Managing Value Conflicts Through Formal and Informal Institutions: A Longitudinal Case Study in Local Government Service Reform

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kim, Jin Hong
• 署名单位: Eastern Illinois University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352; 1540-6210
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.70130
• 发表日期: 2026-09
• 页码: 1265-1280
• 关键词: good government values; Lean Government; managing public values; public values conflict; service innovation; public values; management; performance; legitimacy; INNOVATION; FRAMEWORK; strategy; MODEL

摘要

When governments adopt private-sector techniques to reform public services, a tension arises between efforts to improve administrative efficiency and to secure democratic values. While scholars acknowledge this tradeoff, the specific institutional processes through which managers resolve these competing values in practice remain a puzzle. To bridge this gap, this study presents a longitudinal case study of Lean Government initiatives, based on 2.5 years of ethnographic fieldwork in an Ohio municipality. Using Constructive Grounded Theory, the analysis reveals that public managers are not passive executors of efficiency mandates; rather, they actively reconstruct public values through sophisticated social and institutional interactions. This research introduces a conceptual framework for the dynamic construction of good governance, demonstrating how value conflicts are mitigated via meso-level institutional processes. By illustrating how good government and equity are operationalized in managerial decision-making, the research findings offer a practical roadmap for maintaining democratic legitimacy amid administrative reform.