Building Strong Nations: Improving Governability and Public Management by Eran Vigoda-Gadot

Author:Eran Vigoda-Gadot [Vigoda-Gadot, Eran]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Public Policy, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780754675464
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2009-01-15T06:35:51.441667+00:00

chapter are

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E. Vigoda-gadot

igoda-gadot and

and S.

S. Mizrahi,

Mizrahi, “the

“the

Bureaucracy–democracy tango: a dual-source empirical revalidation by Structural Equation Modeling in the israeli public sector,” Policy and Politics (2008).

122

Building Strong Nations

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Model 3: alternative model – Fully mediated

Figure 5.3

Three proposed models of bureaucracy-democracy interaction portrait

Second, I argue that managerial quality is largely subject to the personal skills and talent of the higher ranks in the public agency. In the quest to produce better quality public goods, senior staff members are expected to be accountable to both their subordinates and to citizens. Hence, at least cognitively, perceived managerial

A Longitudinal National Study of Bureaucracy and Democracy in Israel 123

quality becomes central for public personnel and for the citizens when making judgments about the state of democracy. opinions about whether the democracy is trustworthy and allows authentic citizens’ involvement and participation in political processes and in shaping policies all flow from the public’s view of managerial quality. This idea is in keeping with studies on the centrality of leadership and the leader’s style in organizations and in the public sector (i.e., Avolio and Bass, 1991; Bass, 1985). For example, Parry (2003) specifically examined leadership styles in public sector organizations and found that a transformational leadership style has a positive effect on the innovation in and effectiveness of these organizations.

Findings from business studies about the advantages of employees’ participation in decision-making and the empowerment of both public personnel and ordinary citizens in helping make organizational decisions and setting policy also bolster our argument. Participation in decision-making reflects the willingness of the leadership to delegate power to subordinates with the expectation that such actions will increase motivation among employees by emphasizing fairness and justice in the relationship between the employee and the organization (Farh, Podsakoff and Organ, 1990; Skarlicki and Latham, 1996). Participation in decision-making is also positively related to work outcomes. Schnake (1991) argued that a leader’s willingness to share power may create a need in subordinates to reciprocate. one way to “pay back” a leader for his or her support is by demonstrating good citizenship through increased levels of trust and political participation. thus, i expect that public employees’ or citizens’ sense of participation in decision-making will be positively related to supportive behavior by the leader and managerial quality (niehoff and Moorman, 1993; Wayne and Green, 1993) and that both factors may affect the perceived performance of the public agency. at a later stage, these attitudes and perceptions may also be translated into trust in the public sector and active political participation.

Based on the logic above, the model first suggests that perceived managerial quality, participation in decision-making and perceived public sector performance have a direct effect on the dependent democratic variables. the indirect relationships argue for an alternative path where perceived public sector performance mediates the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. additional paths are suggested where citizens’ trust or employees’ commitment lead to active political participation. With regard to the independent variables, perceived managerial quality is related to participation in decision-making.

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