Poul Aaes Nielsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4401094 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Poul Aaes Nielsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Poul Aaes |
| FAMILY NAME | Nielsen |
| SIGNATURE | NIELSEN P Å |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern Denmark |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1770-1113 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 355 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
How Do Public Managers Learn from Performance Information? Experimental Evidence on Problem Focus, Innovative Search, and Change
Management decisions are considered important for the performance of public organizations, but how does information about performance influence management decision‐making? Developed from Simon's notion of bounded rationality, the behavioral model of performance‐based learning suggests that managers adjust their understanding of organizational problems, search for information, and consider initiating change when their organization performs below a…
Does performance disclosure affect user satisfaction, voice, and exit? Experimental evidence from service users
An emerging literature in behavioral public administration shows that performance information affects the perceptions and choices of citizens vis-a-vis public services and programs. Methodologically, a significant share of these studies relies on hypothetical scenario experiments, or they focus on citizen assessments of broader government entities that citizens have little or no direct interaction with or personal information about. Yet, among ac…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Transformational and Transactional Leadership
Existing conceptualizations and measures of transformational and transactional leadership have unclear theoretical bases, confound leadership and its effects, and are not necessarily suitable for public organizations. Overcoming these problems is necessary to test how leadership affects performance. Many public administration scholars apply the concepts, emphasizing the need to ensure that the concepts are applicable in both public and private or…
Are transformational and transactional types of leadership compatible? A two‐wave study of employee motivation
Transformational and transactional leadership strategies have become prominent in public administration research, but it is unclear whether they are compatible or whether they could undermine each other. We examine the combined and interactive effects of transformational and three types of transactional leadership (contingent verbal rewards, material rewards, and sanctions) on employee work motivation, conceptualized as work engagement and intrin…
Zone of Acceptance under Performance Measurement: Does Performance Information Affect Employee Acceptance of Management Authority
Public sector employees have traditionally enjoyed substantial influence and bargaining power in organizational decision making, but few studies have investigated the formation of employee acceptance of management authority. Drawing on the “romance of leadership” perspective, the authors argue that performance information shapes employee attributions of leader quality and perceptions of a need for change in ways that affect their acceptance of ma…
Romanticizing bureaucratic leadership? The politics of how elected officials attribute responsibility for performance
A core task for elected officials is to hold bureaucratic leaders responsible, but how do they determine if public managers actually influence outcomes? We propose that partisan and leadership heuristics affect how politicians apply a logic of individualized responsibility, that is, focus on individual bureaucrats rather than situational factors to explain organizational outcomes. We match survey data of local elected officials in Denmark with in…
How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy
Voters reward or punish politicians by deeming them responsible for positive and negative outcomes, but how, in turn, do politicians attribute responsibility to those who actually deliver public services? Inattention to this question renders incomplete current perspectives on democratic processes of accountability, even as politicians are increasingly provided with performance data to hold bureaucrats accountable. We shed light on this issue usin…
Performance Information, Blame Avoidance, and Politicians' Attitudes to Spending and Reform: Evidence from an Experiment
Performance information has been argued to assist politicians in decision making on budgeting and reform, but research on how political decision makers respond to performance information is sparse. Building on blame-avoidance theory, we develop novel hypotheses concerning the impact of performance information on politicians’ attitudes to spending and reform. To isolate the causal effect of performance information, we conducted a randomized survey…
Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service Performance
A central notion of performance management reform is that outcome-based accountability should be accompanied by increased managerial authority, thereby granting managers the flexibility to engineer performance-oriented change. Studies have revealed, however, that managerial authority does not follow automatically when performance management is adopted. This article examines whether increased managerial authority does indeed promote the effectiven…
Learning From Performance Feedback: Performance Information, Aspiration Levels, and Managerial Priorities
While performance management is increasingly widespread, we still know little about how performance information generates learning and affects organizational responses. Recent work on performance information and learning in private business organizations, however, suggests that perceived negative performance triggers important strategic responses related to problem identification, search, and change. In turn, how performance is perceived depends …
How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy
Voters reward or punish politicians by deeming them responsible for positive and negative outcomes, but how, in turn, do politicians attribute responsibility to those who actually deliver public services? Inattention to this question renders incomplete current perspectives on democratic processes of accountability, even as politicians are increasingly provided with performance data to hold bureaucrats accountable. We shed light on this issue usin…
Performance Information, Blame Avoidance, and Politicians' Attitudes to Spending and Reform: Evidence from an Experiment
Performance information has been argued to assist politicians in decision making on budgeting and reform, but research on how political decision makers respond to performance information is sparse. Building on blame-avoidance theory, we develop novel hypotheses concerning the impact of performance information on politicians’ attitudes to spending and reform. To isolate the causal effect of performance information, we conducted a randomized survey…
Learning From Performance Feedback: Performance Information, Aspiration Levels, and Managerial Priorities
While performance management is increasingly widespread, we still know little about how performance information generates learning and affects organizational responses. Recent work on performance information and learning in private business organizations, however, suggests that perceived negative performance triggers important strategic responses related to problem identification, search, and change. In turn, how performance is perceived depends …
Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service Performance
A central notion of performance management reform is that outcome-based accountability should be accompanied by increased managerial authority, thereby granting managers the flexibility to engineer performance-oriented change. Studies have revealed, however, that managerial authority does not follow automatically when performance management is adopted. This article examines whether increased managerial authority does indeed promote the effectiven…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Transformational and Transactional Leadership
Existing conceptualizations and measures of transformational and transactional leadership have unclear theoretical bases, confound leadership and its effects, and are not necessarily suitable for public organizations. Overcoming these problems is necessary to test how leadership affects performance. Many public administration scholars apply the concepts, emphasizing the need to ensure that the concepts are applicable in both public and private or…
Romanticizing bureaucratic leadership? The politics of how elected officials attribute responsibility for performance
A core task for elected officials is to hold bureaucratic leaders responsible, but how do they determine if public managers actually influence outcomes? We propose that partisan and leadership heuristics affect how politicians apply a logic of individualized responsibility, that is, focus on individual bureaucrats rather than situational factors to explain organizational outcomes. We match survey data of local elected officials in Denmark with in…
How Do Public Managers Learn from Performance Information? Experimental Evidence on Problem Focus, Innovative Search, and Change
Management decisions are considered important for the performance of public organizations, but how does information about performance influence management decision‐making? Developed from Simon's notion of bounded rationality, the behavioral model of performance‐based learning suggests that managers adjust their understanding of organizational problems, search for information, and consider initiating change when their organization performs below a…
Are transformational and transactional types of leadership compatible? A two‐wave study of employee motivation
Transformational and transactional leadership strategies have become prominent in public administration research, but it is unclear whether they are compatible or whether they could undermine each other. We examine the combined and interactive effects of transformational and three types of transactional leadership (contingent verbal rewards, material rewards, and sanctions) on employee work motivation, conceptualized as work engagement and intrin…
Learning From Performance Feedback: Performance Information, Aspiration Levels, and Managerial Priorities
While performance management is increasingly widespread, we still know little about how performance information generates learning and affects organizational responses. Recent work on performance information and learning in private business organizations, however, suggests that perceived negative performance triggers important strategic responses related to problem identification, search, and change. In turn, how performance is perceived depends …
Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service Performance
A central notion of performance management reform is that outcome-based accountability should be accompanied by increased managerial authority, thereby granting managers the flexibility to engineer performance-oriented change. Studies have revealed, however, that managerial authority does not follow automatically when performance management is adopted. This article examines whether increased managerial authority does indeed promote the effectiven…
Performance Information, Blame Avoidance, and Politicians' Attitudes to Spending and Reform: Evidence from an Experiment
Performance information has been argued to assist politicians in decision making on budgeting and reform, but research on how political decision makers respond to performance information is sparse. Building on blame-avoidance theory, we develop novel hypotheses concerning the impact of performance information on politicians’ attitudes to spending and reform. To isolate the causal effect of performance information, we conducted a randomized survey…
How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy
Voters reward or punish politicians by deeming them responsible for positive and negative outcomes, but how, in turn, do politicians attribute responsibility to those who actually deliver public services? Inattention to this question renders incomplete current perspectives on democratic processes of accountability, even as politicians are increasingly provided with performance data to hold bureaucrats accountable. We shed light on this issue usin…
Romanticizing bureaucratic leadership? The politics of how elected officials attribute responsibility for performance
A core task for elected officials is to hold bureaucratic leaders responsible, but how do they determine if public managers actually influence outcomes? We propose that partisan and leadership heuristics affect how politicians apply a logic of individualized responsibility, that is, focus on individual bureaucrats rather than situational factors to explain organizational outcomes. We match survey data of local elected officials in Denmark with in…
Are transformational and transactional types of leadership compatible? A two‐wave study of employee motivation
Transformational and transactional leadership strategies have become prominent in public administration research, but it is unclear whether they are compatible or whether they could undermine each other. We examine the combined and interactive effects of transformational and three types of transactional leadership (contingent verbal rewards, material rewards, and sanctions) on employee work motivation, conceptualized as work engagement and intrin…
Zone of Acceptance under Performance Measurement: Does Performance Information Affect Employee Acceptance of Management Authority
Public sector employees have traditionally enjoyed substantial influence and bargaining power in organizational decision making, but few studies have investigated the formation of employee acceptance of management authority. Drawing on the “romance of leadership” perspective, the authors argue that performance information shapes employee attributions of leader quality and perceptions of a need for change in ways that affect their acceptance of ma…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Transformational and Transactional Leadership
Existing conceptualizations and measures of transformational and transactional leadership have unclear theoretical bases, confound leadership and its effects, and are not necessarily suitable for public organizations. Overcoming these problems is necessary to test how leadership affects performance. Many public administration scholars apply the concepts, emphasizing the need to ensure that the concepts are applicable in both public and private or…
Does performance disclosure affect user satisfaction, voice, and exit? Experimental evidence from service users
An emerging literature in behavioral public administration shows that performance information affects the perceptions and choices of citizens vis-a-vis public services and programs. Methodologically, a significant share of these studies relies on hypothetical scenario experiments, or they focus on citizen assessments of broader government entities that citizens have little or no direct interaction with or personal information about. Yet, among ac…
How Do Public Managers Learn from Performance Information? Experimental Evidence on Problem Focus, Innovative Search, and Change
Management decisions are considered important for the performance of public organizations, but how does information about performance influence management decision‐making? Developed from Simon's notion of bounded rationality, the behavioral model of performance‐based learning suggests that managers adjust their understanding of organizational problems, search for information, and consider initiating change when their organization performs below a…
Political science (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Public Administration (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Accounting and Organizational Management (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior (3 works)