Process Model of Impact of Publicness on Organisational Performance: An Integrated Approach

Abstract

Factors influencing performance of organizations represent a common thread of research in public administration and organizational studies. “Publicness” as a concept has been used to distinguish between public and private organizations. Researchers, influenced by inputs from organizational studies have stopped such distinction and suggest that all organizations have some degree of Publicness. Models explaining impact of Publicness on performance have evolved where organizing has been considered as a critical moderating factor. Further progress at integrating these strands is critical to identify and evaluate the dimensions of the concept and suggest an explanation of interaction between Publicness and organizational performance. We use the concepts of “organizations and Resource dependency” from organizational theory and revise the understanding of Publicness. This is then used to develop a process model to explain how Publicness impacts organizational performance. We state that “Publicness” is an attribute of an organization and is a function of the role of the citizen and the type of political governance mechanism prevalent. This determines the regulatory instrument used to manage that economic space. The different regulatory instruments have differential impact on the revenue sources made available to the organization. This when related to its costs determines the top management perception of their ability to consistently allocate resources to their production activities and in turn impacts their commitment towards key organizational processes of personnel selection and purchasing. This influences the motivation of managers down the hierarchy and the organizations ability to harmonize its products with the consumers. Achievement of goals in terms of performance is an outcome of the impact of these processes. A case study is used to validate this model.