Matthew Dull
Biographic Data
| ID | 4385499 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew Dull |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew |
| FAMILY NAME | Dull |
| SIGNATURE | DULL M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Virginia Tech |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1070-8769 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 203 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The House Appropriations Committee Surveys & Investigations Staff and the Arc of Congressional Competence
This article follows the arc of congressional competence through the development and decline of the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Surveys & Investigations (S&I) staff, an enduring oversight unit whose investigations were unobserved by design. S&I was quietly reorganized out of existence in December 2024. Why? What, if anything, is lost? Drawing on committee reports, archival materials, and interviews, this study shows how Chairman Clarence…
GPRA’s Incomplete Institutionalization: A Story of Roots and Branches
This study proposes explanations for GPRA’s incomplete institutionalization, and how it has influenced and continues to affect the use of performance management in the US Government. It evaluates the evolving institutionalization of GPRA, PART, and GPRAMA resulting from tensions in three sets of competing PM reform values: 1) performance-performative communications, 2) discretion-accountability, and 3) politics-administration. The study concludes…
Appointee vacancies in US executive branch agencies
We analyse United States presidential appointee positions subject to Senate confirmation without a confirmed appointee in office. These “vacant” positions are byproducts of American constitutional design, shaped by the interplay of institutional politics. Using a novel dataset, we analyse appointee vacancies across executive branch departments and single-headed agencies from 1989 to 2013. We develop a theoretical model that uncovers the dynamics …
Guarding the Guardians: Oversight Appointees and the Search for Accountability in U.S. Federal Agencies
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Rooting Out Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: The Politics of House Committee Investigations, 1947 to 2004
Scholars have long bemoaned congressional disinterest in oversight. We explain varied congressional attention to oversight by advancing the contingent oversight theory. We show how the structure of congressional committees, partisan majorities, and theories of delegation together explain when, why, and for how long Congress investigated executive branch malfeasance between 1947 and 2004. Divided government, partisan committees, and committees cha…
Appointee Confirmation and Tenure: The Succession of U.S. Federal Agency Appointees, 1989–2009
This article analyzes the confirmation and tenure of 2,300 Senate‐confirmed, presidential appointees to U.S. government agencies between 1989 and 2009, linking patterns of appointee confirmation and tenure to institutional politics, appointee independence, and agency context. Consistent with prior research, the authors find that nominees of new, powerful, and popular presidents enjoy expedited Senate confirmation. Contentious congressional commit…
Leadership and Organizational Culture: Sustaining Dialogue between Practitioners and Scholars
Few topics in the study of contemporary public organizations better illustrate the burdens—and potential benefits—of sustaining dialogue between practitioners and scholars than the interplay between leadership, organizational culture, and public sector performance. Following two decades of intensive research and advocacy, the last 10 years have seen diminished scholarly attention to this subject, while efforts to shape culture remain central to t…
Land Recycling, Community Revitalization, and Distributive Politics: An Analysis of EPA Brownfields Program Support
This article examines social, economic, and political factors influencing the distribution of resources to local governments under the EPA Brownfields Program, an innovative federal effort to encourage the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Signed into law in 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act provided the program with a congressional mandate, new tools to promote reuse such as liab…
Continuity, Competence, and the Succession of Senate‐Confirmed Agency Appointees, 1989‐2009
The authors examine patterns of appointee continuity during the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush using data tracking Senate‐confirmed agency appointee tenure, turnover, and vacancies between 1989 and 2009. Surveying existing scholarship on the link between appointee continuity and organizational performance, they highlight opportunities to expand research in this field. Though efforts to “fix” th…
Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004
Are congressional committee investigations into alleged executive‐branch wrongdoing more common during periods of divided government? We analyze original data tracking congressional committee investigations into alleged fraud, waste, and abuse by the executive branch between 1947 and 2004. Countering David Mayhew's (1991) empirical finding, we show that divided government generates more and more‐intensive congressional investigations, but this re…
Results-Model Reform Leadership: Questions of Credible Commitment
Few problems common in management reform are more prominent or more vaguely conceived than is leadership. Advocates and observers broadly agree that leadership is a critical factor where reform takes hold. Yet, in scholarship assessing the results-model management reforms proliferating in public organizations during the last decade and a half, leadership remains an elusive concept, rarely subject to empirical scrutiny. Applying the logic of credi…
Why Part? The Institutional Politics of Presidential Budget Reform
The George W. Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) follows a sequence of president-initiated budget reforms. The pattern is puzzling in that past reforms have tended to drain staff resources, failed to take hold, and yielded little or no political advantage. Given the track record of past initiatives, why has the Bush administration chosen to invest Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agency resources in PART? This ar…
Results-Model Reform Leadership: Questions of Credible Commitment
Few problems common in management reform are more prominent or more vaguely conceived than is leadership. Advocates and observers broadly agree that leadership is a critical factor where reform takes hold. Yet, in scholarship assessing the results-model management reforms proliferating in public organizations during the last decade and a half, leadership remains an elusive concept, rarely subject to empirical scrutiny. Applying the logic of credi…
Why Part? The Institutional Politics of Presidential Budget Reform
The George W. Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) follows a sequence of president-initiated budget reforms. The pattern is puzzling in that past reforms have tended to drain staff resources, failed to take hold, and yielded little or no political advantage. Given the track record of past initiatives, why has the Bush administration chosen to invest Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agency resources in PART? This ar…
Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004
Are congressional committee investigations into alleged executive‐branch wrongdoing more common during periods of divided government? We analyze original data tracking congressional committee investigations into alleged fraud, waste, and abuse by the executive branch between 1947 and 2004. Countering David Mayhew's (1991) empirical finding, we show that divided government generates more and more‐intensive congressional investigations, but this re…
Continuity, Competence, and the Succession of Senate‐Confirmed Agency Appointees, 1989‐2009
The authors examine patterns of appointee continuity during the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush using data tracking Senate‐confirmed agency appointee tenure, turnover, and vacancies between 1989 and 2009. Surveying existing scholarship on the link between appointee continuity and organizational performance, they highlight opportunities to expand research in this field. Though efforts to “fix” th…
Land Recycling, Community Revitalization, and Distributive Politics: An Analysis of EPA Brownfields Program Support
This article examines social, economic, and political factors influencing the distribution of resources to local governments under the EPA Brownfields Program, an innovative federal effort to encourage the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Signed into law in 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act provided the program with a congressional mandate, new tools to promote reuse such as liab…
Appointee vacancies in US executive branch agencies
We analyse United States presidential appointee positions subject to Senate confirmation without a confirmed appointee in office. These “vacant” positions are byproducts of American constitutional design, shaped by the interplay of institutional politics. Using a novel dataset, we analyse appointee vacancies across executive branch departments and single-headed agencies from 1989 to 2013. We develop a theoretical model that uncovers the dynamics …
Rooting Out Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: The Politics of House Committee Investigations, 1947 to 2004
Scholars have long bemoaned congressional disinterest in oversight. We explain varied congressional attention to oversight by advancing the contingent oversight theory. We show how the structure of congressional committees, partisan majorities, and theories of delegation together explain when, why, and for how long Congress investigated executive branch malfeasance between 1947 and 2004. Divided government, partisan committees, and committees cha…
Guarding the Guardians: Oversight Appointees and the Search for Accountability in U.S. Federal Agencies
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Why Part? The Institutional Politics of Presidential Budget Reform
The George W. Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) follows a sequence of president-initiated budget reforms. The pattern is puzzling in that past reforms have tended to drain staff resources, failed to take hold, and yielded little or no political advantage. Given the track record of past initiatives, why has the Bush administration chosen to invest Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agency resources in PART? This ar…
Results-Model Reform Leadership: Questions of Credible Commitment
Few problems common in management reform are more prominent or more vaguely conceived than is leadership. Advocates and observers broadly agree that leadership is a critical factor where reform takes hold. Yet, in scholarship assessing the results-model management reforms proliferating in public organizations during the last decade and a half, leadership remains an elusive concept, rarely subject to empirical scrutiny. Applying the logic of credi…
Continuity, Competence, and the Succession of Senate‐Confirmed Agency Appointees, 1989‐2009
The authors examine patterns of appointee continuity during the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush using data tracking Senate‐confirmed agency appointee tenure, turnover, and vacancies between 1989 and 2009. Surveying existing scholarship on the link between appointee continuity and organizational performance, they highlight opportunities to expand research in this field. Though efforts to “fix” th…
Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004
Are congressional committee investigations into alleged executive‐branch wrongdoing more common during periods of divided government? We analyze original data tracking congressional committee investigations into alleged fraud, waste, and abuse by the executive branch between 1947 and 2004. Countering David Mayhew's (1991) empirical finding, we show that divided government generates more and more‐intensive congressional investigations, but this re…
Leadership and Organizational Culture: Sustaining Dialogue between Practitioners and Scholars
Few topics in the study of contemporary public organizations better illustrate the burdens—and potential benefits—of sustaining dialogue between practitioners and scholars than the interplay between leadership, organizational culture, and public sector performance. Following two decades of intensive research and advocacy, the last 10 years have seen diminished scholarly attention to this subject, while efforts to shape culture remain central to t…
Land Recycling, Community Revitalization, and Distributive Politics: An Analysis of EPA Brownfields Program Support
This article examines social, economic, and political factors influencing the distribution of resources to local governments under the EPA Brownfields Program, an innovative federal effort to encourage the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Signed into law in 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act provided the program with a congressional mandate, new tools to promote reuse such as liab…
Appointee Confirmation and Tenure: The Succession of U.S. Federal Agency Appointees, 1989–2009
This article analyzes the confirmation and tenure of 2,300 Senate‐confirmed, presidential appointees to U.S. government agencies between 1989 and 2009, linking patterns of appointee confirmation and tenure to institutional politics, appointee independence, and agency context. Consistent with prior research, the authors find that nominees of new, powerful, and popular presidents enjoy expedited Senate confirmation. Contentious congressional commit…
Guarding the Guardians: Oversight Appointees and the Search for Accountability in U.S. Federal Agencies
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Rooting Out Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: The Politics of House Committee Investigations, 1947 to 2004
Scholars have long bemoaned congressional disinterest in oversight. We explain varied congressional attention to oversight by advancing the contingent oversight theory. We show how the structure of congressional committees, partisan majorities, and theories of delegation together explain when, why, and for how long Congress investigated executive branch malfeasance between 1947 and 2004. Divided government, partisan committees, and committees cha…
Appointee vacancies in US executive branch agencies
We analyse United States presidential appointee positions subject to Senate confirmation without a confirmed appointee in office. These “vacant” positions are byproducts of American constitutional design, shaped by the interplay of institutional politics. Using a novel dataset, we analyse appointee vacancies across executive branch departments and single-headed agencies from 1989 to 2013. We develop a theoretical model that uncovers the dynamics …
GPRA’s Incomplete Institutionalization: A Story of Roots and Branches
This study proposes explanations for GPRA’s incomplete institutionalization, and how it has influenced and continues to affect the use of performance management in the US Government. It evaluates the evolving institutionalization of GPRA, PART, and GPRAMA resulting from tensions in three sets of competing PM reform values: 1) performance-performative communications, 2) discretion-accountability, and 3) politics-administration. The study concludes…
The House Appropriations Committee Surveys & Investigations Staff and the Arc of Congressional Competence
This article follows the arc of congressional competence through the development and decline of the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Surveys & Investigations (S&I) staff, an enduring oversight unit whose investigations were unobserved by design. S&I was quietly reorganized out of existence in December 2024. Why? What, if anything, is lost? Drawing on committee reports, archival materials, and interviews, this study shows how Chairman Clarence…
Political science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Agency (philosophy (5 works) · Economics (5 works)