scholarly journals Performance Information, Racial Bias, and Citizen Evaluations of Government: Evidence from Two Studies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A Porumbescu ◽  
Suzanne J Piotrowski ◽  
Vincent Mabillard
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Social Accountability ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Positive Performance ◽  
Two Samples

Abstract Social accountability reforms emphasize expanding performance information disclosure and incorporating citizen feedback into performance evaluations of public organizations. However, social accountability scholarship has largely ignored possible discriminatory implications of performance information use despite calls for more social equity research. We look to bridge these two literatures, arguing that increasing exposure to performance information can actually activate racial bias in citizen feedback. Using two samples of White MTurk participants residing in the United States, we test this argument in a Negative Performance Information Study (n = 800) and a Positive Performance Information Study (n = 800). In the Negative Performance Information Study, we find increased exposure to negative performance information triggers more negative performance evaluations of public organizations led by Black public managers, but not White public managers, and strengthens preferences to fire Black public managers, but not White public managers. In the Positive Performance Information Study, we find increased exposure to positive performance information has no impact on performance evaluations of Black, nor White public managers but strengthens preferences to reappoint White, but not Black public managers. These findings suggest increasing exposure to performance information triggers racial bias in performance evaluations and preferences for holding public managers accountable.

scholarly journals Risk and Reform: Explaining Support for Constitutional Convention Referendums

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-355
Author(s):  
William D. Blake ◽  
Ian G. Anson
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
Positive Performance ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
Election Polls

Scholars of comparative constitution-making and direct democracy agree that economic conditions affect public support for constitutional reform but disagree as to how. Prospect theory suggests both approaches may be correct, depending on the political and economic context in which voters operate. Fourteen states periodically ask their citizens whether to call a state constitutional convention, making this the oldest form of direct democracy in the United States. We test our theory in pre-election polls in two of these states and a survey experiment. According to the results, negative perceptions of economic and government performance increase support for conventions when voters view them as opportunities to correct problems. On the other hand, if a convention represents a chance to improve on an acceptable status quo, voters with positive performance evaluations become more supportive. Our findings contribute to the heuristics literature and inform normative debates over direct democracy and popular constitutionalism.

scholarly journals Getting Past “Purposeful”: Exploring Dimensionality in Nonprofit Executive Performance Information Use

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-302
Author(s):  
Clare FitzGerald
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Information Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Goal Clarity ◽  
Leadership Support ◽  
Large Survey

Although performance information use (PIU) among public managers is a growing and increasingly relevant research area, the existing evidence base has two significant limitations for those interested in its application to nonprofit executives. First, large survey investigations, the predominant method used to assess PIU behaviors, have rarely sampled outside of government. Second, despite theoretical arguments and empirical support for PIU being a multidimensional behavior, only ‘purposeful’ use (i.e., the deliberate and instrumental use of performance information in decision-making to improve organizational operations) has been examined with any regularity. Thus, in addition to developing theory around PIU for nonprofit executives (rather than just public managers within governments), I test established drivers of purposeful and political PIU using survey data from 260 nonprofit executives throughout the United States. Results show that nonprofit executive PIU is driven by different considerations than public manager PIU. Additionally, results show that leadership support of performance measurement is an important driver of purposeful and political PIU, with organizational goal clarity and networking behavior also, specifically, driving political PIU.

Managing for Results Differently: Examining Managers’ Purposeful Performance Information Use in Public, Nonprofit, and Private Organizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgen Johansen ◽  
Taehee Kim ◽  
Ling Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Nonprofit Hospitals ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Private Organizations ◽  
Managing For Results ◽  
Day To Day Operations ◽  
Level Hospital

Performance information (PI) is only valuable when decision makers use it to improve their organization. Despite its importance, evidence on PI use is still limited, particularly about PI use in different contexts and for specific purposes. This article examines managers’ use of PI for specific purposes (purposeful PI [PPI]) and compares cross-sector differences in reported PPI use with a survey of nearly 1,000 top-level hospital managers in public, private, and nonprofit hospitals in the United States, while controlling for task. Findings show significant cross-sector differences in reported PPI use in three decision areas: personnel, day-to-day operations, and service efficiency, and that public managers use PI significantly less than their private and nonprofit counterparts in most decision areas. Results are discussed within the literature on performance management and cross-sector differences.

An Examination of the Effect of Positive and Negative Performance on the Relative Weighting of Strategically and Non-Strategically Linked Balanced Scorecard Measures

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Kaplan ◽  
Michael J. Petersen ◽  
Janet A. Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Performance Measure ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Target Level ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Positive Performance ◽  
Relative Weighting ◽  
Better Than

ABSTRACT Kaplan and Norton (1992 1996)) espouse that performance measures in a balanced scorecard (BSC) should be linked to strategy. However, the BSCs of many firms include both strategically linked and non-strategically linked measures. Banker et al. (2004) provide initial evidence on evaluators' weightings of strategically linked (SL) and non-strategically linked (NSL) measures when evaluating performance in settings in which managers always performed better than the target level on every performance measure. They found that when evaluators have a sufficient understanding of the firm's strategy, they weight SL measures more than NSL measures when evaluating performance. The purpose of the current study is to examine performance evaluations when, relative to the target level of performance, managers exhibit favorable performance on some measures and unfavorable performance on other measures. We contend that evaluators will exhibit a negativity bias such that negative performance information is weighted more heavily than positive performance information for both SL and NSL measures. Consequently, we predict that the findings from Banker et al. (2004) will not hold in settings involving unfavorable performance. Specifically, when performance on NSL measures is unfavorable for one manager, we find that NSL measures are weighted more than SL measures. Implications of this finding for theory and practice are discussed. Data Availability: Data are available upon request.

Performance Target Revisions in Incentive Contracts: Do Information and Trust Reduce Ratcheting and the Ratchet Effect?

2015 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 1755-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmijn C. Bol ◽  
Jeremy B. Lill
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Ratchet Effect ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Performance Targets ◽  
Positive Performance ◽  
Confidentiality Agreement ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Performance Target

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine a setting where principals use past performance to annually revise performance targets, but do not fully incorporate the past performance information in their target revisions. We argue that this situation is driven by some principals and agents having an implicit agreement where the principal “allows” the agent to receive economic rents from positive performance-target deviations that are the result of superior effort or transitory gains by not revising targets upward, while the agent “accepts” target revisions by not restricting output when these revisions are the result of structural changes in the operation's true economic capacity. Although both the principal and the agent can benefit from an implicit agreement, we argue that for the implicit agreement to be maintainable, the principal either needs information on the cause of the performance-target deviation or there needs to be trust between the principal and the agent. Using archival data across multiple years and independent bank units, we find a pattern of ratchet attenuation and output restriction that is consistent with the existence of implicit agreements for those principal-agent dyads where information asymmetry is sufficiently reduced or mutual trust exists. Data Availability: Data used in this study cannot be made public due to a confidentiality agreement with the participating firm.

Racial Justice and Criminal Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Neighborhoods

The criminal justice system in the United States both reflects racial inequality in the broader society and contributes to it. The overrepresentation of African Americans among those in prison is a result of both the conditions in poor black neighborhoods and racial bias in the criminal justice system. The American system of criminal justice today is excessively punitive, when compared to previous periods and to other countries, and its harsh treatment disproportionately harms African Americans. In addition, those released from prison face a number of obstacles to housing, employment, and other prerequisites of decent life, and the concentration of prisoners and ex-prisoners in black communities does much to perpetuate racial inequality.

scholarly journals Does Person Organization Fit and Person-Job Fit Mediate the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Work Stress among U.S. Federal Employees?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Leonard Bright
Keyword(s):  
Work Stress ◽  
Public Service ◽  
High Stress ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Federal Employees ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Indirect Relationship

A plethora of research has extolled the benefits of public service motivation (PSM) in public organizations. However, much less empirical attention has focused on its relationship to work stress. Even though it has been theorized that high levels of PSM causes individuals to be more resilient in stressful public service work environments, empirical research has failed to provide support. Only one study has been conducted which has revealed that high levels of PSM is directly associated with high levels of job stress among public employees, but that its beneficial effects are partially mediated by person-organization (PO) fit. That is, employees with high levels of PSM and high levels of fit to their organizations did not appear to suffer from high stress. This study sought to add to this limited body of research and explore the extent to which person-job (PJ) improves the field’s understanding of the relationships among PSM, PO fit, and work stress. Based on a sample of federal employees in the United States, this study challenged and confirmed the findings of existing research. For instance, PSM had no direct relationship to work stress. However, PSM maintained an indirect relationship to stress through PO fit. The respondents with high levels of PSM reported that they had high levels of fit to their organizations which was associated with significantly lower levels of work stress. Similarly, PSM was not directly related to PJ fit, but was indirectly related through its association with PO fit. PSM was associated with high levels of fit between employees and public organizations, which was subsequently associated with high levels of fit with public service jobs and lower work stress. Above all, this research clarifies the process of how PSM influences work stress among public employees, through PO fit and PJ fit.

scholarly journals A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing

2014 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 3397-3433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Alesina ◽  
Eliana La Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Type I ◽  
Habeas Corpus ◽  
Trial Courts ◽  
Southern States ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
White Defendants

We collect a new dataset on capital punishment in the United States and we propose a test of racial bias based upon patterns of sentence reversals. We model the courts as minimizing type I and II errors. If trial courts were unbiased, conditional on defendant's race the error rate should be independent of the victim's race. Instead we uncover 3 and 9 percentage points higher reversal rates in direct appeal and habeas corpus cases, respectively, against minority defendants who killed whites. The pattern for white defendants is opposite but not statistically significant. This bias is confined to Southern states. (JEL J15, K41, K42)

Screening for Substance Use Disorders during Pregnancy: A Decision at the Intersection of Racial and Reproductive Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kravitz ◽  
Michelle Suh ◽  
Matthew Russell ◽  
Andres Ojeda ◽  
Judy Levison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Social History ◽  
Drug Screening ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Black Mothers ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
Screening Policy ◽  
Screening Study

Objective: Improve racial equity with routine universal drug screening / Study Design: Commentary on the medicolegal and social history of the United States and the field of obstetrics and gynecology regarding drug screening policy / Results: Critical aspects to inform an equitable drug screening policy include (1) racial bias and stigma related to substance use, (2) the legislative history surrounding substance use during pregnancy, (3) the relationship between substance use and mass incarceration which disproportionately affects persons of color, (4) propensity toward punitive measures for Black mothers with substance use, including termination of parental rights, (5) the role of the medical field in fostering mistrust among our patients / Conclusion: new practices in screening for substance use during pregnancy are needed. Key Points

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