Unveiling management trends in the public sector: A literature review and research agenda

Márcia R. C. Santos; Raul M. S. Laureano

Open Access

Unveiling management trends in the public sector: A literature review and research agenda

Márcia R. C. Santos

and

Raul M. S. Laureano

| Aug 22, 2023

Central European Journal of Public Policy

Volume 17 (2023): Issue 2 (December 2023)

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Page range: 63 - 81

Received: Jan 19, 2023

Accepted: Mar 30, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cejpp-2023-0006

Keywords
public sector, management, cluster, literature review

© 2023 Márcia R. C. Santos et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Bar chart with the absolute frequency of literature published from 1950 to 2021

Trends in management research partnerships in public sector

Term view of VOSviewer co-occurrence map

Overlay view of VOSviewer co-occurrence map by publication year

List of journals and books publishing more than 100 documents in the dataset

Journals and books	Number of documents
Public Money and Management	386
International Journal of Public Administration	378
Public Management Review	275
Public Personnel Management	209
Public Administration Review	206
Review of Public Personnel Administration	190
Financial Accountability and Management	170
Proceedings of the ECEG	143
International Public Management Journal	118
World Development	112
Public Choice	111
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory	107
Applied Economics	101
American Review of Public Administration	101

List of the 10 most productive journals on management in public sector publication and the most cited documents

Journals and books	Total citations	The most cited document	Publisher
Public Administration Review	15,335	West, 2004	Wiley-Blackwell
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory	8,528	Dunleavy, 2005	Oxford University Press
Public Management Review	6,355	Voorberg et al., 2015	Taylor & Francis
Public Money and Management	5,588	Dunleavy & Hood, 1994	Taylor & Francis
World Development	5,172	Psacharopoulos, 1994	Elsevier
Research Policy	4,724	Edler & Georghiou, 2007	Elsevier
International Journal of Project Management	3,759	Bing et al., 2005	Elsevier
International Journal of Public Administration	3,671	Smith, 1995	Taylor & Francis
Accounting, Organizations and Society	3,479	Hood, 1995	Elsevier
Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization	3,362	la Porta, 1999	Oxford University Press
Financial Accountability and Management	3,332	Modell, 2004	Wiley-Blackwell

Absolute frequency of data by document type

Document type	Absolute frequency
Article	14,386
Book chapter	1,159
Conference paper	869
Review	856
Book	350
Editorial	106
Note	99
Conference review	33
Short survey	29
Business article	11
Erratum	10
Letter	6
Retraction	1
Undefined	13

Clusters’ characterisation

Cluster	Most frequent terms	Number of occurrences
Cluster #1: Economic growth during crises	crisis	201
	employment	185
	cost	160
	economic growth	160
	investment	156
	education	153
	European Union (EU)	118
	competition	116
	privatisation	110
	union	108

Cluster #2: Reforms for the future	accounting	291
	Australia	122
	United Kingdom	116
	response	105
	tourism	98
	new public management	97
	public sector reform	97
	future	96
	transition	82
	collaboration	73

Cluster #3: Human relations	relationship	266
	employee	243
	leadership	216
	job satisfaction	136
	outcome	119
	difference	117
	trust	108
	culture	102
	organisational performance	94
	motivation	92

Cluster #4: Successful practices	Africa	145
	adoption	133
	opportunity	111
	success	90
	knowledge management	72
	barrier	70
	action	66
	transparency	61
	diversity	56
	challenges	52

Cluster #5: Partnerships	project	333
	public private partnership	157
	problem	153
	partnership	97
	performance measurement	80
	comparative study	71
	solution	67
	Brazil	60
	money	46
	Hong Kong	40

Cluster #6: Public banking services	India	358
	bank	292
	empirical study	188
	service quality	67
	asset	57
	citizen	51
	customer	45
	customer satisfaction	31

Main theories addressing public sector management topics

Theory		References
NPM	This theory empathises how the use of entrepreneurial behaviours shape and transform public sector	Funck & Karlsson, 2020; Weiss et al., 1995
Public choice theory	This theory focuses on the decisions that individuals make in government institutions, and it states that the individuals will prioritise their own interests over the public interest and social benefit	Emrah Firidin, 2022; James Buchanan & Gordon Tullock, 1958
Stakeholder theory	Based on this theory, organisations must consider the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders or managers. Though stakeholder theory explicitly emerged from private sector, scholars apply it to public sector organisations, namely, in regards to e-government initiatives	Freeman, 1984; Jones et al., 2017; Scholl, 2001
Contingency theory	This theory posits that the effectiveness of management approaches depends on the specific context in which the organisation operates, meaning that internal and external environments will shape decisions to achieve optimal functionality	Lawrence & Jay W. Lorsch, 1967; McGrandle, 2016
Transformational leadership theory	This theory indicates that leadership can inspire and motivate employees to stay committed and achieve common goals	Bass & Bass Bernard, 1985; van der Voet, 2016; Wright & Pandey, 2010

eISSN:: 1802-4866
Language:: English

Publication timeframe:: 2 times per year
Journal Subjects:: Business and Economics, Political Economics, Public Finance and Fiscal Theory, Business Management, Industries, Public Sector, Public Private Partnerships, Public Administration, Social Sciences, Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work, Development Aid, Political Science, other

Journal RSS Feed

Area	Subarea	Topics
Accounting	Financial accounting	Non-financial reporting formatsAccounting standardsConsolidated financial statements
	Management accounting	Insights into performance-based budgetingManagement accounting in emerging economies
	Accounting in general	Public value and public sector accountingAccounting in the higher education sector
Management	Citizenship	Co-creation with citizensOrganisational citizenship behaviour
	Control	Internal auditingManagement control
	Innovation	Barriers to and governance strategies for digital and non-digital open innovationInnovation in developing countries
	Human resources	Talent managementIntellectual capitalKnowledge management
	Marketing	Branding
	Performance	Critical success factors of business process managementPerformance measurementFrom output to outcome measuresCritical success factors of continuous improvement

Unveiling management trends in the public sector: A literature review and research agenda

Published Online: Aug 22, 2023

Page range: 63 - 81

Received: Jan 19, 2023

Accepted: Mar 30, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cejpp-2023-0006

Keywords
public sector, management, cluster, literature review

© 2023 Márcia R. C. Santos et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1:

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Fig. 4:

Fig. 5:

Suggested future research topics

List of journals and books publishing more than 100 documents in the dataset

List of the 10 most productive journals on management in public sector publication and the most cited documents

Absolute frequency of data by document type

Clusters’ characterisation

Main theories addressing public sector management topics

Unveiling management trends in the public sector: A literature review and research agenda

Published Online: Aug 22, 2023

Page range: 63 - 81

Received: Jan 19, 2023

Accepted: Mar 30, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cejpp-2023-0006

Keywordspublic sector, management, cluster, literature review

© 2023 Márcia R. C. Santos et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1:

Fig. 2:

Fig. 3:

Fig. 4:

Fig. 5:

Suggested future research topics

List of journals and books publishing more than 100 documents in the dataset

List of the 10 most productive journals on management in public sector publication and the most cited documents

Absolute frequency of data by document type

Clusters’ characterisation

Main theories addressing public sector management topics

Keywords
public sector, management, cluster, literature review