Causes of (and Solutions for?) Financial Crises in Local Governments: Insights From Local Arab Authorities in Israel

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by SAGE Publications in Administration and Society on November 21, 2014, available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399714556501.This article examines the relative impact of internal and external factors on the financial decline of local Arab municipalities in Israel. We employ a unique case study to demonstrate that the negative relationship between local management policies and local financial crises is stronger than any other relationship; in addition, this relationship is expected to hold for other local authorities in Israel and for local authorities in Western countries. The new theoretical approach developed in this study indicates that, with respect to local authorities, the “local management approach” more often explains a financial crisis than other approaches

Reducing Organizational Politics in Performance Appraisal: The Role of Coaching Leaders for Age-Diverse Employees

We examined whether a supervisor's coaching leadership style predicts the perception of organizational politics in performance appraisal (OPPA) reported by the collaborators. Additionally, we drew on social cognition and motivational life-span development theories to hypothesize age-related differences in perceived OPPA and its link with the coaching leadership style. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) on a sample of 576 employees and 112 leaders, we found that coaching leaders are perceived as less manipulative in their performance ratings, especially by older employees. This article includes a discussion of the implications these results have for performance management of an age-diverse workforce. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Public service innovation and multiple institutional logics: the case of hybrid social enterprise providers of health and wellbeing

Public sector organisations are confronted with growing health and social care needs in combination with severe resource constraints, prompting interest in innovative responses to such challenges. Public service and social innovation is poorly understood, particularly where innovators must navigate between the norms, practices and logics of public, private and civil society sectors. We contribute to the understanding of how innovating hybrid organisations are able to creatively combine co-existing logics. Case study evidence from newly established social enterprise providers of health and wellbeing services in England is utilised to examine how innovations are shaped by (i) an incumbent state or public sector logic, and two ‘challenger’ logics relating to (ii) the market and increasing competition; and (iii) civil society, emphasising social value and democratic engagement with employees and service users. The analysis shows how a more fluid and creative interplay of logics can be observed in relation to specific strategies and practices. Within organisations, these strategies relate to the empowerment of staff to be creative, financial management, and knowledge sharing and protection. The interplay of logics shaping social innovation is also found in relationships with key stakeholders, notably public sector funders, service users and service delivery partners. Implications are drawn for innovation in public services and hybrid organisations more broadly

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behaviours:The Contingent Role of Public Service Motivation

This paper examines whether the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational citizenship behaviours is contingent on public service motivation (PSM). We propose that PSM may reduce followers’ reliance on the motivational behaviours of transformational leaders in public sector organisations. Using a sample of Mexican employees we tested this proposition with structural equation modelling. Our results show that public sector followers higher in PSM placed less reliance, than those lower in PSM, on transformational behaviours. A follow-up study in private sector organisations did not reveal a similar interaction effect. These findings appear consistent with previous research demonstrating that PSM is more aligned to the goals and values of public rather than private sector organisations

Public value and political astuteness in the work of public managers: the art of the possible

The public value framework, with its call for more entrepreneurial activities by public managers, has attracted concern and criticism about its implicit breaching of the politics/administration dichotomy. This paper explores the role of political astuteness not only in discerning and creating public value, but also in enabling public managers to be sensitive to the dichotomy. We employ a conceptual framework to identify the skills of political astuteness, and then articulate these in relation to identifying and generating public value. Drawing on a survey of 1012 public managers in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and depth interviews with 42 of them, we examine the perceptions and capabilities of public managers in producing value for the public while traversing the line (or zone) between politics and administration. We conclude that political astuteness is essential to both creating value and maintaining allegiance to democratic principles

The Role of Teachers' Expectations in the Association between Children's SES and Performance in Kindergarten: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study examines the role of teachers' expectations in the association between children's socio-economic background and achievement outcomes. Furthermore, the role of children's ethnicity in moderating this mediated relation is investigated. In the present study, 3,948 children from kindergarten are examined. Data are analysed by means of structural equation modeling. First, results show that teachers' expectations mediate the relation between children's SES and their later language and math achievement, after controlling for children's ethnicity, prior achievement and gender. This result indicates that teachers may exacerbate individual differences between children. Second, children's ethnicity moderates the mediation effect of teachers' expectations with respect to math outcomes. The role of teachers' expectations in mediating the relation between SES and math outcomes is stronger for majority children than for minority children