Stephanie Walsh, Gregory A. Porumbescu, Andrea Hetling
{"title":"Using technology to reduce learning costs and improve program comprehension: Lessons from a survey experiment on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program","authors":"Stephanie Walsh, Gregory A. Porumbescu, Andrea Hetling","doi":"10.1111/puar.13868","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13868","url":null,"abstract":"The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food assistance to those in need, and while the program reaches many who are eligible, program participation falls short of reaching all who are eligible. One factor contributing to this gap in participation is difficulty understanding program eligibility, a common challenge with means-tested benefit programs. Governments have attempted to improve public understanding of these complex programs using a range of tools to reduce learning costs, yet we know little about the extent to which these tools work and why. This preregistered survey experiment tests three commonly used methods of communicating SNAP program information, including a flyer, screening tool, and video. Cumulatively, our findings demonstrate that efforts to reduce SNAP learning costs are generally effective at improving comprehension recall and that the type of intervention matters, with the video increasing comprehension scores more than the flyer and screening tool. However, the impact of the intervention does not vary substantially according to household income.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142138481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bert George, Dag Ingvar Jacobsen, Jan‐Erik Johanson, Åge Johnsen, Elias Pekkola
{"title":"User acceptance of strategic planning: Evidence from Northern European municipalities","authors":"Bert George, Dag Ingvar Jacobsen, Jan‐Erik Johanson, Åge Johnsen, Elias Pekkola","doi":"10.1111/puar.13874","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13874","url":null,"abstract":"Strategic planning is core to public administration at all governmental levels. Evidence suggests that when conducted well strategic planning impacts several performance outcomes. Yet, public administration and strategy scholars have argued that strategic planning is not only a technical procedure. Its success is contingent upon the people involved in strategic planning. This study investigates strategic planning using user acceptance theory. It identifies whether formal and participatory strategic planning associate with ease of use and usefulness of strategic planning and, in turn, whether ease of use and usefulness associate with commitment to strategic plans. Results from PLS‐SEM analysis of survey data from 327 municipalities in three Northern European countries or regions (Flanders, Finland, Norway) corroborate the perspective of strategic planning as organizational behavior where design choices shape attitudes and behaviors. These findings support calls to consider strategic planning from a 3Ps perspective, namely connecting people–process–plan, to achieve outcomes.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142117976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Administrative evil and moral disengagement: The case of torture in apartheid‐era South Africa","authors":"Christopher J. Einolf","doi":"10.1111/puar.13875","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13875","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding how administrators can commit unethical acts is an important goal of public administration research. This article tests whether moral inversion, taken from Balfour, Adams, and Nickels' theory of administrative evil, can help explain torture, and also proposes and tests Bandura's theory of moral disengagement. It analyzes testimony from perpetrators of torture who testified before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996–2000. The results support moral inversion, as perpetrators stated that they believed their actions were morally justified. The results also support displacement of responsibility, as perpetrators shifted responsibility away from themselves and toward actors above or below them in the chain of command. However, the analysis does not support the theory of diffusion of responsibility, as perpetrators did not take the silence of officials outside of their chain of command as approval, but instead anticipated their disapproval and tried to conceal their actions.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142100604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American Society for Public Administration Code of Ethics","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/puar.13871","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13871","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142042555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is Trust in Local Government Influenced by the “Marketplace” of Choice?","authors":"Lanjun Peng, Justin M. Ross","doi":"10.1111/puar.13869","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13869","url":null,"abstract":"Governments are subjected to many sources of competition that can be productive or destructive to their ability to maintain citizen trust. This paper explores the role of competition in the local government marketplace as a determinant of trust in local government. Using individual respondent data from the Gallup Poll Social Series in the United States from 2001 to 2022, this paper explores the effect of policy space autonomy and availability of choice in government on trust in local government. We find evidence of productive competition increasing with the number of local governments in the respondent's labor market. Similarly, states that restrict the diversity of choice through tax and expenditure limits reduce productive competition, while limits on issuing debt enhance local trust. The results are supported by numerous robustness checks and a placebo test on trust in the federal government.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142013904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Representative bureaucracy and local government contracting: Examining supplier diversity programs","authors":"Evelyn Rodriguez-Plesa","doi":"10.1111/puar.13867","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13867","url":null,"abstract":"Equity and efficiency are among the most difficult public values to balance in the contracting environment where institutions and service markets influence how and with whom public dollars are spent. A representative bureaucracy helps reflect the interests of underrepresented, disadvantaged social groups and instill equity in government contracting. This research examines the relationship between representation at various decision-making levels in local government agencies and supplier diversity program implementation supporting women and minority owned firms. This study employs negative binomial regression with data from a survey of local government agencies in the United States, American Community Survey, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Harvard Dataverse. Results indicate that minority representation at the elected official and procurement head levels relates to the amount of supplier diversity efforts taking place. Findings have implications for theory and practice demonstrating the importance of a representative bureaucracy for promoting equity in environments where efficiency is key.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141991951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ingo Bousema, Tim Busscher, Ward Rauws, Wim Leendertse
{"title":"How do polycentric governance systems adapt? The role of forums explored in Dutch metropolitan areas","authors":"Ingo Bousema, Tim Busscher, Ward Rauws, Wim Leendertse","doi":"10.1111/puar.13865","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13865","url":null,"abstract":"Forums play a crucial role in how polycentric governance systems adapt by allowing actors to deliberate on how to respond to exogenous change. However, the exact role of forums remains unclear, as prior studies on polycentric governance often examine different types of actors and network structures separately. To address this issue, we combine insights from actor and network level analyses to compare how actors in three Dutch metropolitan areas use forum shifting, shopping, and linking as strategies to create and adjust forums in response to a change in national spatial policy. We find that actors create and adjust forums through a combination of strategies. Combining strategies not only helps to create and adjust forums but also legitimizes their existence. Which strategies are combined depends on the interaction between actors that are both resource rich and highly active, and how these actors are positioned in a particular polycentric governance network.","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141909146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring contemporary challenges in public administration and higher education","authors":"Jyoti Aggarwal, Abdollah Zeraatpisheh","doi":"10.1111/puar.13864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13864","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48431,"journal":{"name":"Public Administration Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141899397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}