TY - JOUR
T1 - Organizational red tape
T2 - A measurement experiment
AU - Feeney, Mary K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - Multiple public administration survey research projects have asked respondents to assess the level of red tape in their organizations. Many of these surveys use the following questionnaire item: "If red tape is defined as 'burdensome rules and procedures that have negative effects on the organization's effectiveness,' how would you assess the level of red tape in your organization?" Unfortunately, no research has tested the ways in which the language used in this item may bias responses. This research uses data from a 2010 national survey of 2,500 local government managers in the United States to test three variations of the Organizational Red Tape scale, investigating whether there is variation in perceived organizational red tape based on the question wording. The findings from this research contribute to the red tape literature by providing empirical evidence that the definition used in the Organizational Red Tape scale, a commonly used questionnaire item in public administration research, influences responses about red tape perceptions.
AB - Multiple public administration survey research projects have asked respondents to assess the level of red tape in their organizations. Many of these surveys use the following questionnaire item: "If red tape is defined as 'burdensome rules and procedures that have negative effects on the organization's effectiveness,' how would you assess the level of red tape in your organization?" Unfortunately, no research has tested the ways in which the language used in this item may bias responses. This research uses data from a 2010 national survey of 2,500 local government managers in the United States to test three variations of the Organizational Red Tape scale, investigating whether there is variation in perceived organizational red tape based on the question wording. The findings from this research contribute to the red tape literature by providing empirical evidence that the definition used in the Organizational Red Tape scale, a commonly used questionnaire item in public administration research, influences responses about red tape perceptions.
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U2 - 10.1093/jopart/mus002
DO - 10.1093/jopart/mus002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84863967910
SN - 1053-1858
VL - 22
SP - 427
EP - 444
JO - Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
JF - Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
IS - 3
ER -