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Chung, K. H. & Im. T. (2021) Happiness in developing countries: can government competitiveness substitute for formal institutions? International Review of Administrative Sciences. 0(0), 1-20
Accumulated empirical studies have examined how various qualities of governance affect happiness across countries. This study contributes to prior studies by testing a hypothesis that when developing countries lack effective legal and political institutions, capable government may substitute for their functions to promote happiness via effecꠓtive policy planning and implementation. To test this expectation, this study compares which qualities of governance—government capacity, democracy, and legal system—matter for happiness in developing countries. While prior studies have overwhelmingly relied on the World Governance Indicator to measure government capacity, we introꠓduce a new measure—government competitiveness—developed by the Center for Government Competitiveness, which overco..

Lee,Jae Bok, Porumbescu,G.A. (2019) Engendering Inclusive E-Government Use Through Citizen IT Training Programs Government Information Quarterly. 36(1), 69-76
Around the world, governments turn to IT

Christensen, R. K., & Whiting, S. W. (2018) Evaluating Inrole and Extrarole Behaviors Across Sectors. Public Personnel Management Public Personnel Management. 47(3), 314-334
In this study, we explore whether sector distinguishes what we know about performance appraisals. We were particularly interested in two important aspects of the appraisal process: evaluation of inrole/task and extrarole/citizenship behaviors. We utilized a mixed experimental design with three within-subjects factors (task behavior and two types of extrarole behavior), each manipulated at two levels (high and low performance), and a between-subjects factor measuring sector of the respondent (private and public/nonprofit). We find that sector does matter in a common managerial task like performance appraisals. Public sector managers placed greater weight on task behaviors in making their appraisals than did private sector managers. Results regarding sector and extrarole behaviors were mix..

Porumbescu, G.A. (2017) Linking transparency to trust in government and voice The American Review of Public Administration. 47(5), 520-537
AbstractThe objective of this study is to provide a more nuanced assessment of the relationship between public sector transparency and trust in government. Specifically, we examine how different tools used to enhance transparency—social media and e-government websites—relate to citizens’ perceptions of government trustworthiness. We then examine how these relationships vary according to how frequently citizens exercise voice. Findings indicate respondents’ use of public sector social media is positively related to perceptions of government trustworthiness. E-government website use lacks a significant relationship to perceptions of government trustworthiness. However, a strong negative relationship emerged between e-government website use and perceptions of trustworthiness as responde..

Jilke, S., Petrovsky, N., Meuleman, B., & James, O. (2017 ) Measurement equivalence in replications of experiments: when and why it matters and guidance on how to determine equivalence Public Management Review. 19(9), 1293-1310
[Abstract]Replications of experiments are typically conducted to verify initial findings, increase their external validity, or to study the boundary conditions of treatment effects. A crucial and implicitly made assumption is that outcome measures in experiments are sufficiently comparable (i.e., equivalent) across experimental settings. We argue that there are good reasons to believe that this equivalence assumption may not always be met and should therefore be tested empirically. Integrating the literature on experimental replication and survey measurement equivalence, we provide guidance when and how experimental replicators need to determine cross-replication equivalence.

Tobin, Im. (2016) Public Organizations in Asia London:Routledge.
Public Organizations in Asia introduces students to the fundamental theories of organizations and teaches them how to analyze different types of public organizations in East and Southeast Asia. Moving away from traditional Western theory and examples, this textbook provides numerous case studies of Asian organizations where different ideologies, administrative tradition, and social circumstances prevail.Key pedagogical features of Public Organizations in Asia include:- Learning objectives for each chapter- End of chapter discussion questions- Short student exercises- Concise case studies throughout the chaptersTraining students to be future leaders of Asian public organizations, this book is an essential text for undergraduate and graduate courses on public administration in Asia. It wil..

Campbell, J. W. (2017) Public Procurement Policy in South Korea: Approaches to Sustainable Development and Anti-Corruption. In The Experience of Democracy and Bureaucracy in South Korea Emerald Publishing Limited. 159-179
AbstractDue to the scope of procurement in the public sector, public procurement policy has the potential to shape the behavior of market actors and promote the growth of businesses with socially relevant characteristics. This chapter looks at the public procurement process in South Korea as well as the implementation of the country’s e-procurement system. Public procurement is vulnerable to corruption in various ways, and Korea’s KONEPS e-procurement system has reduced corruption in the procurement process by increasing transparency, the persistence of data, and the probability of detecting irregularities. Second, this chapter explores how Korea has increasingly incorporated sustainable procurement principles into procurement policy, attempting to foster innovative and environmentally..

Grimmelikhuijsen, S., & Porumbescu, G. A. (2017) Reconsidering the expectancy disconfirmation model, Three experimental replications. Public Management Review. 19(9), 1272-1292
[Abstract]The expectancy disconfirmation model (EDM) posits that disconfirmation (the difference between expectations and perceived performance) affects citizen satisfaction. Van Ryzin experimentally manipulated expectations and performance and found a direct effect of performance, but no disconfirmation. We performed: an exact replication; a conceptual replication with extreme manipulations; a conceptual replication that reversed the order of a performance and expectations manipulation. Study 1 and 2 reproduced original findings. In contrast, study 3 indicates that expectation cues are retrospectively used to anchor prior experiences of performance. As the rational assumptions underlying the EDM are increasingly challenged, we need a better understanding of how cognitive biases shape ci..

Cucciniello, M., Porumbescu, G. A., & Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2017) 25 years of transparency research: evidence and future directions Public Administration Review,. 77(1), 32-44
AbstractThis article synthesizes the cross-disciplinary literature on government transparency. It systematically reviews research addressing the topic of government transparency published between 1990 and 2015. The review used 187 studies to assess three questions: (1) what forms of transparency has the literature identified?; (2) what outcomes does the literature attribute to transparency?; and (3) how successful is transparency in achieving those goals? In addressing these questions, we reviewed six interrelated types of transparency and nine governance and citizen related outcomes of transparency. Based upon the findings of the analysis, we outline an agenda for future research on government transparency and its effects, which calls for: more systematically investigating the ways in w..

Gregory A.P. (2018) Assessing the implications of online mass media for citizens’ evaluations of government Policy Design and Practice. 1(3), 233-240
When assessing the potential of information and communications technology (ICT) to improve relationships between citizens and their government, public management research tends to focus on government applications of ICT and neglects implications resulting from private actors use of ICT. Given the rapid growth in private online mass media outlets over the past decade, this negligence is problematic because it biases our understanding of the implications of ICTs for citizens’ relationship with government. This paper discusses how the proliferation of online mass media outlets may influence citizens’ evaluations of their government. In doing, two key points are distilled. First, as the number of mass media outlets increase online, citizens will tend to access information that reaffirms th..

James, O., Jilke, S. R., & Van Ryzin, G. G. (2017 ) Behavioural and experimental public administration: Emerging contributions and new directions Public Administration. 95(4), 865-873
AbstractThis article introduces the symposium on the emerging subfield of behavioural public administration. The nine articles of the symposium each combine a focus on behavioural theory with the use of experiments as the method for testing theoretical expectations. The contribution of this work to public administration theory is revealed in the expanding set of insights into core topic areas, and there are associated contributions to public administration as a design science informing policy and practice. We analyse the variety of experimental methods employed by investigators in the subfield and the current relative popularity of survey experiments. We note maturation of the subfield embodied in emerging programmes of multiple experiments on particular topic areas. In conclusion, we pr..

Porumbescu, G. A., Lindeman, M. I., Ceka, E., & Cucciniello, M. (2017) Can transparency foster more understanding and compliant citizens? Public Administration Review. 77(6), 840-850
Voluntary policy compliance is an important yet rarely studied topic in public administration. To address the paucity of research, this article proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework that ties policy transparency and policy understanding to voluntary policy compliance intentions. The reasoning is that the extent to which citizens understand a policy contributes to their intentions to comply with that policy. Further, the authors argue that policy transparency indirectly influences voluntary policy compliance intentions through a positive effect on citizens’ levels of policy understanding. To enhance the validity of the findings, the authors assess these relationships across two policy domains. The findings reflect an indirect positive effect of transparency on voluntary c..

Jilke, S. (2018) Citizen satisfaction under changing political leadership: The role of partisan motivated reasoning Governance. 31(3), 515-533
AbstractThere exists a gap in our understanding of what citizen satisfaction evaluations actually represent. While recent years have witnessed a move away from performance-based models to cognitive-implicit models of citizen satisfaction, the inherent political nature of government, its institutions and services has been largely ignored. Drawing upon the functional responsibility chain between political principals and governmental, public service delivering institutions, we outline a theory of citizen satisfaction that accounts for the political nature of these institutions. In the context of two consecutive general elections we find a partisan bias in citizen satisfaction with government and the legislative branch, but not for institutions that are more clearly separated from national ..

Phil, Kim. Tobin, Im. (2019) Comparing Government Performance Indicators: A Fuzzy-set analysis The Korean Journal of Policy Studies. 34(2)

Deslatte, A., & Swann, W. L. (2017) Context matters: A Bayesian analysis of how organizational environments shape the strategic management of sustainable development Public Administration. 95(3), 807-824
AbstractPublic administration scholars have argued the need for a ‘general theory’ linking strategic management to the context in which public organizations operate. Understanding the interplay between organizational contexts and strategic management responses to urban sprawl and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains an underexplored avenue for empirical advancement of this goal. Using 2015 survey data, we employ a novel Bayesian item response theory (IRT) approach to test how land use policy comprehensiveness, organizational capacities, leadership turnover, and environmental complexities affect the strategic management of smart growth policy in local governments. We find that public organizations harness political, administrative, and community capacities in varied combinations to be..

Oh, Namkyung. (2017) Dimensions of strategic intervention for risk reduction and mitigation: a case study of the MV Sewol incident Journal of Risk Research. 20(12), 1516-1533
Organizations in disaster management system should learn from previous experience and strategically use their lesson for the refinement of a system’s competencies for risk management. However, the MV Sewol incident revealed the absence of the organizational learning in the Korean disaster management system. With mixed methods of content analysis, in-depth interview, and social network analysis, this study identified key failure factors in response to the incident and categorized them by managerial, structural, and institutional domains. While the Korean government took bold steps to rebuild its risk management system, those efforts were biased to structural reforms and lacked fundamental changes in human and informational resources management. Based on the findings, this study suggests ..

Cho, Wonhyuk, Ho, Alfred T. (2018) Does neighborhood crime matter? A multi-year survey study on perceptions of race, victimization, and public safety International Journal of Law Crime and Justice . 55,13-26
Using multiple large datasets over time from Kansas City, Missouri, hypotheses drawn from theories of racial stereotype amplification, violencedesensitization, and dissimilar group threat are tested. The results show that White Americans that live in Black or Hispanic neighborhoods tend to feel less satisfied with public safety, even after controlling for actual crime rates, physical signs of disorder, and a neighborhood's socioeconomic context. However, racial minority residents living in White or minority neighborhoods do not have the same inflated fear. Further, on the issue of race-of-victim effects, the White victimization rate in neighborhoods is found to be negatively associated with public safety perception, whereas the victimization of Blacks has no statistically significant imp..

Porumbescu, G. A. (2017) Does transparency improve citizens’ perceptions of government performance? Evidence from Seoul, South Kore Administration & Society. 49(3), 443-468
AbstractDespite a great deal of research that examines consequences of transparency policies, there have been few empirical assessments of the relationship between transparency and citizens’ perceptions of public sector performance. This study focuses upon the relationship between computer-mediated transparency and perceptions of public sector performance in particular. We hypothesize that citizens’ increased exposure to computer-mediated transparency will be positively related to their generalized perceptions of public sector performance. We also hypothesize that this positive relationship is mediated by citizens’ satisfaction with public service provision. Results suggest that increased exposure to computer-mediated transparency is positively associated with citizens’ perceptions o..

Jesse W. Campbell. (2018) Efficiency, Incentives, and Transformational Leadership: Understanding Collaboration Preferences in the Public Sector Public Performance & Management Review. 41(2), 277-299
In the public sector, participant attitudes are an important determinant of the success of inter-organizational collaboration initiatives. In this study, a model of employee willingness to collaborate is proposed in which the influence of transformational leadership is determined in part by the performance orientation of the organizational context in which it is enacted. The theoretical model is tested empirically using survey data collected from public employees in South Korea and regression-based Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis suggests that the effect of transformational leadership is amplified by an organization’s emphasis on internal efficiency and its use of performance-based incentives, factors that themselves have independent positive and negative effects, respectively, on ..

Campbell, J. W., & Im, T. (2019) Exchange Ideology, Performance Pay, and Pay Satisfaction: Evidence From South Korean Central Government Public Personnel Management. 48(4), 584–607
The use of performance pay in public organizations is contentious partly because it can crowd out the intrinsic motivation associated with public service. However, not all public employees are service oriented and sensitivity to extrinsic rewards varies between them. Exchange ideology measures the strength of an individual’s belief that work effort should be proportional to treatment by the organization. We argue that this psychological trait conditions the relationship between performance pay and pay satisfaction. An analysis of survey data collected from Korean government employees shows that performance pay is positively related to pay satisfaction in the average case, and second that this relationship is stronger for employees with higher levels of exchange ideology. Monte Carlo sim..

Jesse W. Campbell. (2018) Felt responsibility for change in public organizations: general and sector-specific paths Public Management Review. 20(2), 232-253
Employees may be a source of performance-enhancing innovation or an obstacle to its implementation. This article develops a model of felt responsibility for change that integrates general and public sector-specific components. Structural equation modelling using survey data collected from Korean government employees suggests that both transformational leadership and performance-based incentives influence change attitudes by strengthening an organization’s climate for innovation. The analysis also suggests that transformational leadership wields influence through reinforcing public service motivation. It is argued that this path is uniquely relevant to the implementation of reform in the public sector.

Deslatte, A., & Stokan, E. (2017) Hierarchies of need in sustainable development: A resource dependence approach for local governance Urban Affairs Review. 55(4): 1125-1152
AbstractUrban sustainability is a burgeoning focus for urban scholarship but rarely examined within the larger context of local government economic activities. Why should cities focusing on cutback management and competition for tax revenues be expected to devote all but the fleetest of attention to carbon footprints or metropolitan-wide environmental or social problems? To address this question, we utilize a resource dependence (RD) theoretical framework to conceptualize sustainable development as a pattern of contractual arrangements between governments and firms shaped by resource constraints. Utilizing survey data of U.S. cities and a Bayesian methodological approach, we present evidence that municipal job-recruitment efforts reduce the probability of observing an overall sustainabil..

Kim, Y., Jung, Y., Seoh, D., & Im, T. (2019) Higher Public Service Motivation for Accepting Public Sector Pension Reform? Evidence from Korean Government Organizations. The Korean Journal of Policy Studies . 34(1): 23-42
[Abstract]Organizational reforms that employees do not voluntary accept are likely to negatively affect organizational effectiveness in the long term. We conducted an empirical analysis with survey data by reviewing related studies on public service motivation (PSM) and acceptance of organizational changes, the goal being to verify the relationship between government employees’ PSMand their acceptance of public sector pension reform in Korea. Results show that public servants highly driven by PSM are willing to accept this pension reform even though it reduces their own benefits. This study is distinguished from existing literature of PSM and responses to organizational changes because it reduces the possibility of endogeneity problems.[Keyword]public service motivation, acceptance of o..

Kim,Min-Hyu , Porumbescu, G.A. & Neshkova, M.I.. (2019) How Does Race Affect Perceptions of Police Trustworthiness? International Public Management Journal. 22(2), 343-372
While race is often discussed in relation to police, there is still little empirical evidence on the role of race in shaping citizens’ evaluations of government performance. Using an experimental design, this study examines how different levels of police performance affect perceptions of police trustworthiness and to which degree observed effects vary by individual race and across communities with different racial makeups. Specifically, we study the effect of different levels of performance on perceived trustworthiness in two communities—one predominantly African American and one predominantly White—and replicate across two samples: a sample consisting of primarily White participants and another consisting of only African American participants. Results indicate that the interaction be..

Porumbescu, G. A., & Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2018) Linking Decision-Making Procedures to Decision Acceptance and Citizen Voice: Evidence From Two Studies The American Review of Public Administration. 48(8), 902-914
[Abstract]Government decision-making procedures and transparency ensure responsive governance. Yet, there are few attempts to assess how these two factors shape citizens’ intentions to voice opposition to government decisions. We predict that the effect of decision-making procedures on voice is contingent upon the fairness of government decision-making procedures. We also hypothesize that the strength of this effect will vary according to how transparent the decision-making process is. We test these hypotheses using two survey experiments, where we assess how the effect of procedural fairness of a decision-making process on citizen voice varies according to the level of transparency. Findings reveal that participants are least inclined to voice opposition when a decision-making process ..

Gregory Porumbescu. (2017) Not All Bad News After All? Exploring the Relationship Between Citizens’ Use of Online Mass Media for Government Information and Trust in Governmen 20(3), 409-441

Porumbescu, G. (2017) Not all bad news after all? Exploring the relationship between citizens’ use of online mass media for government information and trust in government. International Public Management Journal. 20(3), 409-441
Mass media coverage of government is often blamed for inciting anti-public sector sentiment. Yet there have been few empirical assessments of these claims. To address this gap in the literature, this study examines whether relationships between citizens’ expectations of public sector performance, satisfaction with public services, and levels of trust in government vary according to their use of online mass media for information about government. Using data collected in 2012 from a survey of 1,100 Seoul citizens, we find that greater use of online mass media to obtain information about government reinforces negative relationships between (1) expectations of public sector performance and satisfaction with public services, and (2) expectations of public sector performance and trust in gove..

Ryu, S. & Christensen, R. K. (2019) Organization Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Contingent Role of Administrative Intensity in Hurricane Rita The American Review of Public Administration. 49(5), 519–531
This study uses a natural experiment of school performance during Hurricane Rita in 2005 to investigate the impact of administrative intensity on student achievement in turbulent environments. Administrative intensity constitutes the bureaucratic capacity of the workforce, which we measure as a ratio of noncore to core personnel. Scholars have debated the contingent impact of administrative intensity on organizational performance and policy outcomes—focusing either on its contribution to organizational rigidity or enhancement of stores of human capital. We explore a curvilinear alternative to this debate by investigating the moderating role of administrative intensity in the otherwise negative relationship between environmental turbulence and organizational performance. Because school d..

Tobin Im, Jay H. Kwon. (2019) Performance Budgeting Reform Theories and International Practices London:Routledge. Section 2, Chapter 6. Linking Strategic Planning with Performance- Based Budgeting: Republic of Korea Under the Developmental- State Era
[Abstract]Using theoretical frameworks to explore the political, organizational, and cultural dynamics of performance budgeting, this book examines the adoption of performance budgeting in a variety of countries, how it has been implemented, and why it succeeded or failed. Chapters include case studies from a wide range of continents and regions including the U.S., Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Each case study pays careful attention to the unique historical, political, and cultural contexts of reform and closely examines how performance informed the budgetary process.Chapters investigate theory-driven analysis, focusing on common themes related to international policy diffusion, organizational change, stakeholder politics and gaming, communication a..

Kalgin, A., Podolskiy, D., Parfenteva, D., & Campbell, J. W. (2018) Performance management and job-goal alignment: A conditional process model of turnover intention in the public sector International Journal of Public Sector Management. 31(1), 65-80
[Abstract]Purpose – The use of performance management (PM) tools is a defining characteristic of public sector management. However, while research on PM is extensive, comparatively little focuses on how the practice shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees. The purpose of this paper is to address this question anddevelop a conditional process model that links PM to turnover intention. The model predicts that the PM-turnover relationship is mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by job-goal alignment.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a unique data set drawn from the Russian public sector to test the model empirically. Conditional process modeling is used to test for moderated mediation. The effects are further explored using bootstrapped bias-corrected confidence i..

Christensen, R. K., & Wright, B. E. (2018) Public service motivation and ethical behavior: Evidence from three experiments Journal of Behavioral Public Administration. 1(1), 1-8
Public service motivation (PSM) research has grown rapidly in the last several decades, largely focused on the role of PSM in employment decisions and employee performance. More recently, researchers have raised the possibility that PSM may play a role in workplace ethical behavior. In this study we sought to empirically articulate this link with evidence from three experimental studies. Across three experiments our research fails to confirm the relationship between PSM and ethics. We measured ethics both attitudinally and observationally. PSM may increase ethical behavior but not always in ways that public managers and organizations can easily influence.

Tobin, Im. (2017) Revisiting Bureaucratic Dysfunction: The Role of Bureaucracy in Democratization The Korean Journal of Policy Studies . 32(1) 127-147
[Abstract]While many studies have focused on the link between economics and democracy in exploring the strategies adopted by developing countries, they have tended to overlook the role of bureaucracy in democratization. This study seeks the missing link between bureaucracy and democratization. What are the conditions necessary for bureaucracy to facilitate the democratization process of a country? This article begins by briefly reviewing the bureaucracy literature from Max Weber and Karl Marx and then argues that despite its shortcomings, bureaucracy in its Weberian form can facilitate the political democratization of a developmental state. This study concludes that although bureaucracy is often regarded as dysfunctional, it can be instrumental in the democratization process in the conte..

Porumbescu, G. A., Neshkova, M.I. & Huntoon, M.. (2019) The Effects of Police Performance On Agency Trustworthiness and Citizen Participation Public Management Review. 21(2), 212-237
We examine the effect of performance information on citizens’ willingness to engage with government. We hypothesize that when performance information is positive, citizens perceive government as trustworthy, which increases proclivity for participation. To validate this framework, we conduct an experiment that tests the effect of police performance on citizens’ perceptions of police trustworthiness and intentions to participate in a neighbourhood watch programme. We find that information about police performance strongly affects perceptions of police trustworthiness. Yet, citizen decisions to participate in the community watch programme are more complex and can be triggered by either positive or negative police performance.

Tobin, Im. (2019) The Two Sides of Korean Administrative Culture: Competitiveness or Collectivism? London:Routledge.
This book explores two contradictory aspects of the Korean culture: competitiveness and collectivism. These two major concepts describe the dynamics of Korean public organizations, which explain the Hangang RiverEconomic Miracle and political democratization. However, not many studies have focused on how competition within the central government, that is, competition among different agencies, has led to an overall competitive government. This book attempts to do so and explains how competition contributed to the rapid economic growth of Korea.[Contents]1. Competition: A Novel Concept?2. Competition Traits as Psychological Drivers3. Competition Within an Organization4. Competing with an Organization5. Governance from the Competition Perspective6. Competition and Governance in the Future

Deslatte, A., Feiock, R. C., & Wassel, K. (2017) Urban pressures and innovations: Sustainability commitment in the face of fragmentation and inequality. Review of Policy Research Review of Policy Research. 34(5), 700-724
AbstractLocal government innovations occur within environments characterized by high service‐need complexity and risk. The question of how broader environmental conditions influence governmental willingness or ability to innovate has been a long‐standing concern within organizational, management, and policy scholarship. Although wealth and education are robust predictors of the propensity to engage in a wide range of local sustainability activities, the linkages among governmental fragmentation, social inequality, and sustainability policies are not well understood. This study focuses on the conditions both within and across city boundaries in urban regions which inhibit adoption of sustainable development innovations. We utilize a Bayesian item response theory approach to create a new..

Szmer, J., Christensen, R.K., & Grubbs, S.J. (2018) What influences the influence of U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions? European Journal of Law and Economics. 1-27
In this exploratory study, we develop models of factors that influence the citation or influence of judicial opinions written by U.S. Courts of Appeals judges. Prior studies of citation patterns in the U.S. Courts of Appeals largely focus on the judge’s career as the unit of analysis. Not surprisingly, this research suggests judge-level factors tend to influence the degree to which judges’ opinions are cited in subsequent decisions. Utilizing a dataset with a random sample of individual cases as the unit of analysis, we compare the effects of judge, panel, and case factors. Overall, while several case-level factors influence the number of citations a case receives, few judge- and panel-level variables affect citation rates. The findings suggest that opinion citation models based on jud..

Kroll, A., & Porumbescu, G. A. (2017 ) When Extrinsic Rewards Become “Sour Grapes” An Experimental Study of Adjustments in Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivation Review of Public Personnel Administration. 39(4), 467-486
[Abstract]This article challenges conventional wisdom put forward by the motivational crowding literature by examining whether hypothetical changes to incentive structures can cause variation in employee motivation. It links such motivational adjustments to theories of cognitive dissonance and self-rationalization, and thereby offers a more nuanced perspective on government reforms in the area of human resource management. The article puts forward the idea that expectations of few extrinsic rewards can raise employees’ levels of intrinsic and prosocial motivation; this response is seen as a cognitive coping mechanism to self-justify the value of one’s work. A randomized experiment with 129 public administration students provides partial evidence for the hypothesized effect. Students wh..

Im, T., & Lee, H., & Lim, D.. (2018) Questionable Reform: The Adoption of the Double-Entry Bookkeeping and Accrual Basis Accounting System in Korea The Korean Journal of Policy Studies. 57-80(23p)
[Abstract]This study examines the factors that influence human vulnerabilityto natural disasters by focusing on the seismic evaluation of school buildings inKorea. Since natural disasters such as an earthquake often do not take people’slives directly, but rather indirectly through the destruction of physical structures,seismic reinforcement of school buildings may reduce the vulnerability of theiroccupants by strengthening structures to withstand such disasters. Disastermitigation measures are implemented within a state; however, little is knownabout how they are distributed when the physical properties of structures aretaken into account. This paper analyzes a panel data based on the structuralproperties of school buildings in eight different provinces between 2011 and2015 using a logi..

Jesse W. Campbell. (2017) Felt responsibility for change in public organizations: general and sector-specific paths PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REVIEW. VOL. 20, NO. 2, 232–253
[ABSTRACT]Employees may be a source of performance-enhancing innovation or an obstacle to its implementation. This article develops a model of felt responsibility for change that integrates general and public sector-specific components. Structural equation modelling using survey data collected from Korean government employees suggests that both transformational leadership and performance-based incentives influence change attitudes by strengthening an organization’s climate for innovation. The analysis also suggests that transforational leadership wields influence through reinforcing public service motivation. It is argued that this path is uniquely relevant to the implementation of reform in the public sector.[KEYWORDS]Reform, Innovation, Motivation, Incentives, leadership

Jesse W. Campbell. & Im, T.. (2016/09) Perceived Public Participation Efficacy : The Differential Influence of Public Service Motivation Across Organizational Strata. Sage Journals, 45(3): 308-330. Public personnel management, 45(3). 308-330(23p)
[Abstract]Given the crucial role of bureaucrats in determining the success of participatory policy-making efforts, understanding the factors that influence their beliefs about public participation is an important research goal. Building on public service motivation (PSM) and organizational echelons theory, this study develops a model of perceived participation efficacy for civil servants and tests it using data from a survey of South Korean central government employees. Ordered logistic regression analysis suggests that PSM plays a differential role in determining beliefs about participation across organizational strata. Monte Carlo simulations are used to better understand this effect. The results suggest that PSM is a significant factor in determining perceived participation efficacy f..

Tobin Im. (2018) Post face the significance of the palgrave Handbook of public administration and management in Europe for the Asian Public administration and management community: The pleasure of rediscovering European public administration.
Tobin Im. (2017/11). Post face the significance of the palgrave Handbook of public administration and management in Europe for the Asian Public administration and management community: The pleasure of rediscovering European public administration In Ongaro, E., & Van Thiel, S. (Eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Public Administration and Management in Europe: Palgrave Macmillan. This Handbook offers a systematic review of state-of-the-art knowledge on public administration in Europe. Covering the theoretical, epistemological and practical aspects of the field, it focuses on how public administration operates and is studied in European countries. In sixty-three chapters, written by leading scholars, this Handbook considers the uniqueness of the European situation through an interdisciplinary..

Yunjin Jung, Saerim Kim, Tobin Im. (2018) Risk Aversion and Sorting into the Public Sector: Evidence from South Korea KOREAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ Vol.56 No.1. 183-211
Young job seekers in South Korea who witnessed the financial crisis in the late 1990s, theso-called International Monetary Fund (IMF) Crisis, have naturally recognized job security as an important factor in job choice. Consequently, they have favored public sector jobs as these jobs tend to come with greater security. Furthermore, previous research has mainly focused on socioeconomic factors, like the IMF Crisis, influencing the preference for high job security among job seekers rather than on in-depth study of the internal individual characteristics, such as risk preference. This study uses a logistic regression model to examine the relationship between personal risk perception and public-sector job choice using Korean Education Employment Panel (KEEP) data from 2011 and 2014. The empir..

Tobin Im(Ed.). (2017) The Experience of Democracy and Bureaucracy in South Korea Emerald Group Publishing.
The Experience of Democracy and Bureaucracy in South Korea Edited Tobin Im, Seoul National University, Korea 9781787144729 | 296 pages | Hardback | £66.95 €89.95 $114.95 http://bit.ly/2zlTE8d Save 30% with promo code EMERALD30 South Korea is renowned as one of the success stories of fast economic development. The Korean developmental state was a highly efficient, meritocratic, and fully monopolized coercive force. These resources were skilfully leveraged to shape the direction of private sector actors towards strategic initiatives. However, these very same resources could have resulted in the bureaucracy retaining its power indefinitely. Instead, step-by-step, the resources of the bureaucracy, which serviced the authoritarian leadership in the developmental period, were exercised toward..

Im, Tobin., & Hartley, K. . (2017) Aligning Needs and Capacities to Boost Government Competitiveness Public Organization Review. Online Published
National competitiveness indices are often theoretical underdeveloped, limiting their engagement with academic literature. Because many are based on neoliberal ideology, a new approach is needed to incorporate governance and administration theory, and to enhance relevance to developing countries. This article introduces government competitiveness, a concept that recognizes overlooked factors like the role of social organizations, the use of diverse policy inputs and policy development processes, and the imperative to address human needs at all development stages. The conceptual foundation draws from systems theory, needs theory, and intervention stages theory to inform a comprehensive framework that bridges development scholarship and practice.

Автор рецензии. (2017) Book Reivew: Публичные организации в Азии(Public Organizations in Asia) Электронный научный журнал(Electronic Scientific Journal) / 46(5). 33-36
access:http://old.niu.ranepa.ru/nauka/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/05_2017.pdf

Im., T. & Choi, Y. . (2016) Rethinking National Competitiveness: A Critical Assessment of Governmental Capacity Measures Social Indicators Research. Online Published
Scholars, policymakers, and media have increasingly focused on national competitiveness in the context of globalization and economic growth. This heightened attention underscores the importance of the many indices ranking government performance and effectiveness across countries. The four indices, government efficiency, public institutions, government effectiveness, and quality of government, have dominated this field. However, we found serious limitations they reveal, in terms of analytical soundness and policy relevance and usefulness. This paper systematically provides such a critique and lays the groundwork for thinking about government capacity in a new way: in terms of government competitiveness. So doing, this paper contributes to the literature about national competitiveness, gov..

Michael Duncan and Robert K. Christensen. (2013) An analysis of park-and-ride provision at light rail stations across the US. Transport Policy 25. 148-157
Whether to provide a park-and-ride facility is a key decision for transit agencies when they are planning for a new or expanded rail system. We seek to better understand the reasons behind park-and-ride provision by estimating a logit model that predicts the presence of parking at a set of new light rail stations across the US. In terms of station area attributes, this model demonstrates a relatively predictable pattern, with parking facilities more frequently occurring in lower density environments where land is cheap and available. After controlling for station attributes, certain transit operators exhibit a greater propensity to provide park-and-ride facilities (e.g., those that serve multiple jurisdictions, have large service areas, and rely heavily on local funding). Further, parkin..

Megan LePere-Schloop, Brian N. Williams, Robert K. Christensen, and Daniel Silk. (2016) Appraising the appraisal process: manager and patrol officer perspectives. Police Journal 88(3). 231-250
While research shows that performance appraisals are important both as management tools and for their ability to shape organisational commitment and performance, researchers have also noted a ‘pervasive dissatisfaction’ (Coutts and Schneider, 2004: 68) with appraisals in policing. The standardisation of performance appraisal systems across local government departments in the United States may contribute to this dissatisfaction. Standardised forms may be difficult to adapt to diverse officer positions, and to the overall goals of police departments and agencies. This paper uses appraiser and appraisee survey data from a police department in a mid-sized southern city in the United States to examine whether standardised performance appraisal systems in local government meet the needs of l..

John Szmer, Robert K. Christensen and Erin B. Kaheny. (2015) Gender, Race, and Dissensus on State Supreme Courts Social Science Quarterly 96(2). 553-575
Objectives. The objectives of this study were to integrate multiple streams of research on judicial dissensus to better understand the causes of state court of last resort justices’ decisions to dissent. The study particularly focused on the relationship between dissent and gender and race (and their intersection) at the individual and panel level. Methods. We employed probit regression with clustered standard errors of the population of state court of last resort cases from 1995 to 1998. Results. Women and minorities were more likely to dissent in cases involving issues that are particularly salient to those particular groups. We also find evidence of the intersectionality of race and gender: while white women and African-American males were less likely to dissent than white males, Afr..

Justin M. Stritch and Robert K. Christensen. (2016) Going Green in Public Organizations Linking Organizational Commitment and Public Service Motives to Public Employees’ Workplace Eco-Initiatives. American Review of Public Administration 46(3). 337-355
Public servants are expected to be good stewards of resources, including the energy and environmental resources consumed in a public organization’s day-to-day operations. Many government organizations have enacted policies to mitigate the environmental impact of their operations. Even in the absence of formal policies, however, individual public employees might engage in a number of discretionary, pro-environmental behaviors known as eco-initiatives. What motivational factors cause a public employee to exhibit eco-initiative? To answer this question, we draw on a theoretical framework based on connectedness to nature, organizational commitment, public service motivation (PSM), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We use employee-level data from a large city in the southeast Un..

Robert K. Christensen, Justin M. Stritch, J. Edward Kellough, and Gene A. Brewer. (2015) Identifying Student Traits and Motives to Service-Learn: Public Service Orientation Among New College Freshmen. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 19(4).
Among college students, public service motives in uence choice of major or job. Although the link between public service motives and prosocial behavior has been established among working adults, researchers have not adequately examined how these motives a ect the reported behavior of precareer students. In this article, the authors explored how public service motives and certain demographic characteristics were related to the service orientation of college freshmen. More speci cally, they exam- ined whether public service motivation was related to a student’s proclivity to enroll in service-learning courses and volunteer frequently. Results indicated that public service motives were positively associated with both curricular and extracurricular public service activities among rst-year c..

Rebecca Nesbit, Heather Rimes, Robert K. Christensen, and Jeffrey L. Brudney. (2016) Inadvertent Volunteer Managers Exploring Perceptions of Volunteer Managers’ and Volunteers’ Roles in the Public Workplace. Review of Public Personnel Administration. 1-24
Although a voluminous literature addresses organizational change, employee stress, and organizational behavior, we have little understanding of employees’ responses to being assigned the role and responsibilities of a volunteer manager. Because many public and nonprofit organizations seek to incorporate more volunteers—especially during times of fiscal stress—employees’ responses to an influx of volunteers and additional volunteer management responsibilities can affect organizational performance. We use data from a case study at a large public library system to illustrate how role theory helps advance our understanding of these responsibilities in a human resource context. Our findings suggest that role perceptions, expectations, and conflict all inform the effectiveness and dynamics..

Songmook Kim, Robert K. Christensen et al.. (2013) Investigating the Structure and Meaning of Public Service Motivation across Populations: Developing an International Instrument and Addressing Issues of Measurement Invariance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 23(1). 79-102
The growth in international research on public service motivation (PSM) raises a number of important questions about the degree to which the theory and research developed in one country can contribute to our understanding of PSM in other counties. To help address this issue, this study revisits the conceptual and operational definitions of PSM to address weaknesses previously noted in the literature. Although some important steps have been taken to both improve and internationalize the PSM scale, this work has been done incrementally. In contrast, this study takes a more systematic and comprehensive approach by combining the efforts of international PSM scholars to develop and then test a revised measurement instrument for PSM in 12 countries. Although the resulting four dimensional 16-i..

Bradley E. Wright, Shahidul Hassan and Robert K. Christensen. (2016) Job Choice and Performance: Revisiting Core Assumptions about Public Service Motivation. International Public Management Journal. 1-24
Although there has been considerable enthusiasm for public service motivation (PSM) research in recent years, two of PSM's fundamental assumptions have been relatively untested: its impacts on job choice and on job performance. Using panel data from two different studies, we offer stronger observational tests of these core assumptions. The findings provide mixed evidence. When testing PSM's effect on employment choice, we find that PSM measured during a law student's first year predicts the sector in which they are employed after graduation three years later. In a separate study investigating PSM's effect on job performance, we find that government employee PSM does not predict employee absenteeism or supervisor assessments of their in-role and extra-role performance. Our findings suppor..

Anthony Michael Kreis and Robert K. Christensen. (2013) Law and Public Policy. Policy Studies Journal 41. S38-S52
Law and public policy is a dynamic, interdisciplinary area of study that has broad appeal to scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders. Scholarship in the subfield is critical to our general understanding of existing public policies and calls for future and reformed policies. While some of the subfield’s utility and commonalities are obscured by diverging methodological approaches and topical foci, this review highlights some common fibers that run through the scholarship streams from public policy, public law, and doctrinal disciplines. We focus on several substantive policy areas to illustrate some of the best studies in the subfield and how scholars might better embrace the strength of the subfield’s diversity by coordinating with scholars with similar topical interests. In so doing,..

Laurie Paarlberg, Rebecca Nesbit, Richard Clerkin and Robert Christensen. (2014) Leading, Following or Complementing in Economic Crisis: A Conceptual Model Illustrating Nonprofit Relationships with Public Schools. Administrative Sciences 4(2). 120-136
Public and nonprofit organizations, entwined in the delivery of public goods and services, are in the midst of challenging economic times. In these circumstances, sound collaborative leadership may help bridge budget and program service delivery shortfalls. In this paper, we examine the administrative dynamics of mutual reliance between two prominent public and nonprofit organizations: public schools and parent-teacher groups (PTGs). We conclude that the partnership is changing as a result of external, economic forces. In essence, we are seeing a threat-rigidity response. The economic crisis may be responsible for causing PTGs to narrow their range of activities away from broader strategic issues that can be addressed through their confrontation activities and advocacy mission towards a ..

Justin M. Stritch and Robert K. Christensen. (2014) Looking at a job’s social impact through PSM tinted lenses: Probing the motivation – perception relationship. Public Administration 92(4). 826-842
We explore here the relationship between employees' public service motives and the way they perceive the social impact of their work. Our purpose is twofold. First, while past researchers have examined part of this relationship, largely from the opposite causal direction, we seek to supplement the field's current understanding of the organizational consequences of public service motivation (PSM), especially its potential impact on an employee's perceived social impact. Together with a cross-sectional study, we assess several theoretical frameworks that support the possibility of an additional causal link between PSM and perceived social impact. Second, we seek to begin identifying moderators that potentially condition PSM's relationship with employee perceptions of social impact. Using a..

Bradley E. Wright, Robert K. Christensen and Sanjay K. Pandey. (2013) Measuring Public Service Motivation: Exploring the Equivalence of Existing Global Measures. International Public Management Journal 16(2). 197-223
Our ability to interpret, generalize, and build theory across public service motivation (PSM) studies is limited by lack of knowledge regarding the equivalence of different PSM measures that researchers frequently use. While past research has given considerable attention to validating multidimensional measures of PSM, this study investigates the psychometric properties of the global measures that have been used to provide much of the empirical evidence on PSM. Building on the lessons of other research using global and multidimensional measures, we first discuss the strengths and weaknesses of existing global measures of PSM relative to those of the multidimensional measures. After highlighting the potential merit of global scales, we then provide empirical justification for global scales..

Bradley E. Wright, Robert K. Christensen and Kimberley Roussin Isett. (2013) Motivated to Adapt? The Role of Public Service Motivation as Employees Face Organizational Change. Public Administration Review 73(5). 738-747
Researchers concerned with organizational change have consistently emphasized the role that the work environment plays in employee acceptance of change. Underexamined in the public management literature, however, is the role that employee values, particularly public service motivation (PSM), may play in employee acceptance of change. Some scholars have noted a positive correlation between employee PSM and organizational change efforts; this article extends this work by attempting to isolate the mechanisms that explain this relationship. Using data from a survey of employees in a city undergoing a reorganization and reduction in workforce, the authors find that only employees who scored high on a single dimension of PSM—self-sacrifice—were more likely than others to support organization..

Richard M. Clerkin, Laurie E. Paarlberg, Robert K. Christensen, Rebecca A. Nesbit and Mary Tschirhart. (2013) Place, Time, and Philanthropy: Exploring Geographic Mobility and Philanthropic Engagement. Public Administration Review 73(1). 97-106
America is a nation of movers, and this has implications for public and nonprofit managers who rely on donations and volunteers to increase the capacity of nonprofits and to strengthen local communities. This article explores the impact of time and place on philanthropic engagement, focusing on how three aspects of community—sense of belonging, social connections, and regional culture—are related to volunteering and giving to local organizations. The authors find that geographic mobility affects philanthropic engagement. Drawing on a survey of active older Americans, the authors find that three community factors —sense of community, social networks, and regional cultures— are related to one or both types of philanthropic behavior. The authors conclude by offering thoughts for future ..

Robert K. Christensen, Steven W. Whiting, Tobin Im, Eunju Rho, Justin M. Stritch and Jungho Park. (2013) Public Service Motivation, Task, and Nontask Behavior: A Performance Appraisal Experiment with Korean MPA and MBA Students. International Public Management Journal 16(1). 28-52
Appraisals of public employees are important for a host of reasons, and particularly so with the increasing emphasis on pay-for-performance systems and performance-based management in the public sector. However, managerial appraisals of employees can be somewhat subjective and our understanding of the appraisal process in the public sector is largely U.S.-centric. In this study, we explore whether character- istics of managers, like a rater’s public service motivation (PSM), affect appraisal out- comes for their subordinates. Using a mixed experimental design, we analyze these dynamics in a non-U.S. context with MBA and MPA students enrolled in one of Korea’s top universities. We find that rater PSM moderates the influence of both task and non-task behavior on an employee’s performanc..

Robert K. Christensen, Rebecca Nesbit, and Brett Agypt. (2016) To Give or Not to Give: Employee Responses to Workplace Giving Campaigns Over Time. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 1-18
In this article, we address a gap in our knowledge of workplace philanthropy. We explore the factors that distinguish givers from nongivers in workplace campaigns using observational data from a population of employees at a large, public university that has sponsored two annual giving campaigns from 2001 to 2008. The analyses correct for common issues—such as nonresponse and self-reporting biases—that frequently arise in empirical studies of philanthropy. This article is intended to supplement previous research that focuses on workplace givers. We conclude that several factors distinguish workplace givers from nongivers, such as age, gender, salary, duration of employment, and rank. This fuller exploration of workplace giving contributes to a broader understanding of philanthropic givi..

Tobin Im and Jisu Jeong. (2014) A Challenge for Making Public Administration a Social Science?: Time Study. Korean Society and Public Administration 24(4). 81-108
What is the best way to theorize researches of public administration, a study of enhancing government competitiveness? Public administration researches should go along with solid theories from a science point of view. In Korea, lacking of theoretical foundation on public sector researches, public administration is in the identity crisis. This study shed light on the possibility of upgrading Korean public administration to a normal social science in terms of T. Kuhn’s framework. Specifically, this paper mainly focus on the contribution of time study. Firstly, it will discuss about how time study can be regarded as a social science and analyze trends of time study researches since 2002. Four categories of classification will be explored; policy and policy procedure, organization and burea..

Kilkon Ko and Sena Park. (2012) A Critical Review of Global Competitiveness Indices: Around the Global Competitiveness IMD and WEF Indices. Korea Journal of Public Administration. 35-66
Global competitiveness indices are widely employed among researchers for they are interested in comparing the status, causes, and effect of national competitiveness. In some countries, including Korea, policy makers are also keen to their ranking on the global competitiveness indices and use them for policy-making. Despite the increased application of global competitiveness indices, however, their validity and correct utilization are still questionable. This study examines the global competitiveness indices of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), focusing on their validity and utilization. The analysis suggests that subordinate indicators and evaluation items have changed over the years. The change, however, has not resulted in ..

Tobin Im, Wonhyuk Cho, Jisu Jeong, Min Ah Lee and Seyeong Cha. (2013) A Cross-County Comparison of Government Competitiveness: Measures and Evaluation. The Korean Association for Comparative Government 17(2). 95-124
This study attempts to measure government competitiveness of OECD countries as an exploratory step for designing internationally comparable index, taking critical view on the existing indices that lack the consideration on the role of government played in managing overall competitiveness of a country. Based on the government competitiveness concept defined in our former study, we collected comprehensive dataset regarding major sectors of government activity, and produced government competitiveness index categorized also into different stages based on systems theory. We found that the overall government competitiveness of Korea is ranked 16th among 34 OECD countries in aggregated score: economic sector (9th), cultural sector (3rd), and ICT sector (10th) ranked higher than ranking of aggre..

Wonhyuk Cho and Seyeong Cha. (2014) A Study of Internationally-Comparable Indices of ICT Development: Scope, Measures, and Limitations. Korea Journal of Public Administration 52(1). 177-218
This study aims at analyzing the characteristics of internationally-comparable indices that measure level of ICT development. The indices that were analyzed were the Digital Economy Rankings by the EIU, the Network Readiness Index by the WEF, the ICT Development Index by the ITU, and the E-Government Index by the UN. These indices were found to have different scopes, measures, weightings, and emphases, which result in different country rankings. Even though the ICT indices are useful in comparing performance of a country’s ICT development, the indices are also found to have limitations in several aspects: validity and reliability; consistency and distinctiveness of each index; lack of ICT governance measures; and availability of raw data. This study suggests the need for supplementing I..

Byunghak Kim, Kilkon Ko and Daejoong Kim. (2013) A Study on Foreigner Crime and Public Security Threat in Expatriates Enclave: The Characteristics of Chinese Crimes in Guro District. Korean Society and Public Administration 24(3). 343-372
As South Korea gradually enters into the multicultural society, the crimes committed by expatriates are considered as a new threat of public security. Against this context, this study analyzes the characteristics and causes of Chinese immigrants" crimes focusing on Guro district in Seoul. We used the Korean Information System of Criminal Justice Services for the analysis of the status and characteristics of expatriates" crime. According to regression analysis of the data, there is no statistically significance in the violent crime rate between the Chinese expatriates and Koreans. However, Guro District densely populated with the Chinese shows the higher rate of murder and assault. Hence, the concentration, not the foreigner itself, can be one of causes of the violent crime. Moreover, our..

Tobin Im, Jisu Jeong and Yunho Kim. (2013) A Study on Influence Factors of Russian Civil Participation: Focusing on Government Satisfaction and Social Trust. Russian Studies 23(2). 277-304
This research examines government satisfaction and social trust as the main influencing factors on civil participation of Russian citizens. In addition to these variables, characteristics of media usage as well as engagement in public organizations are also considered as influence factors. Recently, Russian citizens have low level of trust and satisfaction toward their government, and government and democracy indicators in Russia found in many international indices are also very low. The main research question of this study is whether this current situation of distrust and dissatisfaction toward government may lead citizens to participate in society more actively. The analysis based on Russia in European Social Survey (ESS) showed that the higher the social trust is, the more active civi..

Jongsung Lee, Youngduk Jang and Youngmi Choi. (2014) A Study on the Independent Development of International Relations Theories in South Korea, China, and Japan. Korean Journal of International 54 (4). 75-124
After World War II, the field of international relations produced a significant increase in studies in the three main countries in Northeast Asia South Korea, China, and Japan primarily relying on theories developed from the West. However, there have been a number of movements from these three countries to develop their own international relations theories. This study aims to trace the movements in each country and compare their collective theoretical achievements. We find that due to facing different international situations, South Korea, Japan, and China have developed their own theories in different ways. Japan was in the lead developing independent theories during the two world wars in the process of pursuing regional hegemony in East Asia. However, its effort to develop independent ..

Tobin Im and Byul Jeon. (2012) An Action System Approach to Public Organizations: The Formation of Informal Organizations. Korea Journal of Public Administration 50(2). 1-33
The purpose of this research is to analyze the action system of a public university cafeteria. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observations, this study reveals how a closed organization in Korean culture is naturally structured and adapts to time constraints and labor pressures brought to bear by the external environment. To be specific, this study tries to find out how informal groups are structured within the formal organizational structure and what the implications of a member`s behavior is in the Korean context, The results are as follow: 1) The organization operates under various environmental restrictions that shape potential behaviors, including the properties of members, the space frame of the cafeteria, and the time pressure to deliver a quick meal. 2) Three teams (..

Tobin Im. (2014) Bureaucracy in Three Different Worlds: The Assumptions of Failed Public Sector Reforms in Korea. Public Organization Review 14(4). 577-596
Why is it so difficult to implement Western reform programs in Asian bureaucracies? To address this question, this study explores cultural aspects of national bureaucracies. A government bureaucracy is shaped by its cultural and historical context, and this paper specifically focuses on contrasting models of government bureaucracy in the USA, Korea, and Germany. Differences between the models are explained by examining both internal operations as well as the relative relationships of the state to society. Based on this, the incompatible assumptions of Korean reformers are examined. This study is useful for developing countries engaged in Western-style bureaucratic reform.

Tobin Im. (2012) Central Government Civil Servants’ Policy Time Perspective: To Increase Government Competitiveness. Korean Public Administration Quarterly 24(3). 615-642
This study explores the key policies of central government departments from a time perspective based on the premise that government competitiveness increases when bureaucracy properly operates in ways regarding time. To test the hypothesis, we introduced two new concepts called “normative time span” and “real work time span” spent on performing departments’ key duties. We surveyed civil servants in 40 central government departments about both time spans (normative and real work). From their responses, we examined the discrepancy between two types of time span and the causes of this discrepancy. Furthermore, we analyzed how this discrepancy influences job satisfaction and turnover intention. As a result, we find that the discrepancy between two types of time span influences two facto..

Alfred Tak-Kei Ho and Tobin Im. (2015) Challenges in Building Effective and Competitive Government in Developing Countries: An Institutional Logics Perspective. The American Review of Public Administration.
For the past two decades, many developing countries have begun to experiment with results-oriented reforms to make their governments more competitive. However, very few studies explore the question of the applicability and appropriateness of Western-oriented reforms in non-Western contexts. Based on theories of new institutionalism and institutional logics, this article examines some of the organizational, cultural, and political assumptions that are implicit in Western-styled reforms; how they may conflict with the institutional contexts of many developing countries; and how the conflicts may impact reform strategies and results. The article then recommends how future comparative research can focus more on inter-institutional layering problems. It also suggests a few hypotheses for futu..

Soon Eun Kim. (2012) Decentralization and Local Governance: A Perspective of Local Governance Competitiveness of Japan. Journal of Korean Association for Local Government Studies 24(1). 145-170
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of decentralization reform on local democracy and good local governance in Japan in terms of local governance competitiveness. Even though Japan has established a high level of mature economy, it has been heard that an authoritarian and hierarchical model of Japan has exerted a considerable power over the society and citizens by comparatively regulating the society (Shunichi, 2003). This study is supposed to investigate whether or not decentralization reform efforts in Japan have made a contribution to reinforce democracy and better governance characterized by a high level of citizen participation and with an increased level of partnership with the private sector by reducing a level of central control and supervision.

Alfred Ho and Tobin Im. (2012) Defining a New Concept of Government Competitiveness. Korea Journal of Public Administration 50(3). 1-34
This paper criticizes various indexes of national competitiveness that are widely used these days and discusses the necessity of a new concept that represents the institutional capacity of a government of a country whose natural and historical conditions are different from others, National competitiveness indexes, such as IMD`s and WEF`s, for example, lack rigorous theoretical foundations and contain a lot of validity and reliability problems. Based on the arguments concerning the inherent defects of these concepts, this study proposes a new concept of Government Competitiveness. The new concept, incorporating systems theory, Maslow`s hierarchical needs theory, and Fukuyama`s state function theory as three basic foundational pillars, proposes the core components of a country`s competitiv..

Dong-Hwan Kim and Jesse W. Campbell. (2014) Development, Diversification, and Legitimacy: Emergence of the Committee-Based Administrative Model in South Korea Public Organization Review.
Recently, a committee-based policy making model has become an important element of South Korea’s administrative toolkit. However, most scholars and politicians recognize the inefficiency of this type of decision-making model. Why, then, does the committee-based model continue to gain traction? Taking an institutional perspective, this paper details the processes at work in the legitimation of administrative models in the Korean context, and proposes a framework for understanding how the committee-based system has become predominant. Korea’s rapid development over the past half-century has led to the diversification of groups from whom the government must seek legitimacy, and it is argued that the committee-based system continues to be adopted due to its ability to incorporate these div..

Soon Eun Kim. (2013) Discourses and Directions of Structural Reform of Metropolitan Governments in Korea: A Study of Urban Government Competitiveness. The Korean Journal of Local Government Studies 16(4). 55-77
Structural reform plans of metropolitan governments in Korea suggested until now have been diverse. There is also a myriad of legislation bills proposed by members of the National Assembly. With these diversities in mind, this study aims to find an appropriate model that suits current and future conditions. In order to do this, we analyzed various cases in USA, UK, and Japan. By analyzing these cases from overseas, we confirmed that many current metropolitan governments are seeking to reform their structural forms in order to enhance the competitiveness of cities. In particular, attempts at city-county consolidation in United States today, despite disputes and failures, deliver meaningful implications. Henceforth, future structural reforms of metropolitan governments in Korea should seek..

H.K. Kim and D.H. Shin. (2015) Domestic and Foreign Case Studies on ICT Convergence for Mental Health Improvement and Suicide Prevention. Journal of the Korea Contents Association 15(5).
Depression and mental illness across all age groups, and steady increasing in suicide rate are our major social problems which cause dramatically decreasing government competitiveness. While Korean government has implemented various policies to improve mental health and prevent suicide, it faces revealing issues in progress on implementation and referral management systems. The current research examined domestic and foreign cases to understand the actual status and directivity of ICT convergence plan in terms of mental health. The United States and the United Kingdom have provided convergent ICT service, tele-psychiatric care to senior citizens in rural areas, children and adolescents, socially disadvantaged class, etc. In Korea, emergency-notice devices are installed to prevent suicide ..

Gregory A. Porumbescu and Yoonhwan Park. (2014) Examining the distinctiveness of antecedents to trust in government: Evidence from South Korea. Journal of Asian and African Studies 13(3). 315-337
Approaches to understanding trust in government are likely to be incomplete if they are only applied to trust and not government as well. As such, this study builds upon existing attempts to understand trust in government by deconstructing the terms trust and government and assessing the relationships among the various components within South Korea. To analyse the antecedents of trust in government, multiple regression analyses are used to assess The Social Trust Public Opinion Survey (2004), which addresses current trust levels across society, markets, institutions, and government. Our findings suggest the significance of determinants of trust vary by area of government.

Greg Porumbescu, Catalin Vrabie, Jiho Ahn and Tobin Im. (2012) Factors Influencing the Success of Participatory E government Applications in Romania and South Korea. Korean Journal of Policy Studies 27(1). 1-21
While participatory e-government is increasingly advocated, few studies have investigated whether it is feasible across all national contexts. This study investigates how certain contextual features influence the success of participatory applications of e-government. In particular, it assesses how the political, economic, and social context in which a particular government operates influence the introduction of participatory e-government, and compares participatory e-government applications in Romania and South Korea. These nations possess important similarities and differences in their political, social, and economic contexts. The study results suggest that the success of participatory e-government projects is to a large extent contingent upon political and economic factors and less rel..

Jesse W. Campbell. (2014) Identification and Performance Management: An Assessment of Change-Oriented Behavior in Public Organizations. Public Personnel Management.
This study develops a theoretical framework linking performance management (PM) to change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, an extra-role employee activity aimed at improving organizational functioning by introducing micro-level change. The role of organizational identification as a mediating mechanism linking PM to change-oriented behavior is also explored. Using survey data gathered from employees of central government ministries in South Korea, structural equation modeling and bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals are used to test a number of empirical hypotheses related to the constructs mentioned above. The results of the analysis suggest that PM has a positive effect on change-oriented behavior, but that its effect is primarily due to its positive relationship w..

Jesse W. Campbell, Tobin Im and Jisu Jeong. (2014) Internal Efficiency and Turnover Intention - Evidence from Local Government in South Korea. Public Personnel Management 43(2). 259-282
All around the world, public organizations have faced strong pressures to improve performance and generally "do more with less," particularly following the global slowdown of 2008. This article examines the effects of organizational emphasis on efficiency in local government using data from a large survey of civil servants in South Korea. Findings from a fixed effects analysis indicate that higher levels of efficiency emphasis are related to stronger employee turnover intention. However, a number of moderating factors are also uncovered, suggesting that individual levels of public service motivation as well as perceived procedural justice and innovation climate can influence this relationship, lessening the impact of efficiency emphasis on turnover intention. These individual and organiz..

Tobin Im, Wonhyuk Cho, Greg Porumbescu and Jungho Park. (2014) Internet, Trust in Government, and Citizen Compliance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 24(3). 741-763
This research investigates how levels of citizen trust in government and compliance are affected by citizens' use of the Internet. Starting from the premise that information is a key determinant of public opinion and citizen behavior, this research explores the extent to which the time that citizens spend on the Internet affects their trust in government and compliance with government policies, compared with the influence of the traditional, offline, mass media modalities, such as newspapers. In addition, we also assess the impact of citizens' use of e-government on levels of trust in government and compliance. The results of the analyses suggest that the more time individuals spend on the Internet, the lower their degree of trust in government and lower level of citizen compliance. Howe..

J.S. Lim, J. Nicholson, S.U. Yang and H.K. Kim. (2015) Online Authenticity, Popularity, and the “Real Me” in a Microblogging Environment. Computers in Human Behavior.
The purpose of the current study is to explicate the theoretical structure of online authenticity and to reveal the relationship between the need for popularity (NFP) and online authenticity. A survey-based research was conducted with 573 randomly selected active users of a popular microblogging service in South Korea. Drawing on a representative sample, we tested the discriminant validity of online authenticity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated two factors that underlie microblogging users’ online authenticity: sense of real me (SRME) and expression of real me (ERME). As hypothesized (predicted), the NFP was a significant predictor of online authenticity: Microbloggers with higher NFP had lower SRME and ERME than those with lowe..

Tobin Im. (2014) Organizational Changes in the Korean Central Government: Historical Perspective. Korean Review of Organizational Studies. 11(1). 1-45
This paper investigates any precursor to the central government‘s organizational reforms in Korea. The research has started from questioning what factors create, abolish, expand, or downsize the ministries of the central government. This study examines the role of the government in reshaping ministrial structures. First, while the government takes initiatives in organizational reforms primarily during the pre-democratization era, the number of environment-dependent reforms have been increasing afterwards. Second, the causes of reforms have increasingly become complex. The bureaucratic expansion, however, has been a general trend throughout time. This has brought some positive consequences; but it cannot always avoid criticism. The discussion of these factors serves as a core to understa..

Hyun Kuk Lee and Min Ah Lee. (2014) Perceived Public Service Outcome and Happiness. Korean Public Administration Review 48(2). 293-315
Why should governments focus on happiness? In discussions about new public management, the public administration field has concentrated on how governments provide efficient and effective public service to their citizens. Meanwhile, few studies have directed attention towards the happiness of citizens, which is the central purpose of human life. This study explores the extent of governments’ contributions to the happiness of their citizens and, further, the types of public services that currently yield the greatest happiness, on the premise that human beings desire to live happily. We search whether the subjective happiness level of citizens can change according to how citizens perceive public service outcomes delivered by local governments. The result shows that unemployment problems, e..

Kilkon Ko and Bora Lee. (2012) Perceived Societal Corruption Level and Tolerance of Corruption Practices and Their Impact on the Citizens’ Intention of Corruption. Korean Society and Public Administration 23(3). 405-427
This study examines how citizens’ corruption intentions are affected by their perception of corrupt practices. Two types of corruption perception and their associated moral costs are addressed; perception of seriousness and prevalence of corruption. Using game theory, we found that these perceptions can explain the extent of moral costs and the evolutionary stability of corruption in a society. We surveyed 267 participants of the ‘Korea Public Procurement Expo 2012’ and measured their experiences of corruption, perceived seriousness and prevalence of corruption, expected return of corruption, and the perception of corrupt practices. The multiple regression analysis results suggest that citizens who believe that corruption is serious show less intention to act in a corrupt way. On the ..

Soon Eun Kim. (2012) Perceptions of Factors Affecting Local Government Competitiveness. Korea Journal of Public Administration 50(3). 67-98
This study aims to analyze the factors affecting local government competitiveness through Q methodology. Q statements, each of which represents a factor influencing local government competitiveness, are extracted from journals and books discussing those factors. The P sample consists of 40 respondents deeply involved in local government affairs, as professors and researchers, public officials, or representatives of citizen groups. This study produces three factors, each of which stands for a distinct view on the factors affecting local government competitiveness: views of local governance, local administration, and resident autonomy. The analysis supplies a few policy implications. A diversity of perspectives on the factors determining local government competitiveness imply that it is ve..

Jesse W. Campbell and Tobin Im. (2015) PSM and Turnover Intention in Public Organizations: Does Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior Play a Role? Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Not all employees contribute equally to the performance of their organizations, and the highest performers may have a disproportionate impact on organizational success. It is thus crucial for public organizations to retain top performers. Public service motivation (PSM) has been shown to be a differentiator of various types of individual job performance, and has also been linked to reduced turnover intention. This study examines the relationship between PSM, change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB), and turnover intention using survey data from 16 central government ministries in South Korea. Analysis results suggest that CO-OCB plays a mediating role in the relationship between PSM and turnover intention, providing a creative outlet for the most intrinsically motivat..

Jungho Park, Seyeong Cha and Tobin Im. (2014) Public Officials’ Trust in Other Agencies and Citizens: The Role of Communication in Local Government in South Korea. Korean Society and Public Administration 24(4). 109-131
As the concept of trust becomes a full-fledged theme in various social sciences, confusion regarding its definition, dimensions, and usages has also surged. Despite the increasing attention paid to the importance of trust in public organizations for effective public-service delivery in the context of complex interplay of multiple agencies, relatively little attention has been paid to the conceptual components and antecedents of trust at the level of the public official. Bearing this point in mind, this research begins from a question about how public officials’ interactions with citizens and other agencies affect the level of trust at the individual level. Specifically, this research primarily aims to examine the effects of public officials’ communication with various type of actors an..

Tobin Im and Hyun Kuk Lee. (2012) Reorganization of Next Government to Enhance Government Competitiveness. Korean Society and Public Administration 23(2). 111-139
The purpose of this study is to suggest directivity of government reorganization and detail reorganization plan to enhance government competitiveness. Fist, this study looks over at the purpose, cause, and history of government reorganization, and examines characteristics of erstwhile reorganizations using Crozier"s strategical analysis. The result shows that administrative effectiveness that had been claimed as a logic behind government reorganization was nothing more than a superficial objective. lnstead, it is noticeable that reorganizations were result of strategic games in which each main actors(President, bureaucrats, political parties) trying to maximize their own interest. Governmental reorganization in President Lee Myung Bak"s administration in particular is proven to have prod..

Tobin Im, Jesse W. Campbell and Seyeong Cha. (2013) Revisiting Confucian Bureaucracy: Roots of the Korean Government's Culture and Competitiveness. Public Administration and Development 33(4). 286-296
This paper looks at Korea's Chosun dynasty bureaucracy and the Neo-Confucian principles that formed the basis of its governing philosophy. We argue that Korea's traditional bureaucracy had a number of modern characteristics, including a system of formal and informal checks on the powers of the sovereign and a decision-making system that encouraged deliberation among highly qualified civil servants. On the basis of this exposition, we also argue that there are strong links between the traditional bureaucracy and its current, modern form. We firstly show how the institutionalization of a strong state during the period of rapid development was as much a return to traditional governing principles as it was a revolution and, secondly, how contemporary organizational culture is shaped by Korea..

Kilkon Ko, Hyunwoo Tak and Daejoong Kim. (2014) The Analysis on the Existence and the Factors of Welfare Trap in Korean Financial Support Programs for Job Creation. Korean Policy Studies Review 23(1). 99-125.
This study examines whether a welfare trap exists in “Korean Financial Support Programs for Job Creation,” and analyzes the causes and policy implications of this potential welfare trap. Despite the challenges that welfare traps pose for job creation programs, preceding works have mainly focused on the economic impact of the program based on employment rate. These have neglected to present thoughtful empirical study regarding the existence and causes of the welfare trap in the program. While conducting this study, we built a database of support programs for job creation containing 3,305,173 people (2005-2011) from the government’s il-moa system, and utilized it to conduct analyses, with modification. From this data, we determined the existence of the welfare trap by measuring the degr..

Hyun Kuk Lee. (2014) The Conceptualization of Government Competitiveness: Seoul Citizen Attitudes towards the Components of Government Competitiveness. Korea Journal of Public Administration 52(2). 120-153
Previous concepts and components of national competitiveness and government competitiveness were constructed solely by experts. Alfred Ho and Tobin Im criticized these concepts for focusing on a business-friendly environment, and that the measurements had been done mainly on entrepreneurs and their businesses. Ho and Im have tried to suggest a new citizen-oriented concept of government competitiveness, but it is still considered to be expert-oriented. This study utilizes a citizen survey to examine the validity of components of government competitiveness. The survey includes questions such as “What kind of government is highly competitive?” and “What is required for higher government competitiveness?” The research categorizes the responses by respondent age, income, and education lev..

Jungho Park. (2014) The Effects of Government’s Information-Providing on Trust in Government and Service Satisfaction: Seoul Metropolitan Case. The Korean Journal of Local Government Studies 18(1). 291-313
This research aims to present more concrete evidence for the importance of government`s efforts to provide sufficient and accurate information to citizens via various communication channels. For this purpose, this research investigates the role of government`s information-providing to citizens to enhance trust in government and service satisfaction. Given that citizens` trust in government and satisfaction are subjective cognition or attitude, more sufficient and accurate information is likely to affect the degrees of trust and satisfaction by stimulating citizens to adjust their subjective attitude and bias. Specifically, this research hypothesizes 1) the positive role of information in increasing citizens` trust in government, and 2) the significant relationship between information and..

Tobin Im, Hyun-Jung Jung, and Eun-Young Kang. (2012) The Effects of Policy Understanding on the Perception of Policy Performance by the General Public. The Korean Governance Review 19(2). 1-29
This study aims to test empirically the effect of policy understanding on the evaluation of government policies by the general public. Based on the 2010 Citizen Perception Survey conducted by The Knowledge Center for Public Administration and Policy, this paper examines whether the understanding of policy at the individual level affects the perception of the performance of public policy. Our regression analysis shows that negative evaluations of the performance of government policies on the part of citizens are significantly related to lower levels of policy-related knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, according to a comparative analysis of citizen groups at higher and lower levels of policy understanding, those with a higher level of understanding tend to value polices in a more po..

Tobin Im and Hyun Kuk Lee. (2012) The Importance of Applying the Concept of ‘Space’ to the Study of Public Organization for the Government Competitiveness Enhancement. Korean Review of Organizational Studies 9(2). 1-33
This study presents the necessity of applying the concept of ‘space’ to the study of public organization based on the comparative analysis on office layout of government of Korea, Japan and that of US. Differently from the existing view on ‘space’ that is limited to the concept of ‘physical space’, we extended the meaning of ‘space’ to more inclusive concept, ‘spaciality’, which covers from the physical space to the subjective perception on space. The elements influencing spaciality can be categorized as organization structure, the characteristics of work, the culture of organization, difference between public organization and private one. Based on these precedents of spaciality, we suggested the possibility of applying the concept of ‘spaciality’ on organization study. We su..

Kilkon Ko and Seong-Gin Moon. (2014) The relationship between religion and corruption: are the proposed causal links empirically valid?. International Review of Public Administration 19(1). 44-62
There is a growing interest in understanding how religion affects corruption. Many empirical studies have suggested that countries with strong hierarchical religions (such as Islam, Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity) are more likely to suffer from corruption. These results are, however, controversial, largely due to the lack of empirical validity of the causal (or theoretical) links that explain such a relationship: obedience to authority, negative culture reinforcement, amoral familism and trust intermediation. Using the fourth wave World Values Survey (n = 87,988) of 64 countries, this study constructed a general estimation equation model to evaluate these four causal links after controlling for heterogeneity of individuals’ religious beliefs among the 64 countries. We did not fin..

W. Wang and Youngmi Choi. (2015) The Rise of China and Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: Comparing Approaches. Korea and Japan Military Culture Studies 19. 131-154
Since 2000, China has expanded its sea power surpassing its past ability limited to the land. Along the China’s efforts to expand its leadership in East Asia, the ongoing crisis sparked by the maritime territorial disputes where China has involved appears to deepen. In general, there are three approaches to explain the reasons for the crisis intensification: a) China’s efforts to break a siege by the U.S. and Japan, b) China’s expanded benefits related to the debatable lands, and c) China’s intention to divert the nation’s attention on internal troubles to international conflict. This study finds the Diaoyudao conflict with Japan is better explained with China’s efforts to break a siege by the U.S. and Japan while the Spratly Islands dispute with five Southeast Asian countries is w..

Jesse W. Campbell and Wonhyuk Cho. (2014) Two Faces of Government-Business Relations During South Korea's Developmental Period. The Korean Association for Comparative Government 18(1). 47-66
South Korea's economic development has been characterized as a miracle due to its unprecedented speed and success. However, it has also been noted that a high level of distributive equity and poverty reduction were achieved in parallel with rapid growth. This paper argues that the first-order development goals of the state throughout the 1960s and 1970s were pursued in such a manner so as to be maximally inclusive of citizens in the developmental project. It is further argued that the country's industrial conglomerates played a dual function as engines of economic growth and instruments through which citizen wellbeing was enhanced. This paper reviews the mechanisms by which the Korean government influenced business, and discusses Korea's multifunctional industrialization and labor polici..

Youngmi Choi. (2015) US Congressional Voting on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement: Political Institution and Ideology versus Constituent Interests. Political Research Quarterly 68(2). 266-279
Scholarly studies of U.S. legislators’ voting behavior have concluded that constituent interests exercise only limited influence, but these conclusions may result from inadequate measurement. I develop new measures of economic interests that emphasize import/export (sectoral) cleavages in addition to business/labor (factoral) cleavages and, in the process, transcend geographic boundaries. Results of logistic regression analysis suggest that the interests of economic and nongeographic constituencies, as reflected in campaign contributions, were highly significant predictors of voting in the U.S. Congress on the U.S.–Korea Free Trade Agreement and that the import/export cleavage was more salient than the business/labor cleavage. In addition, legislators’ ideological positions with respe..