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The study of organisational autonomy: a conceptual review
Author(s) -
Verhoest Koen,
Peters B. Guy,
Bouckaert Geert,
Verschuere Bram
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.316
Subject(s) - autonomy , flemish , sociology , dimension (graph theory) , public relations , public administration , political science , law , mathematics , archaeology , pure mathematics , history
We argue that contemporary research on the influence of organisational autonomy on performance in public organisations uses a diverse and a too restrictive conceptualisation of autonomy. After discussing that research, the article develops six dimensions of the concept of autonomy in public organisations. Second, weaknesses of contemporary research are shown by confronting their conceptualisations with the developed taxonomy. Third, data from a survey of Flemish public organisations illuminate the need to acknowledge the six different dimensions of autonomy when studying the effect of autonomy on performance. The empirical material points at the dangers of using formal–legal status of a public organisation as an indicator of its autonomy, given substantial heterogeneity of organisations with the same formal–legal status on each dimension of autonomy. Moreover, tensions between different levels of autonomy appear in practice, indicating the need for a combined and integrated study of the effects of the different dimensions of autonomy on performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.