PMR — pp. 1-35 2026-07-15 Original The paradox of co-production: how austerity and structural scarcity reshape street-level discretion and public value in Scotland’s disability support system
PSJ 54/3 2026-07-15
Original A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Rules for Nuanced Analysis of Governance Systems
Diego Arahuetes‐de la Iglesia, Alicia Tenza‐Peral, Laura Ximena Estévez‐Moreno, Andrea Martín‐Suárez, Francisco Javier Lacosta‐García, Ismael Lare‐David, Irene Pérez‐Ibarra
PMR — pp. 1-29 2026-07-13 Original A social enterprise management framework for creating hybrid value within public service ecosystems
Madeline Powell, Alex G. Gillett, Bob Doherty
PAR — 2026-07-12
Original Rethinking Local Choice: Experimental Evidence on Taxpayer Sentiment and Public School Funding
Edward N. Gamble, Richard G. Vanden Bergh, Thomas Chittenden
PMR — pp. 1-26 2026-07-09 Original Navigating challenges at the frontline: evidence from Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) in marginalized communities
Vernise Estorcien, Sanghee Park
Abstract
Police-led youth programs provide mentorship and support for youth in marginalized communities, yet limited research examines their implementation challenges and adaptive strategies. This qualitative study investigates the Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, using virtual semi-structured interviews with program leaders and officers. Findings identify three key implementation challenges: resource constraints, understaffing and limited expertise, and unclear goals and performance metrics. We further identify three pathways for improvement: formal partnerships and community collaboration, strategic use of goal ambiguity, and clearer metrics, protocols, and accountability mechanisms. The study offers policy implications for designing and supporting community-based youth programs.
PAR — 2026-07-09
Original Key Practices of Knowledge Mobilization in Local Policy Settings
Rosie Havers, Hannah Durrant, James Downe, Steve Martin
Abstract
ABSTRACT The literature on knowledge mobilization (KM) acknowledges the complex processes involved in the application of evidence to policy. However, the everyday activities employed by knowledge mobilizers to facilitate these processes have proved difficult to capture and codify. We address this gap in current understanding through empirical analysis of the practices used to mobilize knowledge in local policy making. We find that effective KM is characterized by relational interactions with diverse actors across research, policy and practice settings; constant and consistent engagement with the local and policy contexts in which evidence is being applied; and the integration of different types of knowledge (including research findings, professional expertise and lived experience) to collectively respond to policy and practice needs. These practices of KM have important implications for how evidence is defined, validated, and used by policymakers and practitioners.
PSJ 54/3 2026-07-07
Original Imagined Integration: The Logics of Japanese Immigrant Integration Policy
Mariri Niino, William L. Allen
Abstract
ABSTRACT As governments develop immigrant integration policies, they draw on and express conceptions about what successful integration looks like—what we call “imagined integration.” Yet this imagination likely displays variation that matters for implementation: integration policymaking is increasingly multilevel as it involves subnational layers of bureaucracy, and it may differ across national contexts which have distinct immigration experiences and political dynamics. In response, we trace the logics within Japan's approach to integrating a range of immigrants (“multicultural coexistence”) as its objectives pass through to subnational (prefectural) governments. As a major industrialized economy, Japan is instructive because its centrally organized approach to integration differs from Western cases, and yet its growing policy attention to integration typifies trends in neighboring Asian countries facing similar demographic and economic challenges. Through the first comprehensive content analysis of all available prefectural plans regarding multicultural coexistence ( N = 31 as of 2025), we identify how subnational policymakers conceive coexistence, its justification, and its successful achievement on paper. Our study contributes to better connections between empirical understanding of important policies affecting immigrants in a key world region, as well as to theorization about the ideational aspects of policymaking.
PMR — pp. 1-30 2026-07-02 Original The promise and performance of social impact bonds
Clare J. FitzGerald, Alec Fraser, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Mikkel Munksgaard Andersen
Abstract
This article examines social impact bonds (SIBs), first scrutinizing early discourse on their promises—increased accountability through competitive public-private partnerships, outcomes measurement, and a learning approach to performance management—drawing on theories of New Public Management and New Public Governance. Then, a structured review of empirical research is used to evaluate SIB performance against their public management reform promises. Findings show that while SIBs sometimes foster intersectoral collaboration, they can also surface power imbalances, institutionalize gaming, and inadvertently reduce public accountability. A faltering commitment to robust outcomes measurement is also demonstrated, with negative implications for effective governance and public value.
PAR — 2026-06-30
Original The Diffusion of Local Administrative Innovation: Investigating Municipal Climate Managers in the State of Hessen in Central Germany
Kai Schulze, Jonas J. Schoenefeld, Marco Nicolay
PMR — pp. 1-29 2026-06-29 Original Forged through forces: configurations to digital policy attention in local governments
Tao Wang, Chen Zhong, Ge Wang, Liumiao Qin
Abstract
Although governments’ digital policy attention is pivotal for effective digital governance, the mechanisms shaping attention remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on an integrated view of institutional environment, task environment, and resource endowment, we analyse 272 Chinese prefecture-level cities using a hybrid fsQCA – regression method to examine how multiple conditions jointly shape attention to digital transformation. We find that normative pressure, fiscal capacity, economic conditions, and digital infrastructure provide the foundation for high policy attention. Beyond this base, we identify three configurations across these dimensions: capability alignment, where leaders with technocratic backgrounds and digital culture jointly foster endogenous commitment; pressure compliance, where coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures jointly drive policy attention; and peer learning adaptation, where governments enhance attention through horizontal emulation when top-down mandates are weak. Regression analyses show that pressure compliance exerts the strongest influence on digital policy attention. These findings reveal configurational dynamics underlying digital governance.