ABSTRACT Innovation is desirable for the public sector. Yet understanding what and how some innovation projects survive and thrive in a competitive landscape—or public sector innovation—is often challenging. The challenges not only rest in the invisibility of the features of an innovation to human eyes but also in the lack of their accessibility for analysis. This study showcases a methodological framework using a generative pre‐trained transformer (GPT) for scale development and synthetic data generation to measure, predict, retrodict, and calibrate innovation outcomes using real‐world and synthetic data and a human‐in‐the‐loop process. This study demonstrates the epistemic gains of the framework in predicting and manipulating competitive texts to simulate the past, present, and possibly the future. The approach offers avenues for future research on a wide range of competitive phenomena using large‐scale text analysis across the social sciences.

ABSTRACT Democratic backsliding raises new challenges for bureaucracies as politicians undermine democratic institutions and the rule of law. Although bureaucracies can play a central safeguarding role, little is known about the organizational conditions that foster resistance to undemocratic pressure. This study tests whether organizational networks (peers and professional associations) and resources (expertise and voice mechanisms) influence bureaucrats' willingness to oppose undemocratic demands from political superiors. Drawing on a preregistered conjoint survey experiment with Brazilian bureaucrats ( N = 2481; 14,886 evaluations), we find that support from peers, professional associations, and credible voice channels increases open resistance, whereas peer disagreement reduces silent resistance. This study is among the first large‐scale survey experiments to manipulate organizational attributes in democratic backsliding. We advance scholarship by developing a meso‐level organizational framework that connects networks and resources to micro‐level resistance, bridging research on democratic backsliding and behavioral public administration, and providing practical guidance for strengthening democratic guardianship in organizations.

ABSTRACT Public services, public servants, and the study of Public Administration are operating in a context of global turbulence. Our review of the state of the discipline suggests that a core strength of British Public Administration has been the complementarity between scholarship and practice, responding to existential threats. We analyze changing relationships between the discipline and practice in British public administration over three eras: Applied, fragmented, and impactful. The applied era saw mutual exchange, but a lack of criticality. The fragmented era was one of a retreat to over‐specialization and identity crises. The impactful era has tried to revivify synergies but has struggled for coherence and criticality. Looking to the future, the nascent sub‐field of Positive Public Administration is identified as providing an opportunity to radically redefine the scientific quality and social relevance of the discipline due to the way it blends constructive engagement with independent criticality.

ABSTRACT We examine how formal and informal institutional logics interact to shape the effectiveness of Collaborative Environmental Governance (CEG). Using fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) of 34 CEG projects in Indonesia, we identify three distinct pathways to effectiveness: co‐faith‐based, multifaith‐collaborative, and secular‐market, each reflecting a unique configuration of authority, market, and social and community logics. Importantly, our findings challenge essentialist views of religion by reconceptualizing it as a context‐dependent institutional logic that can enable or constrain collaboration depending on its institutional embeddedness. Religion represents a dynamic informal force, especially salient where formal institutions are underdeveloped or contested. These insights extend theories of institutional design and collaborative governance, particularly in culturally diverse and institutionally uneven settings. Our study offers practical implications for designing context‐sensitive CEG systems, emphasizing the importance of inclusive leadership and institutional alignment.

ABSTRACT This study examines the interplay between digital modernization and transformation in the public sector, challenging the notion that they are mutually exclusive strategies. Through interviews with public sector leaders, we find that modernization and transformation can be jointly implemented rather than managed as competing efforts. Thus, we highlight hybrid strategies that integrate both approaches, allowing public organizations to balance operational stability with innovation in their overall digital evolution. Our findings offer practical insights for practitioners seeking to align system structures, methodologies, and procurement strategies with the realities of digital change. For scholars, this article lays the groundwork for future research on how modernization and transformation can co‐evolve in public administration, thus challenging existing dichotomies and opening new avenues for investigation.

ABSTRACT The personal background and traits of top organizational leaders matter for organizational strategies, policymaking, and outcomes. Drawing on upper echelons theory, imprinting theory, and scholarship on managerial decision‐making and the transferability of private‐sector management approaches to the public sector, this study examines the relationship between US governors' top business experience and budgetary outcomes. Competing hypotheses are proposed and tested to assess whether governors with significant business experience enhance or hinder budgetary outcomes. Using a panel dataset of 48 states spanning 1960–2010 and a regression discontinuity design, the analysis finds that electing governors with high‐level business experience leads to improved budget equilibrium during their terms. These findings suggest that governors with business backgrounds are likely to be better able to align revenues with expenditures, thus reducing deviations from the budget. The results are robust across alternative model specifications and offer critical theoretical and practical insights into leadership dynamics and fiscal governance.

ABSTRACT Despite its importance in theory and practice, little is known about whether, how, when, and for whom a collaborative governance strategy achieves socially equitable outcomes. Using a staggered difference‐in‐differences design and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we analyze how well Oregon counties that adopted collaborative governance bridge racial disparities in healthcare access compared to non‐adopting counties. We find that collaborative governance is associated with reducing racial and ethnic disparities in financial barriers to visiting a doctor after 3 years of implementation and that such effects grow stronger over time. In addition, the estimated effect of collaborative governance on having a personal doctor is greatest for Hispanics. This article points to potential benefits of a collaborative governance strategy that designs and scales collaboration through a collaborative platform and collaborative governance regimes, sustains long‐term efforts to meet health equity goals, and identifies and serves the most vulnerable populations.