The field of public administration offers differing perspectives on the contributions of senior managers and street-level bureaucrats to performance, focusing generally on the presence rather than absence of these actors in the policy process. This study explores whether job vacancies among senior managers and lower-level employees affect service delivery and how any effects differ by type of employee. Using panel data from South African local governments between 2011 and 2015, we estimate the effect of vacancies among senior managers and lower-level employees on access to water, sewage, electricity, and solid waste. Findings indicate job vacancies matter for performance and whether vacancies among senior managers or street-level employees matter more depends on the type of service and how the delivery process is structured, including the degree of labor intensity involved in service delivery and whether the service is outsourced.

中文翻译：

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职位空缺和组织绩效：最容易错过的是高级管理人员还是基层官僚？

公共行政领域对高级管理人员和基层官僚对绩效的贡献提供了不同的观点，通常关注政策过程中这些参与者的存在而不是缺席。本研究探讨了高级管理人员和较低级别员工的职位空缺是否会影响服务提供，以及任何影响如何因员工类型而异。使用 2011 年至 2015 年南非地方政府的面板数据，我们估计了高级管理人员和较低级别员工的职位空缺对水、污水、电力和固体废物获取的影响。调查结果表明，职位空缺对绩效很重要，高级管理人员或基层员工的职位空缺是否更重要取决于服务类型和交付流程的结构，