Open research questions in Public Policy and Administration Research

What the literature leaves open

• The challenge of desacralizing the bureaucracy and disrupting tribute pyramids. The need to develop discursive strategies that appropriate cosmogonic resonances. The importance of addressing the cultural foundations that hollow out democratic reforms and perpetuate elite insulation in Indonesia’s bureaucracy.

  Modernized cosmogony: enduring hierarchies and the co-optation of public administration reform in Indonesia · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of understanding of how inherited sacred hierarchies adapt to withstand colonial, authoritarian, and democratic reforms. The need to examine the cultural logic of modernized cosmogony in Indonesian public administration. The importance of analyzing how modern reform initiatives are co-opted to reinforce elite privilege and bureaucratic paternalism.

  Modernized cosmogony: enduring hierarchies and the co-optation of public administration reform in Indonesia · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of job satisfaction among field-level civil servants in Bangladesh. The study notes that prior research has focused on the correlates of job satisfaction, but has not fully explained how motivation operates under conditions of constrained bureaucratic discretion.

  Why do field bureaucrats stay satisfied in Bangladesh? Integrating extrinsic, intrinsic, political, and organizational determinants · 2026 · DOI

• These operate as compensatory mechanisms, where discretion is scarce, officers draw professional meaning from relationships and development instead.

  Why do field bureaucrats stay satisfied in Bangladesh? Integrating extrinsic, intrinsic, political, and organizational determinants · 2026 · DOI

• This research underscores the need for further investigation of PsyCap’s role in public sector workforce stability.

  Beyond Public Service Motivation: The Dominant Role of Psychological Capital in Mitigating Turnover Intentions Among Local Government Senior Executives · 2026 · DOI

• Yet, little is known about special district workforces and how they compare to general purpose government workforces.

  You Have One Job: Political Institutions and Strategic Investments in Human Capital · 2026 · DOI

• Recent scholarship highlights gaps in understanding real-time change implementation and urges granular research in diverse contexts, particularly in interorganizational collaborations where complex problems are addressed by networks of partners.

  Exploring the Relational Model of Change as a Facilitator of Interorganizational Change Processes · 2025 · DOI

• Despite its growing prominence in public administration scholarship, social equity remains insufficiently embedded in local sustainability actions.

  Advancing Social Equity in Local Government Sustainability Actions: An Institutional Perspective · 2025 · DOI

• Despite this shift, there remains uncertainty surrounding the comparative effects of different policy instruments and the combined effects of policy tools.

  Can different policy interventions work complementarily?—A survey experiment on policy compliance · 2025 · DOI

• ABSTRACT Limited research attention has been devoted to understanding whether policy meaninglessness is related to professional turnover intention among street‐level bureaucrats, especially in China.

  She Who Is Motivated in Public Service Suffers More From Policy Meaninglessness: Understanding Teacher's Professional Turnover Intention in the Context of China's “Double Reduction” Policy · 2025 · DOI

• , 2024; Zaki, 2024) but which actors learn and how learning processes take place are still underresearched.

  Collaboration and participation in governance · 2025 · DOI

• The inability of public financial systems to convert authorized capital resources into completed educational assets. The lack of a delivery-oriented reform framework for capital budget execution in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

  From Compliance to Conversion: A Delivery-Oriented Budget Execution Framework for School Infrastructure in Zimbabwe · 2026 · DOI

• Future research can explore the effects of public service motivation on other job attitudes and outcomes. Future research can examine the relationship between public service motivation and employee well-being.

  Leveraging Public Service Motivation for Pay Satisfaction: An Exploration Among the Nepalese Civil Servants · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding how public service motivation influences pay satisfaction in resource-constrained public-sector contexts. The study highlights the need to consider public service motivation in employee management and development.

  Leveraging Public Service Motivation for Pay Satisfaction: An Exploration Among the Nepalese Civil Servants · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should replicate the analysis using complete national coverage and, ideally, longitudinal data to assess the stability of hybridization patterns over time. The study's methodology can be applied to other countries or contexts to assess the degree of hybridization in their civil services.

  HYBRID GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN KAZAKHSTAN · 2026 · DOI

• The empirical dimension of hybridization remains insufficiently explored. National analytical reports lack a quantitative assessment of how hybrid mechanisms are manifested at the regional level.

  HYBRID GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN KAZAKHSTAN · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies the lack of genuine political will as a challenge in the implementation of OPRAS. The study highlights the prioritisation of visible infrastructure projects over administrative reforms like OPRAS as a challenge. The study identifies the inadequate budgetary allocation and ineffective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms as challenges.

  Political Will in Implementing Administrative Reforms in Selected Councils in Tanzania: An Analysis of the Shortcomings of the Open Performance Review and Appraisal System · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the implementation of administrative reforms, particularly the Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) in the Arusha and Dodoma City Councils. The study highlights the lack of genuine political will as a decisive factor explaining both successes and persistent failures in the implementation of OPRAS.

  Political Will in Implementing Administrative Reforms in Selected Councils in Tanzania: An Analysis of the Shortcomings of the Open Performance Review and Appraisal System · 2026 · DOI

• This study confirms a persistent paradox in Uganda’s decentralised financial management system: policies are well designed and “wise in policy”, but implementation remains inconsistent and “weak in practice”. The recommendations therefore focus on closing this implementation gap by strengthening operational effectiveness, accountability, and institutional discipline. Although Uganda has comprehensive policies of public financial management, internal control laws and regulations, the main challenge lies in execution. It is therefore recommended that government shifts emphasis from policy formulation to implementation enforcement mechanisms, including regular compliance audits, performance-based monitoring, and sanctions for non-adherence to financial regulations. The study reveals overlapping responsibilities among CAOs, CFOs, accountants, and auditors. To address this, the study recommends that the government of Uganda at all levels should strengthen role clarity and accountability frameworks within local governments. Clear job descriptions, enforcement of segregation of duties, and standardized reporting lines should be reinforced to reduce inefficiencies in resource allocation. The study further recommends for internal control systems (budgeting, procurement, auditing, and Monitoring &Evaluation are well established in policy but weakly enforced in practice. It is recommended that local governments establish real-time compliance tracking systems and strengthen internal audit independence to ensure that controls are actively implemented rather than merely documented. The study recommends to strengthen the Weak implementation is partly driven by limited technical capacity. Continuous professional training in financial management, procurement, and auditing should be institutionalised for local government staff in Uganda. The Capacity-building should focus not only on knowledge but also on practical application and ethical compliance. The study recommends to address inefficiencies in resource allocation, local governments should adopt stricter budget execution controls, including variance analysis, expenditure ceilings, and mandatory justification for budget deviations. This will ensure that planning aligns more closely with actual financial performance. The study recommends fostering a results-based accountability culture, where financial managers are assessed not only on compliance but also on efficiency and Value for Money outcomes. Performance contracts and public reporting mechanisms should be strengthened to enhance transparency. Although monitoring systems exist, their application remains weak. It is recommended that M&E frameworks be strengthened through digital tracking systems, independent verification, and community-level oversight mechanisms to ensure that public funds translate into tangible service delivery outcomes. Lastly the study’s central argument, improving Value for Money in Uganda does not require more policies, but rather stronger execution discipline, enforcement of existing frameworks, and behavioural change in financial management practice. Bridging the gap between “wise policy” and “weak practice” is the key to achieving efficient, accountable, and development-oriented public financial management. REFERENCES 1) Akenroye, T. O., Mkansi, M., Mugurusi, G., & Nsakanda, A. L. (2025). Indigenous Supply Chain Management in Africa: Theory and Practice. Springer Nature.

  Wise in Policy-Making and Fragile in Practice: Financial Management and the Challenges of Value for Money in Uganda · 2026 · DOI

• The study was limited by its a case research design, which restricts the ability to establish causality between variables (Derakhshan et al., 2022). The relatively small sample size also limit generalizability beyond the selected region. Additionally, reliance on self-reported data may introduce response bias, particularly among officials discussing financial accountability practices. Time and resource constraints also limited the scope of geographical coverage. RESULTS The findings reveal a structural governance synergy within Uganda’s decentralised financial management system, where policy design is relatively strong but implementation outcomes remain uneven. The decentralisation framework has institutionally strengthened the accounting architecture of local governments by clearly defining roles for key financial actors, including the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Chief Finance Officer (CFO), accountants, vote controllers, and internal auditors. These actors collectively constitute the core of financial governance and are intended to function as complementary safeguards within the internal control system. However, the results indicate a dual reality of governance practice: while 30% of respondents acknowledged a fully integrated financial management structure involving all actors, a significant proportion still perceived fragmented or individualised control functions. This suggests that although policy frameworks promote collective responsibility, operational practice remains partially siloed, reflecting the broader paradox of being “wise in policy but weak in execution.”

  Wise in Policy-Making and Fragile in Practice: Financial Management and the Challenges of Value for Money in Uganda · 2026 · DOI

• The literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of public service motivation. There is a need to understand the trends and thematic clusters in public service motivation research.

  How Has Public Service Motivation Been Studied? A Scientometric and In-Depth Analysis · 2026 · DOI

• The current recruitment process is prone to corruption and nepotism. There is a need for comprehensive reforms to address the root causes of inefficiency. The study aims to fill the gap by exploring the centralisation of human resource management for senior management appointments.

  Centralised recruitment for senior management in South Africa's public sector: Implications for service delivery · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of clear practical guidance for appointing authorities on how to effectively balance competence and representativity. The need for sustained investment in human capital development to support public sector transformation.

  Merit-based recruitment and affirmative action in the public service: tension or transformation? · 2026 · DOI

• The gap is that institutions lack practical methods for observing how meaning shifts inside real decision systems. The gap is that traditional governance mechanisms are insufficient to detect translation drift early.

  Why Strong Governance Still Drifts: How Institutions Quietly Lose Alignment · 2026 · DOI

• The difficulty in articulating and transmitting tacit evaluative expertise - The risk of subtle influence effects that arise when interpretive assistance blends imperceptibly into recommendation - The need for clean empirical evaluation of AI's contribution

  The Margin of Purpose: How Institutions Lose What They Claim to Value · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Public Policy and Administration Research

• Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes · Academy of Management Review · 1991 · 25,824 citations
• A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS? · Public Administration · 1991 · 5,978 citations
• Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics · American Political Science Review · 2000 · 4,669 citations
• Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms · Political Studies · 1996 · 3,294 citations
• The “new public management” in the 1980s: Variations on a theme · Accounting Organizations and Society · 1995 · 2,412 citations
• The New Governance: Governing without Government · Political Studies · 1996 · 2,371 citations
• The Motivational Bases of Public Service · Public Administration Review · 1990 · 2,285 citations
• Institutional Sources of Change in the Formal Structure of Organizations: The Diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880-1935 · Administrative Science Quarterly · 1983 · 1,854 citations
• The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life · American Political Science Review · 1983 · 1,817 citations
• Institutionalization and Structuration: Studying the Links between Action and Institution · Organization Studies · 1997 · 1,680 citations

Most recent work

• The Organizational Dynamics of Bureaucratic Resistance to Undemocratic Pressures: A Conjoint Experiment in Brazil · Public Administration Review · 2026
• A Chequered History but Positive Future for British Public Administration · Public Administration Review · 2026
• Balancing Digital Transformation and Modernization: Pathways for Public Managers · Public Administration Review · 2026
• Introduction: Public Affairs Education as an Institutional Response to Complex Social Problems · Journal of Public Affairs Education · 2026
• Disciplinary Tensions and Institutional Diversity in the Study of Public Administration in Chile · Public Administration Review · 2026
• Complexity in Service Provision: Unpacking Administrative Capacity to Understand Differential Performance · Public Administration Review · 2026
• Administrative democratic defence: Under what circumstances do civil servants counter autocratisation? · European Journal of Political Research · 2026
• Whose Priorities? Social Equity in the Priority‐Based Budgeting Process · Public Administration · 2026
• Equity How and Equity for Whom? Incorporating Equity Into Local Government Budgeting Processes · Public Administration · 2026
• Rethinking Public Administration Reform: Institutional Layering of Bureaucratic, Managerial and Community Logics Over Time in Nigeria's Tax Administration · Public Administration and Development · 2026

Related topics in Social Sciences