Browsing by Author "Suzuki, Kohei"

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Bureaucratic Structures and Organizational Commitment of Senior Public Officials: Evidence from a Cross-National Study of 20 European Countries
(2018-11) Suzuki, Kohei; Hur, Hyunkang; QoG Institute
In recent years there has been growing scholarly interest in the effects of bureaucratic structures on corruption, socioeconomic development, government effectiveness, policy implementation, and support for democracy. However, very few attention has been paid to a link between bureaucratic structures and civil servants’ work morale, especially organizational commitment. Do public sector managers in closed civil service systems show more commitment to the organization than those in more open bureaucracies? We argue that senior public sector managers in closed bureaucratic structures show higher levels of organizational commitment than those in more open civil service systems. However, such higher commitment mainly comes from the economic costs of leaving organization, lack of outside alternative, and perceived obligation to remain in the organization, not from their engagement in their organizational goals and values. Using two unique large comparative data sets on public bureaucracies and public managers—the COCOPS Top Executive Survey (Hammerschmid 2015) and the QoG (Quality of Government) Expert Survey (Dahlström et al. 2015)—we find support for hypothesis.
Does Chief Executive’s Experience Moderate Consolidation’s Impact on Municipal Performance
(2016-09) Suzuki, Kohei; Avellaneda, Claudioa N.; QoG Institute
A profound structural change is municipal merger. This come about through absorption of small units or merge of units to create a new entity. Both are intended to improve efficiency by taking advantage of economies of scale and scope. However, consolidation may temporarily and negative-ly affect other dimensions of performance. Nevertheless, experienced chief executives should miti-gate the transitional challenges. This study tests the moderating effect of chief executive’s public experience on the consolidation-performance relationship. This proposition is tested using data for all the 807 city-level Japanese municipalities for the 2006-2010 period. Two dimensions of perfor-mance are studied: efficiency in operational costs, and effectiveness in revenue collection. Findings reveal that merger through municipal absorption increases efficiency in operational costs but reduc-es revenue expansion. Merger through creation of a new municipality reduces municipal own reve-nue collection. Chief executive’s past experience neither mitigate nor accelerate the effects of mu-nicipal consolidation on performance.
Is impartiality enough? Government impartiality and citizen’s perceptions of public service quality
(2019-05) Suzuki, Kohei; Demircioglu, Mehmet Akif; QoG Institute
Government impartiality is considered a core feature of government quality that leads to favorable macro-level outcomes. We still have limited knowledge, however, of how impartiality affects citizens’ perceptions of public service quality. Understanding this relationship is important because citizens are the main beneficiaries of public services and are directly affected by administrative impartiality. Using the European Quality of Government Index (EQI) data for 56,925 citizens in 174 European regions, results of multilevel analysis show that impartiality positively influences perceived public service quality. However, we also find that such positive impacts of impartiality are contingent on the socioeconomic backgrounds of citizens. Impartiality does not lead to positive evaluations of public services among citizens with low educational background. The findings are robust across regions even after controlling for lagged service quality level and individual and regional factors. Results suggest the importance of impartiality, but all citizens do not benefit equally from impartiality.
Municipality Merger and Local Democracy: An assessment of the merger of Japanese municipalities.
(2017-07) Suzuki, Kohei; Ha, Hyesong; QoG Institute
Municipal mergers have been widely used as a tool for administrative reform (Fox and Gurley-Calvez 2006; OECD 2014). While municipal mergers have been planned or implemented with the hope of increasing efficiencies in service provisions, their impacts on local democracy have been neglected (Hansen 2013, 2015; Kjaer, Hjelmar, and Leth Olsen 2010). In particular, little is known as to how mergers affect performance of local legislatures. In filling these gaps, this study uses a dataset of 754 Japanese city-level governments from 2008 to 2014 to examine how mergers influ-ence legislative performance. After controlling for potential confounding factors, the analysis shows that municipal merger is negatively correlated to legislative performance. Specifically, new local councils created through merger are less likely to propose municipal bylaws than non-merged councils. This study contributes to the existing studies by examining the neglected dimension of merger effects in an understudied Asian developed country: Japanese local governments. Key Words: Administrative Reform, Municipal Merger, Legislative Performance, Panel Analysis
New public management and municipal performance: Do NPM reforms boost performance?
(2018-12) Suzuki, Kohei; Avellaneda, Claudia; QoG Institute
New Public Management (NPM) reforms have been adopted worldwide since the mid-1970s to improve government effectiveness and efficiency. The basic premise of NPM reforms is that market orientation and management focus in the public sector will enhance effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery (Christensen and Lægreid 2010). Although NPM reforms have existed for a quarter century, we still have limited understanding of whether NPM reforms fulfill their expectations. Most importantly, very few empirical studies have been conducted that actually assess the impact of NPM reforms on performance (Alonso, Clifton, and Díaz-Fuentes 2015, Dahlström, Nistotskaya, and Tyrberg 2016, Hammerschmid and Van de Walle 2011). This study helps fill this gap by examining the effect of different NPM-type reforms on municipal performance. In particular, we assess the impact of NPM reforms on three dimensions of municipal performance – gender equity, efficiency and effectiveness – by using a data set of 810 city-level Japanese municipalities. Findings show that municipalities’ overall effort to create NPM reforms is not associated with gender equity and effectiveness in revenue expansion. However, findings suggest that municipalities with a higher commitment to various NPM- type reforms are likely to operate with lower administrative overhead costs. Results also suggest that municipalities’ efforts supporting individual reform, including outsourcing and municipal assets and debt management reform, are associated with higher efficiency in overhead costs and increased revenues from selling municipal assets. This study tests the impacts of NPM-type reforms on municipal performance in an understudied Asian developed setting.
Rediscovering Bureaucracy: Bureaucratic Professionalism, Impartiality, and Innovation
(2017-07) Suzuki, Kohei; Demircioglu, Mehmet Akif; QoG Institute
This study examines an empirical link between bureaucratic structures and country-level innovation outputs. Although there has been growing scholarly attention to public sector innovation, we still have a limited understanding of the relationship between the structures of public bureaucracies and country-level innovation. This paper emphasizes the importance of bureaucratic structure in ex-plaining cross-national variations in country-level innovation outputs. It hypothesizes that countries where bureaucrats’ careers are determined by merit-based recruitment rather than political appoin-tees tend to record higher innovation outputs, controlling for other confounding factors. Countries with higher levels of impartiality of bureaucracies in decision-making also tend to have higher inno-vation outputs. Utilizing cross-national data from the Quality of Government Institute Expert Sur-vey and Global Innovation Index, findings show that levels of innovation outputs are significantly higher in countries that have higher levels of professional and impartial bureaucracies. The results suggest the importance of administrative designs to promote innovative activities. Key Words Innovation; Weberian bureaucracy; Bureaucratic structure; Professionalism; Impartiality; Comparative public administration
The Prudent Entrepreneurs. Women and Public Sector Innovation
(2017-10) Lapuente, Victor; Suzuki, Kohei; QoG Institute
This paper suggests a new argument to explain gender differences in public management: the “prudent entrepreneur theory.” We hypothesize that male and female public managers have three differences in their attitudes towards innovation. Firstly, female managers are more motivated to achieve results – instead of following rules – and to do something useful for society. Secondly, female public managers are open to new ideas and creativity, and more willing to challenge the status quo. Yet, thirdly, female leaders are less eager to take risks when would-be innovations may put their organizations in peril. That is, women in public sector leadership positions are both more entrepreneurial and more prudent. A multilevel analysis – based on the responses by 5,909 senior public managers from 20 countries of the COCOPS Executive Survey on Public Sector Reform and data of national public administrations from the Quality of Government Expert Survey – shows support for these hypotheses.
Women and Risk-Taking Behavior in Local Public Finance
(2017-07) Suzuki, Kohei; Avellaneda, Claudia N.; QoG Institute
This study examines how female representation in local elected (mayor and legislature) and administrative (mid-level manager) positions influences municipal financial decision making in 764 Japanese city-level governments. Findings show that female representation in local councils is positively correlated with risk-averse behavior in financial decisions, as female representation on the legislature is negatively associated with issuing municipal bonds as well as with local investment in public corporations. Female representa-tion in executive (mayor and vice-mayor) and mid-level administrative managerial positions has no appar-ent effects on local financial decisions. This study tests existing explanations of relationships between female managerial representation and fiscal behavior in an Asian developed setting characterized by con-siderable underrepresentation of women in politics. The