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This article presents a novel theoretical approach that aims to enhance the accountability of street-level bureaucrats. The authors conceptualize changes and reforms in and around the public sector as a smart mechanism that is composed of two key dimensions; a) smart principles (i.e., institutions and technological tools that support citizen participation), and b) smart principals (i.e., citizens who adopt those smart principles in monitoring and evaluating street-level agents' behaviors). Then the authors suggest a theoretical framework that explains how applying the smart mechanism can limit deviant behaviors of street-level bureaucrats and contribute to enhancing street-level accountability.

A substantial number of federal employees have been teleworking due to its perceived benefits—time and location flexibility and better balance between family and work. Yet, managing teleworkers in public organizations can be challenging due to the added expenses associated with monitoring remote workers. Also, the unforeseen drawbacks of remote work may decrease teleworker satisfaction with telework programs. Drawing on insights from the political economy of hierarchy and institution theories, this study examines whether leadership commitment to telework and performance-oriented culture matter for federal teleworker satisfaction with telework programs. It examines two-year datasets of the 2008 and 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys. The findings show that leadership commitment to telework, performance-oriented culture, and the enactment of the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act all play significant roles in enhancing federal teleworker satisfaction with telework programs.

This study examines what factors influence a local government's decision to permit its employees to telework. Drawing on insights from contingency theory, this study investigates how external forces influence California local governments' decisions regarding whether or not to permit telework for their employees. To examine this question, this article uses the 2010 International City/County Management Association survey data and the 2009 American Communities Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau as its primary data sources. The findings show that various contextual factors such as municipal climate protection efforts, citizen participation, population diversity, political institutions, and support from state legislators play a significant role in a city government's decision to permit telework for city employees.

Recognizing the importance of whistleblower protection, government has equipped itself with legal tools to protect whistleblowers. At the federal level, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) of 2012 represents the most recent legislative action protecting whistleblowers. Currently, all 50 states have their own whistleblower protection laws. However, given the variations among states in statutory protections for whistleblowers, a need exists to examine important changes to state whistleblower laws in light of larger legislative trends at the federal level. This study addresses this research gap by exploring how state whistleblower protection laws have changed following passage of the 2012 WPEA through the lens of institutional theory. Content analysis findings suggest that post-WPEA state whistleblower laws have adopted changes directly reflecting WPEA provisions. The findings further suggest that post-WPEA state whistleblower laws also contain changes which display loose connection to primary components of the WPEA.

The past two decades have observed a growing research interest in understanding the impact of ethical organizational context on public employee work attitudes. This study contributes to this growing body of literature on the link between ethics and management by examining how public agencies' level of ethical work climate (EWC) influences agency-level work motivation and turnover intention rate (measured separately as intention to transfer to another agency and intention to leave the federal government). An organizational-level analysis of federal government data shows that EWC is a critical element of a desirable workplace where employees are motivated to work hard. A federal agency's level of EWC is also associated with the agency's transfer intention rate, but not with the agency's rate of employees intending to leave the federal government. The paper discusses implications of the research findings and concludes by discussing its limitations and making suggestions for future research.

Despite the expansion of public service motivation (PSM) research in recent years, only a few studies have linked PSM with public employees` turnover, and they have typically understood turnover as a dichotomous decision of staying versus leaving. Unlike previous research, we explore the relationship by taking into account various exit options. Utilizing data from the 2005 Merit Principles Survey, we classify public employees` exit strategies into four types-not leaving, retiring, moving to another federal agency, and resigning from federal service-and examine how an indirect measure of PSM influences which of these exit strategies they intend to follow. We employ the indirect measure due to data availability; following previous research, we name this measure public duty motivation. Our findings suggest that the impact of public duty motivation varies across intended exit strategies: it decreases the likelihood of public employees intending to retire, while it leads them to be more likely to intend to move to another job within the federal government. In contrast, it is not a significant predictor of public employees` intention to resign from federal service.

Whistleblowers play a critical role in revealing organizational wrongdoing. Even after the passage of the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act and the 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, numerous studies find that public employees are still reluctant to report wrongdoing due to various forms of retaliation. Drawing on insights from a framework of predisposition and environmental perspectives, this study examines which type of factors—predisposed characteristics or organizational/environmental factors—are more influential and consistent in increasing the favorable perception of public employees about whistleblowing. To test the model, this study uses multiple waves of data including the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys to perform agency-level analyses. The findings suggest that organizational/environmental factors increase favorable federal employee perception of whistleblowing over time while predisposed characteristics show inconsistent influence.

"Although collaborations for local and regional economic development have been popular in recent years, it is not yet wholly clear when or how such efforts bring successful outcomes. Using an integrative conceptual framework for collaborative governance, this innovative collection provides a systematic and interdisciplinary analysis of real-world collaborative networks for local and regional economic development. Focusing on a wide range collaborative economic development in diverse cities and regions in USA, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, and South Korea, the chapters explore what forces motivate the emergence of collaborative economic development efforts. Each chapter explores the factors which contribute to or hinder collaborative governance efforts for economic development and identifies lessons for overcoming challenges to creating communities that are economically resilient, environmentally sustainable and politically engaged in the era of globalization. By focusing on collaborative governance and its implications for the ability of policies to meet the challenges of the 21st century, it provides lessons for researchers in public management, urban planning/development, public policy, and political science, as well as practitioners interested in promoting local economic development."

Existing studies on interlocal collaboration have focused on whether or not to form collaboration. However, we examine the extent to which local governments collaborate with each other. We measure collaboration by the number of partnering local governments in different partnerships, and test hypotheses on the potential factors affecting the degree of collaboration among local governments from a resource-based view. With a sample of 70 partnerships established for local economic development among 116 local governments in South Korea, we find that local governments with less financial resources and private sector capacity are likely to establish more collaborative partnerships. By contrast, local governments with more human resources are likely to build more partnerships with others.

Using a global and multi-generational approach, this volume reveals the persistent need to engage as a scholarly community with questions of public ethics and citizenship. Grounded in Prof. Terry Cooper's scholarship, the editors and contributors bridge the past to the future while applying research to critical concerns of today.