望。需要进一步的研究来充分了解这些国家之间的差异。最后,它应该考察西方发展的命题的适用性。例如,在西方国家,大多数学者都认为公共服务动机高的人倾向于在公共部门而不是私营部门工作。然而,亚太国家的一些学者未能得出同样的结论(Lee & Choi, 2016)。此外,面对竞争激烈的公共服务考试,东亚国家的高psm个体更有可能被公共服务“淘汰”(Chen et al., 2020)。我们
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.50
自引率
20.70%
发文量
25
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