Organizational Pathways to Compliant Reform Implementation: Evidence From Mexican Civil Service Reform

Abstract

A technocratic pathway to public management reform stresses the need for committing sizeable resources to reform implementation. Building on an institutional framework, we argue that there are alternative pathways to compliant implementation for government agencies with limited resources. Our comparative study of 55 Mexican government agencies that were the object of the 2003 Civil Service Reform Act reveals the co‐occurrence of both technocratic and institutional pathways to compliant implementation. The common denominator across pathways in organizations with limited resources was the absence of strong oppositional norms (patronage) and the presence of robust interpersonal trust. We conclude that the role played by available resources in compliant reform implementation is far from straightforward, and depends on different combinations of public organizations' endogenous characteristics.

Decentralization and Governance for Sustainable Society in Indonesia

“…Whereas some of these organizational changes required major restructuring efforts, others could be realized with relatively modest investments. Such relatively low-cost organizational pathways to compliant reform implementation reflect patterns found in other countries (Nieto Morales et al 2015), and strengthening organizational capacity at all levels seems to be a promising avenue also for Indonesia's reform agenda.…”

Affective Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction: A Cross‐national Comparative Study

“…Therefore, given its practical importance in improving employee retention and performance, the need to enhance public employees' affective (i.e. emotional) organizational commitment continues to remain relevant and critical to public management (Romzek 1990;Balfour and Wechsler 1996;Mowday 1998;Park and Rainey 2007;Goldfinch and Wallis 2010;Pandey 2010;Lee and Wilkins 2011;Stazyk et al 2011;Mastracci 2013;Nieto Morales et al 2015).…”