Do Senior Public Managers Matter for Local Government Performance? Linkage with Policy Orientation and Networks of Planning and Development Coordinators in Local Governments in the Philippines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/21.4.877-902(2023)Keywords:
local government performance, decentralization, senior public manager, capacity, PhilippinesAbstract
This study investigates the performance of local governments and government management factors in the Philippines by focusing on planning and development coordinators (PDCs) as senior public managers in local governments. A questionnaire survey was conducted with city/municipal PDCs from 300 randomly selected local governments. The relationships among policy orientation, attributes, networks, and local government performance were quantitatively analyzed. Our findings revealed that networking with government officials at other levels, communication with the stakeholders, and individual policy preferences were found to have a substantial impact on local government performance. In contrast, training opportunities were not found to have any substantial impact. Results of the analysis generally imply that, in addition to the mechanics of local politics, the choice of local government management has become a factor of equal or greater importance in the state and development of local government performance in the Philippines.
References
Adriano, M. N. (2014) Quality of Governance and Local Development: The Case of Top Nine Performing Local Government Units in the Philippines, Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2(4), pp. 146-153.
Agranoff, R. & McGuire, M., (2003) Collaborative Public Management (Georgetown: Georgetown University Press).
Azfar, O., Gurgur, T., Kähkönen, S., Lanyi, A. & Meagher, P. (2000) Decentralization and Governance: An Empirical Investigation of Public Service Delivery in the Philippines (College Park, Maryland: IRIS Centre, University of Maryland).
Berman, E. (2011) Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macao (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press).
Berman, E., Sabharwal, M., Wang, C. W., West, J., Jing, Y., Jan, C. Y., Liu, W., Brillantes, A., Chen, C. A. & Gomes, R. (2013) The Impact of Societal Culture on the Use of Performance Strategies in East Asia: Evidence from a Comparative Survey, Public Management Review, 15(8), pp. 1065-1089.
Berenschot, W., Nordholt, S. & Bakker, L. (2016) Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia (Leiden: Brill).
Brillantes, A.J. (2003) Innovations and Excellence: Understanding Local Government in the Philippines (Quezon: Center For Local And Regional Governance, University of the Philippines, Dilliman).
Brillantes, A. J. & Sonco II, J. (2010) Decentralization and Local Governance in the Philippines, In: Berman, E. (ed.) Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macao (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press), pp. 355-380.
Bryant, R. (2005) Nongovernmental Organizations in Environmental Struggles: Politics and the Making of Moral Capital in the Philippines (New Haven, London: Yale University Press).
Boyne, G. A., Meier, K. J., O'Toole Jr., L. J. & Walker, R. M. (2005) Where Next? Research Directions on Organizational Performance in Public Organization, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15, pp. 633-639.
Capuno, J. (2005) The Quality of Local Governance and Development under Decentralization in the Philippines, Discussion Paper, No. 506 (Quezon: School of Economics, University of the Philippines), pp. 1-39.
Capuno, J. (2010) Leadership and Innovation under Decentralization: A Case Study of Selected Local Governments in the Philippines, Discussion Paper, No. 2010-10 (Quezon: School of Economics, University of the Philippines), pp.1-35.
Capuno, J. & Gracia, M. (2010) Can Information about Local Government Performance Induce Civic Participation? Evidence from the Philippines, Journal of Development Studies, 46(4), pp. 424-643.
Chandler, J. A. (2013) Explaining Local Government (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Cheema, G. S. (2013) Democratic Local Governance: Reforms and Innovations in Asia (Tokyo: United Nations University Press).
Co, E. E. A. & Cordero, R. R. (2012) Professionalization of the Philippine Local Government Workforce under Devolution, In: EROPA Local Government Center (ed.) Local Governance Under Stress: Integrated Human Capacity Building in the Age of Decentralization (Tokyo: EROPA Local Government Center), pp. 101-11.
Damanpour, F. & Schneider, M. (2009) Characteristics of Innovation and Innovation Adoption in Public Organizations: Assessing the Role of Managers, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19(3), pp. 495-522.
DeSantis V. S., Glass, J. & Newell, C. (1992) City Managers, Job Satisfaction, and Community Problem Perceptions, Public Administration Review, 52, pp. 447-453.
Domingo, M. O. & Reyes, D. R. (2010) Performance Management Reforms in the Philippines, In: Berman, E. (ed.) Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macao (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press), pp. 397-421.
Dufhues, T., Theesfeld, I. & Buchenrieder, G. (2015) The Political Economy of Decentralization in Thailand: How Past and Present Decentralization Affects Rural Actors' Participation?, European Journal of Development Research, 27(5), pp. 793-810.
Edgardo, J. & Hellman, J. S. (2005) Governance Gone Local: Does Decentralization Improve Accountability?, In: The World Bank (ed.) East Asia Decentralize: Making Local Government Work (Washington D.C. World Bank), pp. 237-252.
Fryer, K.J., Antony, J. & Ogden, S.M. (2009) Performance management in the public sector, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 22, pp. 478-498.
Green, A. E. (2005) Managing Human Resources in a Decentralized Context, In: The World Bank (ed.) East Asia Decentralize: Making Local Government Work (Washington, DC: The World Bank), pp. 129-153.
Grindle, M. (2009) Going Local: Decentralization, Democratization, and the Promise of Good Governance (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Haque, S. (2007) Theory and Practice of Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Traditions, Directions, and Impacts, International Journal of Public Administration, 30(12-14), pp. 1297-1326.
Hou, Y., Moynihan, D. & Ingraham, P. (2003) Capacity, Management, and Performance: Exploring the Links, American Review of Public Administration, 33(3), pp. 295-315.
Ishii, R., Hossain, F. & Rees, C. J. (2007) Participating in Decentralized Local Governance: Two Contrasting Cases from the Philippines, Public Organization Review, 7, pp. 359-373.
Kearney, R. C., Feldman, B.M. & Scavo, C.P.F. (2000) Reinventing Government: City Manager Attitudes and Actions, Public Administration Review, 60(6), pp. 535-548.
Kettl, D. (2005) The Global Public Management Revolution: A Report on the Transformation of Governance, Second Edition (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press).
Kim, S. (2009) Do Leadership and Management for Results Matter? A Case Study of Local e-Government Performance in South Korea, In: Wescott, C., Bowornwathana, B. & Jones, L.R. (eds.) The Many Faces of Public Management Reform in the Asia-Pacific Region, Vol. 18 (Bingley: Emerald), pp. 307-333.
Kobayashi, J., Nishimura, K., Kikuchi, M. & Matammu, M.V. (2013) Efforts for 100% Response Rate: Local Government Survey in the Philippines as a Case, Bulletin of Faculty of Humanities, Seikei University, 48, pp. 233-240.
Legaspi, P. E. (2010) The Changing Role of Local Government Under a Decentralized Sate: The Case of the Philippines, Public Management Review, 3(1), pp. 131-139.
Lipsky, M. (1980) Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services (New York: Russel Sage Foundation).
Lowry, K., White, A. & Courtney, C. (2005) National and Local Agency Roles in Integrated Coastal Management in the Philippines, Ocean and Coastal Management, 48, pp. 314-355.
McCoy, A. W. (2009) An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press).
Manor, J. (1999) The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization (Washington, DC: The World Bank).
Moon, J. & Norris, D. (2005) Does Managerial Orientation Matter? The Adoption of Reinventing Government and e-Government at the Municipal Level, Information Systems Journal, 15, pp. 43-60.
Musso, J. A. & Weare, C. (2020) Performance Management Goldilocks Style: A Transaction Cost Analysis of Incentive Intensity in Performance Regimes, Public Performance & Management Review, 43(1), pp. 1-27.
Nelson, K. L. & Svara, J. H. (2014) The Roles of Local Government Managers in Theory and Practice: A Centennial Perspective, Public Administration Review, 75(1), pp. 49-61.
Nishimura, K. (2022) How does Decentralization Affect the Performance of Municipalities in Urban Environmental Management in the Philippines?, Lex Localis - Journal of Local Self-Government, 20(4), pp. 715-738.
Osborne, D. & Gaebler, T. (1992) Reinventing Government (New York: Penguin Press).
Pollitt, C. (2005) Decentralization: A Central Concept in Contemporary Public Management, In: Ferlie, E., Lynn, L. E. & Pollitt, C. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Public Management (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 371–397.
Pollitt, C. & Bouckaert, G. (2011) Public Management Reform, Third Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Rahman, S. & Norling, F. (1991) Managerial Thinking: A Study of Public Managers from Developing Countries, Public Administration and Development, 11, pp. 111-125.
Rhodes, R. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability (Buckingham: Open University Press).
Rood, S. (1998) An Assessment of the State of Knowledge Concerning Decentralized Governance under the Philippines’ 1991 Local Government Code, Philippine Journal of Public Administration, 42(1-2), pp. 58-82.
Rondinelli, D., Nellis, J. & Cheema, G. (1983) Decentralization in Developing Countries: A Review of Recent Experience (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Schaeffer, W. G. (1985) The Formation of Managers for Developing Countries: The Need for a Research Agenda, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 51(3), pp. 239-247.
Sidel, J. T. (1999) Capital, Coercion, and Crime (Stanford: Stanford University Press).
Thurmond, J. (2010) Small-City Management Experience: Does it Matter for Getting and Keeping the Large-City Managerial Job?, State & Local Government Review, 42(3), pp. 226-234.
Walker, R., Boyne, G. A. & Brewer, G.A. (2010) Public Management and Performance: Research Directions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Walker, R. & Andrews, R. (2015) Local Government Management and Performance: A Review of Evidence, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1), pp. 101-133.
Turner, M. (2006) From Commitment to Consequences: Comparative Experiences of Decentralization in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, Public Management Review, 8(2), pp. 253-272.
Zhang, Y. & Feiock, R. (2009) City Managers’ Policy Leadership in Council-Manager Cities, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20(2), pp. 461-476.
