Abstract

A normative assumption of government reform efforts such as New Public Management is that fostering a more innovative, proactive, and risk-taking organizational culture—developing what has been described as an “entrepreneurial orientation” (EO)—improves performance. But in arenas like urban sustainability, performance can be an ambiguous, multifaceted concept. Managers’ assessments of their own nimbleness, innovative thinking, and risk culture are also likely to influence how they interpret the risk-reward balance of opportunities to enhance organizational performance. This study examines how meso-level organizational decisions impact managers’ individual risk-assessments of sustainability initiatives. We do so through a combination of Bayesian structural equation modeling of US local government survey data collected over two time periods, and an artifactual survey experiment with empaneled local government employees. This multimethod design allows us to examine the role of organizational performance and EO—meso-level learning heuristics—in shaping the micro-foundations of managerial risk assessment. The organization-level observational results indicate that local governments engage in risk-seeking behavior in order to minimize their potential for losses of prior effort. Experimental results confirm local government administrators are loss-averse when asked to evaluate the merits of initiating a hypothetical sustainability program.

中文翻译：

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绩效，满意度还是损失厌恶？对地方可持续发展计划承诺的中微观评估

摘要

政府改革努力（如新公共管理）的一个规范性假设是，培养更具创新性，主动性和冒险精神的组织文化（发展所谓的“创业导向”（EO））可以改善绩效。但是在诸如城市可持续发展等领域，绩效可能是一个含混不清，多方面的概念。经理们对自己的敏捷性，创新思维和风险文化的评估也可能会影响他们如何解释机会风险与收益的平衡，以增强组织绩效。这项研究探讨了中层组织的决策如何影响管理者对可持续性计划的个人风险评估。通过结合贝叶斯结构方程模型对美国地方政府在两个时间段内收集的调查数据进行建模，以及对充满活力的地方政府雇员进行的人工调查实验。这种多方法设计使我们能够检查组织绩效和EO（中层学习启发式）在塑造管理风险评估的微观基础方面的作用。组织一级的观察结果表明，地方政府为了降低其先前努力损失的可能性而从事冒险活动。实验结果证实，当要求当地政府管理人员评估启动一个假设的可持续性计划的优缺点时，他们是避免损失的人。这种多方法设计使我们能够检查组织绩效和EO（中层学习启发式）在塑造管理风险评估的微观基础方面的作用。组织一级的观察结果表明，地方政府为了降低其先前努力损失的可能性而从事冒险活动。实验结果证实，当要求当地政府管理人员评估启动一个假设的可持续性计划的优劣时，他们是避免损失的人。这种多方法设计使我们能够检查组织绩效和EO（中层学习启发式）在塑造管理风险评估的微观基础方面的作用。组织级的观察结果表明，地方政府为了降低其先前努力损失的可能性而从事冒险活动。实验结果证实，当要求当地政府管理人员评估启动一个假设的可持续性计划的优劣时，他们是避免损失的人。