Publications. |
The Limits of Framing Effects: Citizen Perceptions of Councilor Compensation
Rutherford and Merritt (2023)
Existing research provides evidence that the framing of information can substantively alter how citizens perceive institutions of government and a range of policy issues. While prior work acknowledges that there are limits to the effects of framing, less attention has been given to examining contexts in which framing fails to shape perceptions. Using an exploratory survey experiment, we compare the effects of political knowledge, perceived ideological distance, and more deliberative thinking to framing regarding councilor pay, an issue for which citizens consistently express negative sentiment. When provided real-world information showing local councilors are compensated less than their counterparts in comparable cities, citizens are somewhat more likely to rate their councilors as underpaid. However, framing effects are not observed when respondents use more deliberative thinking. Further, we find that explained variance in perceptions is more strongly associated with political knowledge, ideological distance, trust, and, in the case of deliberative thinking, gender.
Rutherford and Merritt (2023)
Existing research provides evidence that the framing of information can substantively alter how citizens perceive institutions of government and a range of policy issues. While prior work acknowledges that there are limits to the effects of framing, less attention has been given to examining contexts in which framing fails to shape perceptions. Using an exploratory survey experiment, we compare the effects of political knowledge, perceived ideological distance, and more deliberative thinking to framing regarding councilor pay, an issue for which citizens consistently express negative sentiment. When provided real-world information showing local councilors are compensated less than their counterparts in comparable cities, citizens are somewhat more likely to rate their councilors as underpaid. However, framing effects are not observed when respondents use more deliberative thinking. Further, we find that explained variance in perceptions is more strongly associated with political knowledge, ideological distance, trust, and, in the case of deliberative thinking, gender.
Six Blind Men and One Elephant: Proposing an Integrative Framework to Advance Research and Practice in Justice Philanthropy
Paarlberg, Walk, and Merritt (2022)
There are growing calls that philanthropic foundations across the globe can and should advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Initial evidence indicates that foundations have indeed responded as evidenced by pledges to change practice, increased funding for racial justice, and the emergence of new networks to support equity and justice. However, there is also great skepticism about whether the field of foundations are, in fact, able to make lasting changes given numerous critiques of philanthropy and its structural limitations. In this article, we summarize these critiques that suggest factors that make institutional philanthropy resistant to calls for equity and justice. We posit that a core obstacle is a lack of conceptual coherence within and across academic and practitioner literature about the meanings of terms and their implications for practice. Therefore, we propose a transdisciplinary conceptual framework of justice philanthropy that integrates the fragmented literature on justice-related aspects of philanthropy emerging from different disciplinary traditions such as ethics, political theory and political science, social movement theory, geography, public administration, and community development.
What is Public? Big Questions Emerging from the Clash of Legal and Policy Paradigms
Merritt, Malatesta, Carboni, Wright, and Kennedy (2021)
This article draws on three main sources to define the constitutional boundaries for outsourcing public goods and services in the age of new governance: (1) public administration research related to public–private distinctions; (2) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76, federal policy on “inherently governmental” functions; and (3) the State Action Doctrine, the judiciary’s approach for distinguishing state actors from non-state actors for the purpose of redressing constitutional infringements. While these three sources have developed independently, approach the public–private debate from different vantage points, and allow significant ambiguities to remain, we contend that common ground can be leveraged theoretically to derive criteria to resolve many government outsourcing decisions in a way that is efficient and effective. Our main contribution is in providing first steps toward the development of a modern legal and administrative framework that aligns outsourcing theory and practice with the realities of new governance.
Social Equity and COVID-19: The Case of African Americans
Wright and Merritt (2020)
Emerging statistics demonstrate that COVID-19 disproportionately affects African Americans. The effects of COVID-19 for this population are inextricably linked to areas of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement, which are further exacerbated by COVID-19: (1) healthcare inequality; (2) segregation, overall health, and food insecurity; (3) underrepresentation in government and the medical profession; and (4) inequalities in participatory democracy and public engagement. Following a discussion of these issues, this article shares early and preliminary lessons and strategies on how public administration scholars and practitioners can lead in crafting equitable responses to this global pandemic to uplift the African American community.
The Civic Dimension of School Voucher Programs
Merritt, Kennedy, and Farnworth (2020)
America’s public schools have not been exempt from the movement to privatization and contracting out that has characterized government innovations over at least the past quarter century. A number of the issues raised by school voucher programs mirror the management and efficacy questions raised by privatization generally. However, because public education is often said to be “constitutive of the public,” using tax dollars to send the nation’s children to private schools implicates the distinctive role of public education in a democratic society in ways that more traditional contracting arrangements do not. By using a content analysis, the authors explore the extent to which school choice voucher programs are mandated by state statutes to integrate civics education into their curriculum. Findings reveal that across the 14 states (and the District of Columbia) that have enacted school choice voucher programs, statutes exempt these programs from curriculum oversight, including civics requirements, and grant them considerable autonomy in designing their curricula. This study concludes by discussing the implications for ethical and accountable governance when primary and secondary schools fail to cultivate civic competence and civic literacy.
What Makes an Organization Public? Managers' Perceptions in the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment System
Merritt (2019)
The question “What makes an organization public?” is a leading point of scholarly inquiry in the field of public administration. This study supplements existing theory on publicness by further exploring the primary influences on an organization’s publicness—influences identified by analyzing data from in-depth interviews with senior-level managers of mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities. Results from a grounded theoretical analysis of these managers’ perceptions provide support for a conceptual framework of organizational publicness in which political authority, horizontal engagement, and public engagement are associated with higher levels of publicness. Better understanding of the prism through which senior managers conceptualize publicness may enhance managerial awareness of the most salient structural and institutional mechanisms that empower treatment facilities to effectively support individuals suffering from mental health disorders such as substance abuse, emotional distress, and depression.
Good Governance, Political Experiences, and Public Support for Mandatory Sentencing: Evidence from a Progressive US State
Sundt, Schwaeble, and Merritt (2019)
A shift in public mood and declining incarceration rates in the United States signal a potential change in the politics of punishment. This research considers whether the public continues to support mandatory sentencing. The study expands upon existing knowledge by testing theoretical predictions about how instrumentalism, political beliefs, and political participation affect public support for mandatory sentences. Drawing on a state-wide survey of 1569 adults from Oregon, the study found that belief in the effectiveness of prosecutors, judges, and prisons significantly influenced support for mandatory sentencing. Although 67% of those surveyed favored judicial discretion, a firm belief that “prisons work” may limit efforts to reduce incarceration and roll back mandatory sentences.
Developing Organizational Leaders to Manage Publicness: A Conceptual Framework
Merritt, Farnworth, and Kienapple (2018)
Students enrolled in programs accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) are increasingly seeking careers outside of classic government organizations. Considering the diversity of job placements with respect to sector (i.e., government, private for-profit, nonprofit), public affairs students may benefit from in-course instruction that aims to develop management competencies that are applicable to any sector. Educating students on publicness theory, specifically managing to achieve public outcomes (i.e., managing publicness), may position these current and future organizational leaders to identify and effectively manage certain structures and institutions in their organization and the external environment. Accordingly, this study provides a conceptual framework in the form of a research-intensive assignment that will equip public affairs students with a working view of how publicness applies to their organizations. By engaging in this research, students acquire practical tools that allow them to consider publicness in their management strategies and decisions regardless of their sector of employment.
Less is More? Publicness, Management Strategy, and Organizational Performance in Mental Health Treatment Facilities
Merritt, Cordell, and Farnworth (2018)
In this study, the authors seek to identify mechanisms of publicness present within mental health treatment facilities and, subsequently, explore the constraints these mechanisms impose on facilities’ capacities to achieve public outcomes. Through grounded insights from senior managers in this field, political authority, namely through governmental funding and regulation, is identified by 43 of 46 respondents as being an influence on publicness. Authors then uncover the conditions during which publicness, in the form of political authority, constrains organizational achievement of public outcomes. In leveraging managerial perspectives, two distinct constraints emerged: publicness often inhibits organizational efficiency and produces mission drift within these facilities. Findings suggest that managers, under certain conditions (and where legally feasible), may provide greater effectiveness in fulfilling organizational goals and objectives and in achieving public outcomes by maintaining or decreasing an organization’s publicness. Fundamental to effectively managing publicness is understanding the mechanisms germane to both public outcome attainment and failure—the latter of which is explored here.
Antecedents to Managing Publicness: A Study of Professional and Cultural Socialization
Merritt and Farnworth (2018)
We consider professional and cultural socialization with respect to management tenure, gender, and race, and explore how these factors associated with a manager’s socialization influence the way in which a given manager seeks to achieve public outcomes in the context of their organization.