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New Public Management popularized performance measurement in public organizations. Underlying performance measurement's popularity is the assumption that it injects performance information (PI) into decision‐making, thus rationalizing the ensuing decisions. Despite its popularity, performance measurement is criticized. In part, this criticism results from the limited knowledge of the conditions under which PI is purposefully used by politicians. We conducted a survey experiment based on real PI with 1,240 politicians. We hypothesized that PI has a positive impact on performance information use (PIU) when PI is benchmarked with coercive, mimetic or normative pressures. Moreover, due to negativity bias we expected this positive impact to be stronger when PI signals low performance. We found that normative pressures had a positive impact on actual PIU while coercive pressures positively affected intended PIU. Negativity bias is only relevant when linked to coercive pressures and intended PIU for analysing the organization's finances.

AbstractLiterature reviews have become widespread in public administration, especially in the past decade. These reviews typically adopt widely‐accepted approaches with many drawing upon systematized approaches to review in fields like medicine and psychology. Public administration, however, is a professional, design‐oriented discipline, focused on enhancing theory to solve real‐life policy, administrative, and managerial challenges. Recognizing the unique traditions and purposes in public administration scholarship, it is important to take stock of how public administration scholars "do" reviews, with the aim of providing recommendations to rejuvenate the state of the art in reviewing. We present a framework to guide review efforts in public administration centered on purpose (why?), object (what?), subject (who?), community (for whom?) and practices (how?). Next, we present different approaches to doing reviews and how those approaches present different answers to the questions raised above. Finally, we discuss examples of public administration reviews within each approach and conclude with specific recommendations for researchers and practitioners who want to use reviews to rejuvenate public administration.

AbstractAlthough there is consensus among scholars that red tape has negative consequences, there is a lack of synthesis on these negative effects. We conduct a meta‐analysis and meta‐regression of public administration evidence and ask: What is the impact of red tape on organizational performance and employee outcomes, and which conditions moderate this impact? Our meta‐analysis finds that red tape has a significant, negative, and small‐to‐medium impact on both organizational performance and employee outcomes. Meta‐regression shows that red tape imposed by the organization itself is more harmful than red tape imposed by external parties. Moreover, red tape's negative impact remains quite stable across sectors, administrative traditions, and research methods. In conclusion, an agenda for future public administration research on red tape is presented. We recommend that future research syntheses on red tape include research on concepts that bear a family resemblance (e.g., sludge, administrative burden) and also encourage analyses of differing discourses to identify common themes.

Wales (United Kingdom) considers the development of schools as learning organisations as vital for supporting schools to put its new, 21st century curriculum into practice. A growing body of research evidence shows that schools that operate as learning organisations can react more quickly to changing external environments and embrace changes and innovations. This report aims to support Wales in this effort, gauging the extent to which schools have put into practice the characteristics of learning organisations and identifying areas for further development. It also examines the system-level conditions that can enable or hinder schools in Wales in developing as learning organisations. It offers a number of concrete recommendations for consideration by the Welsh Government and other stakeholders at various levels of the system. The report will be valuable not only for Wales, but also to the many countries that are looking to establish collaborative learning cultures across their school systems.

This study uses survey data among both a random sample (N = 500) and a convenience sample (N = 2,919) of Flemish adults to assess public support for 24 potential labour market reforms. The results show that there is a lot of public support for (both encouraged and mandatory) training and community service for the unemployed and for the so-called 'job bonus', which are all reforms planned by the Flemish government Jambon I. However, there is little public support for reforms which should make the - apparently strongly desired - increase of the minimum pension to 1,500 euro after taxes possible, such as gradually eliminating early retirement possibilities, decreasing how much equated periods (such as periods of sick leave and unemployment) count towards pension accrual, and (partly) unlinking wages from seniority. This indicates that the end-of-career-debate that the Belgian federal government De Croo I wants to have will not be an easy one. For the planned increased monitoring to fight social and fiscal fraud, there is, however, a lot of public support. Somewhat surprisingly, there is little public support for reforms which aim to strengthen the position of women on the labour market, such as more quota for women in boards of directors in private companies, more parental leave for couples who divide this leave more equally, and increased paternity leave from 10 to 20 days.

AbstractKarens et al. (2016) conducted an experiment to measure the effect of the European Union (EU) brand on citizens' trust in policies. Experiments conducted with economics students in Belgium, Poland, and The Netherlands showed a consistently positive and significant effect of applying the EU brand, on trust in the policies. This study presents seven replications conducted several years after Karens et al.'s experiments. The replications show no significant effects of the EU brand on trust in policies. These findings demonstrate that brand effects may vary over time. To identify a population effect size across all experiments, a meta‐analysis was conducted. The meta‐analysis shows that—overall—the EU‐brand has a small but significant positive effect on citizens' trust in policies. The article tests earlier findings, and discusses intricacies of conducting replications. It elaborates explanations for the results in the replications, and the replication problems with experiments based on evaluative conditioning.

Karens et al. (2016) conducted an experiment to measure the effect of the European Union (EU) brand on citizens' trust in policies. Experiments conducted with economics students in Belgium, Poland, and The Netherlands showed a consistently positive and significant effect of applying the EU brand, on trust in the policies. This study presents seven replications conducted several years after Karens et al.'s experiments. The replications show no significant effects of the EU brand on trust in policies. These findings demonstrate that brand effects may vary over time. To identify a population effect size across all experiments, a meta-analysis was conducted. The meta-analysis shows that—overall—the EU-brand has a small but significant positive effect on citizens' trust in policies. The article tests earlier findings, and discusses intricacies of conducting replications. It elaborates explanations for the results in the replications, and the replication problems with experiments based on evaluative conditioning.

The public sector requires job crafting from employees so that they can better cope with overdemanding jobs due to layer upon layer of public management reforms. Simultaneously, however, red tape and austerity constrain job autonomy. This study therefore tests how job crafting can be fostered in public organizations by studying social resources at work and, specifically, empowering leadership and social support. Multilevel analyses based on survey data from 1,059 nurses in 67 public elderly care organizations in Flanders, Belgium, show that empowering leadership and social support contribute to job crafting and, simultaneously, strengthen each other's contribution. Additional analyses showed that empowering leadership, social support, as well as their interaction have differential relations vis-à-vis the different dimensions of job crafting. The implications for public management are discussed.