Entrepreneurship and Participation in Public Management Reforms at the Local Level

Abstract

This article seeks to discuss who the policy entrepreneurs are and who participates in the policy-making process of public management reforms at the local level. In order to answer the research questions, a multi-unit and multi-case research study was carried out in three municipal governments: Barcelona, Boston and Turin. The subjects of the study were 15 innovations in management implemented between 1992 and 2007. The first conclusion is that politicians predominantly take the entrepreneurial role in introducing innovations in public management, regardless of the technicality of the innovation. As far as political participation is concerned, public management reforms are still dealt with as in-house matters, even when public managers want to be recognised as promoting the positive values of political participation.

A new perspective on local political entrepreneurship: Evidence from Portugal

“…However, studies on local political entrepreneurship are still scarce and in demand, since entrepreneurship behaviour outside the private sphere is a reality and has been on the rise (Hederer, 2010). The few studies that focus on public and political entrepreneurship tend to rely on qualitative, case-study approaches (Ferlie et al, 2003;Secchi, 2010;Zerbinati and Souitaris, 2005); the very few that pursue a more quantitative perspective have essentially focused on the contextual (Schneider and Teske, 1992) and individual (Zampetakis and Moustakis, 2007) factors in isolation. Moreover, these studies are mostly centred on the entrepreneurship propensity of given individuals, and not on the localities as collective entities.…”

“…In this context, the political entrepreneur is an individual who takes advantage of newly discovered possibilities or policy windows to propose and implement policy solutions ‘seek[ing] the disruption of an inadequate equilibrium by aiming to reach a value-based superior equilibrium’ (Secchi, 2010: 515).…”

“…Political entrepreneurs are, in this perspective, people who change the course of a policy (Schneider and Teske, 1992; Steyaert, 2011), i.e. disrupt ‘a political, economic and organisational equilibrium through an innovation’ (Secchi, 2010: 515).…”

“…Despite the important existing contributions on public and political entrepreneurship (Bartlett and Dibben, 2002; Klein et al, 2010; Ostrom, 1990; Schneider and Teske, 1992; Secchi, 2010), research on these topics is still scarce, particularly at the empirical level (Klein et al, 2010). Moreover, studies on political entrepreneurship have usually focused on the biography of entrepreneurial leaders (Doig and Hargrove, 1987; Weissart, 1991) and the analysis of case studies (Secchi, 2010; Zerbinati and Souitaris, 2005). Although Klein et al (2010) propose a framework to analyse public entrepreneurship, they recognise the lack of a parameterisation of the variables and relationships that enable quantitative empirical research.…”

As regiões turísticas de Santa Catarina: Análise do desenvolvimento turístico regional a partir da categorização do mapa do turismo brasileiro – 2019 (MTUR)

“…As mudanças institucionais propostas dizem respeito às mudanças das regras e dos valores que, no âmbito das relações entre o Estado e a sociedade, são delineadas por ações e condutas sustentadas pela cooperação e participação dos diversos atores sociais. É uma trajetória que tende a migrar de uma administração burocrática ineficiente para uma nova administração pública, voltada a melhorias na governança que medeia essas relações (Draibe, 2014;Frey, 2004Frey, ,2000Rhodes, 1996;Gomes & Secchi, 2015;Secchi, 2009;Rhodes, 1996); de ações centralizadas para estruturas e mecanismos mais descentralizados e participativos (Kimbo & Ngoasong, 2013;Endres, 2014;Secchi, 2010); de uma conjuntura que privilegia o grande capital para uma que possibilite a ampliação de valores locais e endógenos (Secchi, 2016).…”