Jessica Terman

Comparative Administration: Ontology and Epistemology in Cross-Cultural Research

A review of methodological inquiry shows that, from its inception, comparative public administration (CPA) scholarship brushed over important epistemological and ontological questions in favor of searching for broad-based, generalizable theories that subscribed to only objectivist ontologies. This article traces these problematic methodological assumptions in contemporary CPA research back to the mischaracterization of the terms idiographic and nomothetic in CPA research. Revisiting this history is important because the recognition of this distinction allows room in the field for research that highlights the uniqueness of different cultural contexts and constructs.

A State-Level Examination of Bureaucratic Policymaking The Internal Organization of Attention

Bureaucrats have considerable formal policymaking authority. Yet policymaking discussions often overlook the role that bureaucrats play in the policy process. Current theories suggest that bureaucratic policymaking outputs are shaped largely by political signals sent by elected officials. While these external influences are crucial, current theories understate the role of internal organizational dynamics. This study builds on the bureaucratic response and organizational attention literatures to differentiate internally organized attention from externally organized attention in public agencies. It then conceptualizes two ways that public managers can internally organize agency attention to influence formal bureaucratic policymaking in the context of contracting and procurement. This study adds to the public management literature by showing how internal managerial strategies and activities can influence bureaucratic outputs.

Overcoming the barriers to green procurement in the county: Interest groups and administrative professionalism

Scholars and practitioners have come to understand the important role of local governments in the causes and effects of climate change. The literature has examined both the substantive and symbolic determinants of urban sustainability policies in addition to the implementation issues associated with those policies. At the heart of these policies is the idea that local governments have the desire and ability to engage in socially and environmentally responsible practices to mitigate climate change. While important, these studies are missing a key component in the investigation of local government involvement in sustainability policies: government purchasing power. This study examines the effect of administrative professionalism and interest group presence on the determinants of green procurement in the understudied context of counties in the United States.

What Happens When Rules Stay the Same? Examining Changes in Implementation Intent over Time

ABSTRACT Rules are dynamic entities whose implementation is shaped by context, resources, and institutions. Variations in this implementation influence the functionality and effectiveness of rules. While the last decade has seen considerable scholarship on the determinants and effects of ineffective and effective rules, less is known about how rule implementation evolves over time. Particularly, what are the factors that influence administrative implementation intent over time? This study uses interview and archival data to examine administrative implementation intent of a single rule over a 25-year period. From qualitative data analysis, propositions are developed to explain why, although the text of the rule remained nearly the same, administrative intent of implement changed drastically.

Reconsidering Gaming in an Accountability Relationship: The Case of Minority Purchasing in Florida

ABSTRACT Performance metrics are intended to reinforce accountability in the principal-agent relationship between administrators and elected officials. This form of accountability is often assumed to improve democratic responsiveness and policy outcomes. However, as many scholars have noted, performance measurement systems often result in the intractable problem of administrative gaming, which can dilute accountability in the principal-agent relationship. This qualitative case study generates theory on how and why administrative agents engage in gaming. It develops a typology and discusses the importance of understanding gaming from the perspective of administrators.

The Effect of Formal and Informal Contracting Mechanisms on Implementation Performance in the U.S. Federalist System

Abstract The relationship between contract management capacity and implementation success in local government contracting is well established. However, less is known about how specific contract mechanisms are linked to this success. This study uses implementation of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to examine the use of formal and informal contract management techniques in the implementation of energy projects. The use of formal contract mechanisms, such as full and open competitive bidding, contact rescission and outcome-based performance measures, exhibits a statistically significant effect on implementation performance. The findings advance contracting theory and have practical implications for local government contracting and implementation success in fiscal federalism.

Gender and the Role of Directors of Public Administration and Policy Programs

Abstract This article examines the role of gender as it relates to director positions in Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs. It specifically investigates whether women are more likely than men to serve as MPA and MPP program directors and whether men and women report different experiences in the role, such as length of service, rewards and burdens, and possible constraints on research and teaching and thus promotion potential. We surveyed schools offering MPA and MPP degrees and found that women served as program directors proportional to their representation among the faculty, at about 35%. Interview findings suggest that while some gendered characterizations of women’s leadership persist, men and women program directors and faculty experience similar struggles in balancing their administrative roles with the demands of teaching and research, both of which are likely to suffer during their service.

Promising Performance: The Overestimation and Underestimation of Performance Targets

ABSTRACT This study examines goal setting in the federally funded, state-implemented Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Specifically, using federally determined criteria that states are supposed to use to set expected performance targets, I model the predicted performance targets and compare them against the observed performance targets. The purpose is to examine the determinants of performance target overestimation and underestimation in the WAP. The findings suggest that, where credible commitment to achieving performance targets is important (i.e., when grantees want to show top performance to attract grant money and federal partners), grantee governments are more likely to underestimate goals. However, where the aspirational nature of performance targets is more important than the credible commitment of achieving them (i.e., in an election year or partisan congruence with federal government), grantee governments are more likely to overestimate goals.

Serving distinct populations: performance in Medicaid HMOs and commercial HMOs.

The objective of this study was to compare the preventable emergency department (ED) admissions of Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO) beneficiaries and commercial HMO beneficiaries in the state of Florida, in addition to analyzing the effect of HMO market conditions in relation to these admissions. Paired and unpaired t tests and 10 regression equations were estimated using ED hospital admission data to examine the differences between Medicaid and commercial HMOs in 5 commonly recognized preventable hospitalization conditions. For the same preventable ED admissions, Medicaid and commercial HMO beneficiaries had statistically different rates of admission. In 3 of 5 conditions, Medicaid HMO beneficiaries had more preventable ED admissions than did commercial HMOs for the same conditions. HMO market conditions did not have a statistically significant association with preventable ED admissions for either beneficiary group, whereas teaching status and the percentage of females admitted to the hospital under a given HMO payer type had the greatest effect on preventable ED admissions. Whereas uncontrolled comparisons of preventable ED admissions are statistically different between Medicaid and commercial HMO beneficiaries, controlling for hospital and patient characteristics, market conditions do not affect the rate of preventable ED admissions.