The Life and Death of Public Organizations: A Question of Institutional Design?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Boin, Arjen; Kuipers, Sanneke; Steenbergen, Marco
• 署名单位: Louisiana State University System; Louisiana State University; Utrecht University; Leiden University - Excl LUMC; Leiden University; University of Bern
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2010.01487.x
• 发表日期: 2010
• 关键词: policy; termination; liabilities; dependence; POLITICS; NEWNESS; MYTH

摘要

Why do some public organizations grow old and others die young? Since Herbert Kaufman first posed this question, considerable research has been devoted to answering it. The findings of that research suggest that the design of new public organizations affects, to a significant degree, their survival chances. In this article, we test whether and how design factors affected the durability of the so-called New Deal organizations initiated under FDR's first term. Our findings confirm that design factors do matter, but their effects change over time. We draw out some potential implications for institutional design and sketch a renewed research agenda to determine why some public organizations survive environmental pressure whereas others succumb to it.