PA — 2026-09-11
Original Responsible Algorithmization in the Public Sector: A “Natural Perspective” Based on Ethnographic Research in Regulation, Policing, and Healthcare
PA — 2026-09-11
Original Inspired to Serve: Exposure to Moral Models to Enhance Public Service Motivation
Xiaoyu (Christina) Wang, James L. Perry, Yuming Wang, Dingxiang Chen, Bangcheng Liu
PA — 2026-09-11
Original A Public Values Framework for AI Governance: Evidence From US Federal AI Policymaking
Ogadinma Enwereazu, Kaylyn Jackson Schiff, Tyler Girard, Alexander Wilhelm, Daniel S. Schiff
PAR — 2026-09-10
Original Restoring the Deformed Administrative State? Bureaucratic Repair After Illiberal Rule
Michael W. Bauer, Daniel Kovarek, Bárbara Motta, Andrzej Schultz
PAR — 2026-09-10
Original Investor Orientation and Commitment in Outcomes‐Based Public Service Contracts
PMR — pp. 1-25 2026-09-09 Original Unlocking the transformative potential of design: reflections from practice on navigating barriers to designing for societal transformation
Geert Brinkman, Arwin van Buuren, Suzan Christiaanse, Irene Fierloos, Wiesje Korf
JPART — 2026-09-09
Original Institutional Conversion and Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Trajectories
Adalmir de Oliveira Gomes
Abstract
Abstract This article asks a central question in digital government research: why do local governments operating under similar institutional conditions follow sharply different digital transformation trajectories over time? Drawing on theories of gradual institutional change, the study conceptualizes digital transformation not as a discrete adoption outcome, but as a process of institutional conversion through which technological capacity is translated into sustained digital service provision. Information governance is theorized as the key conditioning mechanism linking technological resources to durable organizational outcomes. The analysis combines longitudinal panel models, fixed-effects estimators, and trajectory-based clustering using a panel of all Brazilian municipalities (MUNIC/IBGE; N = 5,569) across seven waves between 2004 and 2024. Results show that increases in technological capacity are associated with subsequent gains in digital services, but these effects are gradual and conditional. Information governance significantly shapes how municipalities mobilize and stabilize technological resources over time, while interaction models reveal non-linear and diminishing returns consistent with institutional coordination limits. Trajectory analyses identify four distinct patterns of digital transformation, ranging from ‘institutionalized pioneers’ to ‘persistent stagnation’, demonstrating that digital development unfolds through path-dependent and institutionally anchored trajectories rather than through simple convergence. The article contributes to public administration research in three ways: provides rare longitudinal evidence on local digital transformation over two decades; integrates institutional change theory into digital government research by conceptualizing governance as a mechanism of institutional conversion; and advances a trajectory-based explanation of digital transformation that shifts attention from episodic technological adoption to cumulative institutional processes shaping long-run administrative performance.
PA — 2026-09-09
Original How Were Governance Pathways Formed for Public Service Co‐Production? A Contingency Perspective
JPART — 2026-09-08
Original A Model of Agency Behavior in Participatory Budgeting: A Resource Dependence Perspective
Seunghyun Kim
Abstract
Abstract Based on resource dependence theory, this article theorizes why government agencies adopt citizen proposals in participatory budgeting. Agencies depend on the executive budget office and the legislature for budget approval, which makes them face uncertainty in securing budgets from these political principals. In this context, agencies can adopt citizen proposals to present their requests as reflecting citizen demands, thereby increasing the probability of approval. Building on this logic, this study argues that the greater the uncertainty agencies face in their dependencies on principals, the more likely they are to depend on proposals. This argument is tested using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression based on citizen proposals (N = 3,609) submitted through Korea’s national participatory budgeting initiative from 2020 through 2023. The results show that agencies with less financial support from the legislature or those with smaller budgets are more likely to adopt proposals, as they face greater uncertainty due to unstable budgetary flows or fewer response options to manage resource instability. Agencies are also more likely to adopt proposals when they previously secured greater funding through proposal adoption, but this effect weakens for larger-budget agencies or those receiving greater legislative support. These findings emphasize the strategic nature of proposal adoption and the role of resource dependence in agency responses to proposals.
PMR — pp. 1-27 2026-09-08 Original A fish rots from the head down: unpacking the trickle-down effect of leaders’ unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB) in the Chinese public sector