The mid-level bureaucrats’ performance: determinants of their activities and work relationships

Abstract Although scholars have been investigating bureaucrats for a long time, mid-level bureaucrats (MLB) have been far less studied in the literature. To fill this gap, this article explores MLBs heterogeneity regarding their profile, professional background and, above all, performance. The main goal is to investigate the determinants of bureaucrats’ performance, depicted by two crucial dimensions: the degree of MLBs relationship within public bureaucracy and complexity level of their activities. These skills are valued today with increasing importance in contexts of network governance and bureaucratic responsiveness. First, a descriptive analysis was undertaken of survey data collected in 2014 from federal mid-level bureaucrats in positions filled by appointment. This was followed by formulating synthetic indexes of two dimensions: bureaucrats’ activities and their work relationships. Subsequently, multivariate models were employed to explain the determinants of these dimensions. Empirical results show that the mid-level bureaucrats’ performance is both affected by the government’s structure factors as well as by their own individual characteristics. However, the variables effects vary considerably. The empirical evidence suggests that MLBs tend to be more connected and perform more activities as they hold higher positions filled by appointment, have a higher level of education and capacity to influence decision processes and work directly with policymaking, especially in social policy.

摘要 尽管学界对官僚群体的研究已有较长历史，但中层官僚（mid-level bureaucrats, MLB）在现有学术文献中受关注程度仍相对不足。为填补这一研究空白，本文探讨了中层官僚在个人画像、职业背景，尤其是绩效表现层面的异质性。本文核心目标为探究官僚绩效的影响因素，该绩效由两个关键维度刻画：中层官僚在公共官僚体系内的关系联结程度，以及其履职活动的复杂程度。在网络治理与官僚回应性日益凸显的当下，这类履职能力的重要性与日俱增。首先，本文针对2014年收集的联邦政府委任制中层官僚调研数据开展描述性分析。随后，本文构建了官僚履职活动与工作关系两个维度的综合指标。继而采用多元模型对上述两个维度的影响因素进行解释。实证结果表明，中层官僚的绩效既受政府结构性因素影响，也与其自身个体特征相关。不过，各变量的影响效应存在显著差异。实证证据显示，当中层官僚担任更高层级的委任制职位、拥有更高学历、具备更强的决策过程影响力，且直接参与政策制定（尤其是社会政策领域）时，其关系联结更为紧密，履职活动也更为复杂。