Tension in democratic administration: Does managerial confidence in administrative capacity reduce citizen participation in organizational decision‐making?

Author：Fengxiu Zhang  Justin M. Stritch  Eric W. Welch

Abstract

The tension between bureaucratic and democratic values has characterized significant debates in the field of public administration. In this article, we ask, does public managers' confidence in their organizational administrative capacity affect citizen participation? Using managerial confidence in organizational response capacity (ORC) during crises as a vehicle to investigate the tension between democratic and administrative values, we examine whether an administration‐centric approach to management influences citizen participation. We posit that higher levels of managerial confidence in organizational administrative capacity can lessen the pressure from political stakeholders which, in turn, might allow managers the autonomy to isolate themselves from the general public. The empirical analysis uses a structural equation model (SEM) to examine survey data from senior managers in 500 US cities. We find that managerial confidence in ORC reduces citizen participation, but only indirectly through diminishing influence from other governmental actors or by allowing managers to win the trust of political principals.

How social capital shapes citizen willingness to co‐invest in public service: The case of flood control

Author：Youlang Zhang  Xinsheng Liu  Arnold Vedlitz

Abstract

Why are citizens in some communities more willing to co‐invest in public services than citizens in other communities? Citizen co‐investment has become an important policy tool for governments to finance public services, yet little research has theorized and empirically examined the impacts of community contexts on citizens' willingness to invest their personal resources in public services. As social capital is often viewed as an important determinant of citizen behaviours, we propose two competing hypotheses explaining the relationship between social capital and citizen co‐investment: the facilitation effect hypothesis and the inhibition effect hypothesis. Based on three data sources, our statistical analyses consistently show that citizens living in counties with more social capital are less willing to co‐invest in local flood control. This finding provides empirical evidence to support the inhibition effect hypothesis. Key implications of our research and suggestions for future research are discussed in the conclusion.

（source：Public Administration Volume 98, Issue 3）