TY - JOUR
T1 - External Control and Red Tape
T2 - The Mediating Effects of Client and Organizational Feedback
AU - Brewer, Gene A.
AU - Walker, Richard M.
AU - Bozeman, Barry
AU - Avellaneda, Claudia N.
AU - Brewer, Gene
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2011-330-B00194). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM-XII), Brisbane, Australia, March 26–28, 2008; and the 20th Anniversary and 11th Biennial Public Management Research Association (PMRA) Conference, Syracuse, New York, June 2–4, 2011.
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - Bozeman's (1993; 2000) external control model of red tape posits that organizations with higher degrees of external control will have higher levels of red tape. According to the model, this effect is compounded by entropy affecting the communication of rules and their results, limited discretion over rules and procedures, and non-ownership of rules. However, the model predicts that red tape will be mediated by communication from clients and within the organization. Bozeman's model is often cited in the literature, but it has not been subjected to comprehensive empirical verification. This study tests the model using data from a multiple informant survey of 136 upper-tier English local government authorities conducted in 2004 and several secondary sources. Statistical results show that external control does indeed lead to higher levels of red tape. We then test a number of organizational feedback mediators and find that client feedback does little to mediate the effects of red tape; the major factors are trust between politicians and public managers and devolved management. We discuss these findings and propose some changes to the model.
AB - Bozeman's (1993; 2000) external control model of red tape posits that organizations with higher degrees of external control will have higher levels of red tape. According to the model, this effect is compounded by entropy affecting the communication of rules and their results, limited discretion over rules and procedures, and non-ownership of rules. However, the model predicts that red tape will be mediated by communication from clients and within the organization. Bozeman's model is often cited in the literature, but it has not been subjected to comprehensive empirical verification. This study tests the model using data from a multiple informant survey of 136 upper-tier English local government authorities conducted in 2004 and several secondary sources. Statistical results show that external control does indeed lead to higher levels of red tape. We then test a number of organizational feedback mediators and find that client feedback does little to mediate the effects of red tape; the major factors are trust between politicians and public managers and devolved management. We discuss these findings and propose some changes to the model.
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U2 - 10.1080/10967494.2012.725291
DO - 10.1080/10967494.2012.725291
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84868589286
SN - 1096-7494
VL - 15
SP - 288
EP - 314
JO - International Public Management Journal
JF - International Public Management Journal
IS - 3
ER -