 Accountability -- are We Better off Without It?Christoph Ossege Public Management Review, 2012, vol. 14, issue 5, 585-607 Abstract: Public managers increasingly lament about negative effects of accountability. Despite these reports and the importance of accountability in public organizations, it is yet unknown when it has positive or negative effects on managers. Overcoming two major obstacles in accountability research, this study therefore investigates ‘how accountability affects public manager's work behaviour’. Firstly, this study applies a cognitive theory offering a promising way out of the current theoretical dead-end. Secondly, the quasi-experimental research design makes the complex concept of accountability more tangible and findings transferable to practice. Moreover, individual level characteristics such as motivation are used to investigate a potential interaction between contingency and individual level characteristics. Results indicate both positive and negative effects of accountability on work behaviour and hence strongly challenge the positive normative connotation of accountability. Date: 2012 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:pubmgr:v:14:y:2012:i:5:p:585-607 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2011.642567 Access Statistics for this article Public Management Review is currently edited by Professor Stephen P. Osborne, Jenny Harrow and Tobias Jung More articles in Public Management Review from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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