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PurposeThe paper proposes that public sector organizations facing institutionalized reform pressure may not only integrate the reform into their operation when it fits but also pace the integration while undergoing organizational cultural transformations to fit with the reform. The newly cultivated cultural characteristics, nonetheless, need to be compatible externally with the ideational basis of the reform and internally with existing values and beliefs embodied by the organizations.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on a neo-institutionalist perspective, the paper develops a model which considers the possibilities and conditions that local cultural change in the reforming organizations may facilitate reform integration. To test the model's analytical potential, the paper analyzed reform responses of semi-autonomous agencies from Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden under the New Public Management (NPM) reform. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression models were performed on the survey data collected from agency heads (or representative) during the peak of the reform trend. Analyzing this sample of later adopters whose government generally enjoyed high degrees of capacity and autonomy provided a preliminary test to the model's potential.FindingsSignificant statistical relations were found between the adoption of operation-level NPM practices and the extent that an agency's cultural characteristics fit with both the ideational basis of NPM and the exiting value-belief mix the agency embodied. Agency characteristics of "proactive responsiveness" and "goal-oriented cooperation" were found significantly related to adoption of NPM practices, showing the possibility of cultivating local cultural changes in reforming organizations.Originality/valueWhile compatible with neo-institutionalist emphasis on local continuity, the paper describes an alternative scenario of reform integration for public managers.

AbstractPublic sector creativity—public servants coming up with novel and useful ideas—is the origin of solutions and innovations central to public sector organizations' ability to optimally serve society's interests. Despite its relevance and argued limitations, an adequate scale and framework to assess public servants' creativity remained absent. Using three quantitative (n = 2434/n = 1157/n = 621) and two qualitative datasets, this state‐of‐the‐art preregistered study provides a novel, valid, reliable, comprehensive but succinct multidimensional measurement tool allowing detailed assessment of states and changes of public servants' creativity by academics and practitioners. To aid academics and practitioners' understanding of the scale and public sector creativity, it also provides a supplementary theoretical framework in line with the data structure of the scale that compresses and structures extant theory on creativity while emphasizing what is indicated as important in the public sector. The findings shed light on the nature of public sector creativity as an aggregate and multidimensional construct.

La pression institutionnelle provoquée par la réforme du secteur public amène les agences semi-autonomes à réagir de manière stratégique. Les agences aux Pays-Bas et en France ne se sont conformées qu'à certaines règles pourtant imposées par des réformes récentes. D'autres règles ont été manipulées, n'ont pas été respectées ou des compromis ont été trouvés. Le degré de conformité aux réformes est déterminé non seulement par des aspects structurels, mais aussi par la répartition des ressources et des compétences entre les acteurs. Nous allons établir une comparaison entre deux grandes réformes, la Kaderwet ZBO aux Pays-Bas et la Révision générale des politiques publiques (RGPP), en France. Les points de contestation sont plus apparus entre les ministères qu'entre agence(s) et ministères de tutelle. Les ministères de tutelle ont en effet tendance à se ranger du côté de « leurs » agences dans les deux pays. Aux Pays-Bas, ce sont les questions liées aux compétences qui ont surtout été remises en cause, tandis qu'en France, les questions monétaires ont été les plus controversées. Remarques à l'intention des praticiens Les réformes relatives aux agences risquent de se heurter à une certaine résistance lorsque ces dernières ne sont pas d'accord avec les règles proposées, en particulier lorsque ces règles modifient les relations de pouvoir existantes. Certaines agences possèdent certaines ressources, qu'elles peuvent appliquer de façon stratégique dans le but de résister aux réformes. Les ministères ont tendance à se ranger du côté des agences dont ils assurent la tutelle et à essayer de les protéger des autres ministères.

Institutional pressure caused by public sector reform leads to strategic reactions from semi-autonomous agencies. Agencies in the Netherlands and France only complied with a selection of imposed reforms. Other rules were manipulated, not complied with, or compromises were made. The degree of compliance with reforms is not only dependent on structural aspects, but also on resources and power distributions between the actors. A comparison is made between the introduction of the Dutch Kaderwet ZBO and the French Révision Générale des Politiques Publiques. These agency reforms are contested between ministries, rather than between agency and parent ministry alone. Parent ministries tend to side with their agencies in both countries. In the Netherlands, power-related issues were most debated, whereas in France money-related issues caused most disagreement. Points for practitioners Reforms targeted at agencies are likely to meet resistance if agencies do not agree with the proposed rules, especially if they alter existing power relations. Some agencies possess certain resources which they can apply strategically to offer resistance to reforms. Parent ministries tend to side with agencies in their sector and try to protect them from other ministries.

Without definitional clarity the "quango debate" is inherently flawed and meaningful progress undermined. A possible solution to this problem is proposed in this article by way of a subsectional map which aims to clarify the quango topography. This accepts the diversity inherent in the quango debate while allowing for increased clarity and focused research. This, the authors believe, is the only way forward for practitioners, academics and policymakers working within the sphere of quasi‐government. There is a need to address precise forms or subsections of the quango continuum as studies or reforms which focus on one type of quango would not necessarily work if applied to all quangos, or quangos in other countries.

Discusses definitions, growth, and use of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations; international perspectives, and different institutional frameworks, based on examples from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.

AbstractThis systematic literature review analyses how public servants apply workplace creativity to come up with ideas for public sector innovations, defining public sector creativity and analyzing its practices, features, trends, and hiatuses in knowledge for which we provide a future research agenda. Creativity is the origin of innovation. Public sector creativity, however, is theoretically undefined and underexamined, resulting in unclarity on what constitutes public sector creativity. We define public sector creativity as "public servants coming up with novel and useful ideas through various practices." Our findings indicate that public servants apply at least six taxonomically distinctive creative practices, and although they are involved to different extent in generating the initial idea and thus do not always generate ideas autonomously, they are creative in finding alternative ways to come up with ideas. However, our review indicates hiatuses in knowledge on public sector creativity, for which we provide a future research agenda.

AbstractPractitioners often expect service delivery by municipally owned corporations (MOCs) to differ substantially from delivery by municipal bureaucracy. However, research into the circumstances under which municipal corporatization is effective is scarce. We investigate determinants of MOCs' performance based on a questionnaire sent to all Dutch MOCs, finding no evidence that many expected predictors of performance matter for performance. Key factors driving MOCs' performance relate to size, resource access, and the interaction between their multiple principals. We suggest that in studying local corporatization, researchers should look less at traditional principal–agent conflict and more at intermunicipal coordination.