Abstract
AbstractWhat is the role of organizational factors in fostering regulatory reform in response to new technological development? Existing studies provide useful frameworks to understand regulatory reform in rapidly changing circumstances but still lack a systematic analysis of how organizational factors affect regulatory reform in the public sector. To fill this gap, we examine the impact of several institutional elements that are central to defining organizational characteristics, such as job tasks, bureaucratic autonomy, and organizational culture. We theorize that regulatory reform is more likely when public sector organizations are more receptive to external changes, which are determined by these characteristics. We leverage original surveys from over 1,000 civil servants in Korea, one of the front runners in new technological development, and find support for our prediction. We find that the implementation of regulatory reforms is more likely when (i) organizational tasks are relevant to scientific and technological development, (ii) higher levels of bureaucratic autonomy are granted, (iii) agency heads demonstrate stronger leadership, and (iv) organizational culture is less authoritarian. Our study makes clear contributions to the literature on public management and regulation theory, and has important implications for regulatory reform in the face of new technological development.
Highlights
IntroductionWhat fosters regulatory reform in the public sector in the era of new technological development?
What fosters regulatory reform in the public sector in the era of new technological development? The relationship between scientific and technological development and a government’s regulatory reform is an important subject, but is not straightforward
We aimed to broaden our understanding of the factors that foster regulatory reform in the era of new technological development by focusing on the role of organizational factors in the public sector
Summary
What fosters regulatory reform in the public sector in the era of new technological development? The relationship between scientific and technological development and a government’s regulatory reform is an important subject, but is not straightforward. As exemplified by the development of railway technology in the 1920s and the U.S government’s initially negative reactions to it (Zuckman et al 1999), the relationship was once perceived as inverse. Many governments’ recent reforms seeking actively to keep pace with the development of information and communication technology (ICT) call the negative view into question. We recognize the existence of the recent phenomenon that scientific and technological development positively affects the government’s regulatory reform efforts, and look into the factors that facilitate its implementation in government agencies with the rise of new technologies.
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