Building Evidence for Public Human Resource Management: Using Middle Range Theory to Link Theory and Data

Abstract

Theory building within public administration has been slow and uneven, due in part to the field’s search for grand theories and its failure to systematize knowledge. Middle range theory may be a particularly useful theory-building strategy for public administration scholarship due to its emphasis on generating testable hypotheses, organizing knowledge about particular phenomena, and bridging gaps between empirical facts and theory. Its utility for the development of public human resource management theory is illustrated based on examples from performance-related pay and representative bureaucracy research. We present a series of theoretical statements about performance-related pay and representative bureaucracy, and we identify the extent to which these statements are supported by empirical evidence. The examples both illustrate the utility of the theory-building strategy and identify theoretical statements that are widely confirmed and others that need additional testing.

Does Strategic Planning Improve Organizational Performance? A Meta‐Analysis

“…The third condition explores the research design implemented in the articles and examines whether the statistical models included single or multiple data sources. These moderators help assess the contextual reality of public administration and management, and thus offer more middle‐range theorizing on SP (Abner, Kim, and Perry ).…”

“…Such evidence is needed to ensure that public administration remains relevant for practitioners by providing evidence‐based recommendations on what works, and when (Perry ). By exploring this, our meta‐analysis adds to the call for middle‐range theorizing that adapts grand theories to the contextual reality of public administration (Abner, Kim, and Perry ).…”

Institutional isomorphism, negativity bias and performance information use by politicians: A survey experiment

“…Institutional isomorphism is a ‘middle range theory’ in the sense that it allows us to define workable hypotheses while simultaneously adding to the ‘grand theory’ of new institutionalism (Abner et al ). However, our choice of a survey experiment does imply some limitations in testing a middle range theory.…”

Frontline managers’ contribution to mission achievement: A study of how people management affects thoughtful care

“…Our study shows that, at least in elderly care in the Netherlands, line managers can contribute to thoughtful care performance through their people management. As such our study contributes to systemizing knowledge on the management-performance relationship and ultimately to theory development as called for by Abner, Kim, and Perry (2017).…”