Despite a growing body of research on policy diffusion, relatively few conclusive findings have been established regarding vertical policy diffusion, particularly concerning its primary determinants in non-democratic contexts. This study addresses this gap through a meta-analysis of Chinese-language literature, developing a theoretical framework to identify the determinants through which the central government shapes vertical policy diffusion in China. The meta-analysis demonstrates that the central government exerts a statistically significant, albeit moderate, net positive effect on vertical policy diffusion, operating primarily through administrative authority embedded in central-local relations and financial incentives. As the first meta-analysis to draw on Chinese-language literature, the study finds that administrative authority attenuates central government impact, whereas financial incentives strengthen it.
Public management faces increasingly complex issues requiring collaborative innovation. Within the new public governance paradigm, co-creation involves multiple stakeholders combining resources and expertise. Open-source/hybrid platforms, with greater transparency and inclusivity than general digital platforms - offer promising tools for digital collaboration. However, their use and impact in digital public service co-creation remains limited. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, this systematic literature review examines how digital public services are co-created through open-source-based/hybrid platforms. This review synthesises existing cases to identify platform characteristics, public value outcomes, stakeholder participation, and broader societal effects. From the initial screening of 1857 publications, 17 were included. The analysis reveals that these platforms foster collaboration, transparency, and inclusive innovation, with evidence of public value creation and positive social outcomes. Challenges persist, including digital literacy, technological readiness, organisational inertia, and sustainable engagement. Future research should examine these barriers, governance models, stakeholders' motivations, and emerging dimensions such as using artificial intelligence in co-creation ecosystems.
Researchers have explored contextual factors shaping the relationship between diversity and organisational outcomes to better understand how diversity affects public organisations. One factor that has not been adequately explored is the type of attribute in regard to which public organisations are diverse. Employees react to and process information about diversity in surface-level social attributes like gender and race differently than they do to signs of diversity in deeper-level work-related attributes like education and occupation, as the former type of diversity is associated with social categorisation and the latter with information elaboration. Analysis of an eight-year panel of the U.S. federal agencies reveals that diversity in occupation, a work-related attribute, is more likely to foster positive interactions between employees and improve job satisfaction and perceptions of performance than diversity in social attributes like race, gender, and age. The findings, which are consistent with the social categorisation and information/decision-making perspectives on diversity, suggest the effects of diversity are conditional on the type of attribute that sets employees apart.
Employee engagement has emerged as a critical employee attitude linked to employee motivation and organisational performance and has successfully embedded itself in governments around the world. Apart from a few exceptions, however, much of what we know about engagement does not attend to the institutional context of public institutions and whether private-sector theories and approaches to driving employee engagement work well in public sector organisations. To address this gap, we systematically review the evidence on antecedents of employee engagement, and determine whether and how sectoral differences may matter. We then discuss the findings and contextualise the debate surrounding the employee engagement construct. The paper ends by proposing an institutionally grounded model of employee engagement that proposes public values, professionalism, and political insulation as key macro-level drivers of employee engagement.
Research on public service motivation (PSM) has increasingly emphasised its interactive (moderating) effects, yet this literature remains theoretically fragmented. This systematic review synthesises evidence from 153 empirical studies published between 2001 and 2024 to clarify how and when PSM shapes work outcomes through interaction with other factors. This article identifies five recurring themes underlying PSM's interactive effects: person - environment fit, PSM as a personal resource, expectancy sensitivity, saturation, and motivation crowding-out and crowding-in. Two of these themes are under-theorised. The expectancy sensitivity effect shows that high-PSM individuals may react more strongly to work and non-work conditions due to their elevated expectations, whereas the saturation effect indicates diminishing marginal returns of contextual enhancements on performance outcomes among already highly motivated individuals. Overall, these five themes clarify how the influence of PSM is contingent on other factors and how PSM itself functions as a moderator. This review advances theoretical understanding of PSM's interactive effects and charts an agenda for future research.
Extensive research has examined the use of performance information in citizen - government relationships. Little is known, however, about the credibility of performance information communicated. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating how performance information types and sources influence perceived credibility among different stakeholder groups. Using an experimental vignette methodology, this study surveyed internal and external stakeholders across two service areas in Hong Kong: secondary education and solid-waste recycling. The findings indicate that hard performance information from external sources is perceived as the most credible. In contrast, in some contexts, internal-soft performance information is viewed as less credible than the absence of performance information. These findings suggest that governments should prioritise more objective and externally validated information when reporting on performance.
Corruption leaves people stressed as they struggle to access services that directly affect the availability of basic necessities. The debate over administrative capital, literacy, and preparedness occupies a significant portion of the theoretical framework of the administrative burden. However, the discussion does not explain how people behave when corruption is prevalent in a sociopolitical setting, as they find it difficult to mitigate their stress related to well-being. This gap is addressed by analysing data from the World Values Survey and the Corruption Perceptions Index. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand were selected from the Asia-Pacific region to conduct population-level analyses using structural equation modelling and moderated mediation models. The results suggest that people tend to have a higher degree of trust-based, particularised social capital than trust-based, generalised social capital, which helps reduce stress when corruption is high. Additionally, the more people follow collectivist cultural values, the more they build particularised social capital rather than generalised social capital, thereby reducing stress due to corruption. Considering these findings, I argue that particularised social capital, as a safeguard against corruption, could both mitigate and exacerbate corruption in the region.
This study examines how the alignment between career placement and organisational context conditions the relationship between public service motivation (PSM), career satisfaction, and organisational commitment in structured public employment systems. Drawing on survey data from 299 newly recruited senior public servants and follow-up interviews with 42 participants, the analysis shows that career satisfaction is the key pathway through which motivation translates into commitment, but that this pathway varies systematically across service roles. Specialists are more likely to report strong alignment and sustained commitment when placed in organisations with limited direct public exposure, whereas generalists more often experience motivational misalignment that constrains commitment. Qualitative evidence further indicates that perceived opportunities to influence governance and policy, conceptualised as realised publicness, shape how individuals evaluate their careers. These findings challenge the assumption that PSM operates uniformly across institutional settings and underscore the importance of deliberate career placement for sustaining motivation, commitment, and retention in public sector organisations.
This article presents research on the intersection between cultural expression and ideological resistance. The case study refers to Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is based on in-depth interviews with thirteen artists and cultural figures in Swat, which reveal how artists, poets, and cultural practitioners have used art as a means of rebellion against emerging extremism. The study contributes to public administration scholarship by extending the understanding of governance mechanisms beyond formal bureaucratic institutions to informal, symbolic, and local rationalities through which Global South communities negotiate authority, legitimacy, and resilience. The article adds to the literature on the topic of governance and resistance in the Global South by showing how localised and informal institutional modes of public value and identity politics are realised through cultural channels. It joins the wave of attempts to decolonise knowledge about state administration by pre-empting traditions, beliefs, and practices of culture that tend to be pushed to the periphery by mainstream development and governance paradigms.
This study examines three flood governance models in Metro Manila: a government-centered relocation model, a collaborative model, and a civil society initiative model. Drawing on center-periphery theory, it analyzes how power asymmetries and cultural values shape disaster governance and recovery outcomes. The study uses qualitative data collected between 2009 and 2024, including semi-structured interviews, archival documents, and field observations. Findings show that state-driven relocation policies often marginalize vulnerable populations by prioritizing technocratic efficiency over social equity and community participation. In contrast, grassroots initiatives and civil society-led responses leverage local knowledge, community networks, and cultural and religious traditions to foster resilience and collective action. Collaborative approaches occupy an intermediate position, partially mitigating exclusion while retaining centralized authority. The study highlights the importance of integrating local knowledge and participatory governance into disaster management frameworks to enhance social equity and sustainability.
