STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY: ANALYZING LINEAR AND NONLINEAR RELATIONSHIPS

Strategic management is a ubiquitous practice in public organizations worldwide. In part, strategic management’s popularity results from several New Public Management reforms that advocated the usage of strategic management... [ view full abstract ]

Strategic management is a ubiquitous practice in public organizations worldwide. In part, strategic management’s popularity results from several New Public Management reforms that advocated the usage of strategic management tools in government. However, due to New Public Management’s focus on efficiency and effectiveness, the question is whether strategic management is also valuable in the current New Public Governance era. Few studies have investigated the relationship between strategic management and performance dimensions other than efficiency and effectiveness. This study addresses this caveat by analyzing the linear and nonlinear relationships between strategic management and government transparency using data from all 308 Flemish municipalities. Based on OLS regression analyses, we find that strategic management is positively associated with government transparency. However, the number of strategic goals and performance indicators defined during strategic management have a curvilinear association with government transparency. Implications for public administration research and practice are discussed in conclusion.