Representative Bureaucracy, Environmental Turbulence, and Organizational Performance

Abstract

The literature on representative bureaucracy posits that increased representation at the managerial level leads to improved outcomes for minority clients. These managers, however, must work within organizational constraints and during times of environmental turbulence to sustain organizational performance. We forward the theory that contextual factors, such as environmental turbulence, could moderate the effects of representation on organizational performance. Utilizing a Texas school-level dataset of K-12 education from 2011, we examine how the race of the school principal influences student standardized test performance in a time of widespread financial resource cuts. Our findings suggest that same-race school principal representation improves the academic performance of both African American and Latino students, but the positive effects diminish as budgetary cuts become more widespread in the school. This means that environmental turbulence can decrease the impact of representation.

Myanmar Budget Dynamics and Their Effect on Multiple Performances of Public Service Delivery: A Multilevel Approach

“…The number of negative punctuations has no significant effect on all 3Es, which does not support Hypothesis 2. Our findings are not consistent with the findings of Xu and Flink (2022) that severe budget cuts reduce organizational performance. However, according to our findings, it cannot be interpreted that the 3Es would not be reduced by negative punctuations.…”

“…By analyzing data from the public education sector in the United States, Flink and Molina (2021) discovered that increasing spending is associated with improving performance. Xu and Flink (2022) reported that severe budget cuts make minority representation at a managerial level of public schools more difficult and, as a result, reduce organizational performance. Walker et al (2024) stated that increased resources result in improved services, but effective management is essential to ensure better services.…”