Organizational size and public service performance: a meta-analysis and an agenda for future research

Walker, Richard, Andrews, Rhys ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1904-9819, George, Bert and Tu, Xuan 2024. Organizational size and public service performance: a meta-analysis and an agenda for future research. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration 46 (1) , pp. 32-65. 10.1080/23276665.2023.2176333

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Abstract

The question whether small or large organisations are associated with the best public service performance has long been a subject of debate in public administration research, and has had profound ramifications for practice. This article seeks to bring clarity to this debate by conducting a meta-analysis of studies scrutinising the relationship between organisational size and public service performance (45 articles, 122 effect sizes). Meta-analytical and meta-regression results show mostly null findings. We discuss the circumstances in which organisational size matters for public service performance, and propose rekindling venerable research agendas about nonlinearity and contingency in the size-performance relationship.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	2327-6665
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 February 2023
Date of Acceptance:	31 January 2023
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2024 14:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/156421

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