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The theory of representative bureaucracy posits that passive representation is associated with improvements in policy outcomes for represented groups. This research examines the institutional conditions under which representative bureaucracy is enhanced or limited. It posits that the benefits of representation will be enhanced when institutional supports are stronger and when clientele need is greatest. Using a unique longitudinal, multi-level dataset, this paper tests competing theoretical conditions (including resource constraints, and task difficulty) under which representative bureaucracy is enhanced or constrained. The analysis tracks student-level performance of 400,000 undocumented students in Texas public schools from 2003 to 2011 providing a powerful empirical test as well as practical policy implications for administrators. It finds that the effects of representation are strongest when resources are abundant and clientele need is greatest. This suggests representative may be even more valuable to organizations than previously thought.

This article explores how symbolic representation can increase behaviors associated with cooperation among immigrants in an educational setting. It posits that, due to a lack of trust and efficacy in public institutions, undocumented immigrants are less likely to engage in activities that are conducive to cooperation and compliance. However, this relationship is conditional on the presence of passive representation. In settings where immigrant interests are represented, even passively, immigrants are more likely to engage in cooperative behaviors. Using data from Texas school districts, the analysis finds some support that passive representation can enhance symbolic representation among this population. It finds that assessments of immigrants' cooperative behaviors are likely to decrease as the size of the undocumented student population increases. However, this is only the case in schools with low levels of representation. This supports the expectation that symbolic representation can enhance assessments of cooperative behaviors among undocumented immigrants.

ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to examine the relationship between social capital and the use of social controls in public policy. Social capital is strongly correlated with a wide range of positive societal outcomes across many policy domains. However, others have cautioned that the benefits of social capital are not uniformly distributed to all members of society and that there may even be negative effects of social capital. This article posits that communities with higher levels of social capital will be more punitive toward those who break society's "norms of reciprocity." This tendency for social capital to reinforce social controls will be particularly strong for groups within society that are considered "others" by the dominant group. Thus, as racial and ethnic diversity increases, punitive (and targeted) social controls are likely to increase.MethodsThe analysis uses state‐level panel data from 1986–2009 to examine the effect of social capital on public policies relating to social control within criminal justice policy, and how this relationship is conditioned by minority group size.ResultsThe empirical analysis finds that states with higher levels of social capital tend to have more punitive criminal justice and drug enforcement policies and outcomes but only when there is a significant black population.ConclusionsThese findings support the hypothesis that the effects of social capital are conditioned by racial context.

AbstractThis article examines the differential effects of social capital on policy equity in state outcomes. Specifically, it explores the relationship between social capital and incarceration rates in the American states paying particular attention to racial disparities in incarceration rates. Building on work by Hero, I present a theoretical explanation and empirical support for how social capital operates differently under different racial contexts. I argue that social capital enhances social empathy in homogeneous contexts and social controls in diverse contexts. Using state-level longitudinal data on the contiguous states, I find that social capital is positively associated with incarcerations, but only for African Americans. Furthermore, the effects of social capital appear to be conditional on racial context where this relationship is stronger as minority group size increases.

This paper asks: what influence do various middle management tasks have on organizational performance? We identify five tasks: setting clear goals, communication, participative management, human resources management, and resource distribution, and model their separate and combined influence on objective performance measures. Using a dataset of survey and performance data from 2007–2010 on over 250 public schools in Hawaii, findings show that setting clear goals has a positive, significant impact on performance. After combining these tasks into three general management measures (leadership, management, and resource management), results show that the management dimension is significant. This study adds to the public management literature by focusing on the effect of middle management, and specific management tasks, on performance, in a unionized agency.

Public organizations operate as open-systems. As such, exogenous perturbations in the environment can affect organizational performance. Often, management buffers these shocks to maintain performance through both managerial strategies and organizational structures. To this extent, the literature commonly assumes shocks in the environment are largely unanticipated, resulting in management responding to a precipitation of negative effects to the organization's internal operations and processes. We argue exogenous perturbations can take on two different forms: anticipated and unanticipated shocks. Based on the level of managerial anticipation, we argue public managers will adopt strategies that resemble those of disaster preparedness as opposed to managers focused on the recovery-oriented aspects of management. We test this argument by empirically examining the effects of an anticipated and unanticipated shock on the performance of Texas public school districts.

A long-standing debate persists regarding how social capital relates to diversity and inequality in the American states. Putnam argues social capital leads to greater equality and tolerance; however, others find that it increases racial inequality. We build on Soss, Fording, and Schram's Racial Classification Model (RCM) and theorize that social capital enhances social trust and empathy in homogeneous contexts and favors paternalistic and punitive social controls in diverse contexts. We test this using the case of immigration and welfare generosity following the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. Using state-level data from 1997 to 2009, we find that under conditions of low immigration, social capital is associated with increased social trust and empathy; however, as immigration increases, social capital pivots toward favoring mechanisms of social control. Specifically, social capital increases Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash benefit levels, but only when immigration levels are low. In high-immigration contexts, social capital is associated with decreased welfare generosity.

AbstractThe idea of social capital has had a powerful impact on the study of politics, policy, and social science at large. Much of what we know about the causes and effects of social capital, however, is limited by the nature of data used regularly by scholars working in this area. Current data sets allow researchers to study changes in social capital over time at the national level and static differences in the distribution of social capital across the states. The inability of scholars to know how social capital varies over time and across space limits the kinds of questions that can be asked. In this article, we use sample data of more than 20,000 individuals conducted biannually in the continuous 48 states by the marketing research firm MediaMark Research, Inc. to create a unique measure of social capital that varies across time and space. These data are available at the state level from 1986 through 2004.

Administrative reforms encode a set of behavioral expectations for bureaucrats to follow. The authors argue that scholars can usefully contribute to understanding accountability by studying whether bureaucrats follow these expectations and what factors encourage such responsiveness to reform values. To demonstrate this approach, the authors examine performance infor‐mation use as a behavioral measure of responsiveness to results‐based reforms. Using a sample of Texas school superintendents, they find that general openness to the environment goes hand in hand with responsiveness to reform values. The authors propose that such a pattern will hold when reform values align with environmental preferences. The perceived influence of stakeholders, networking with stakeholders, and reliance on partnerships all positively predict performance information use. Environments marked by student diversity and stakeholder conflict also correlate with higher use of performance data, while capacity, less managerial experience, and a unified organizational culture correlate positively with higher reported performance information use.