Desperately seeking management in state environmental and transportation performance: Testing one measure of management quality, two models of government performance, and three ways to make management research relevant

It is the desire for government that works well for citizens and prevents things from going terribly wrong that drives an interest in understanding the causes of government performance. Generally, government performance is determined by the management actions of government agencies operating within various practical and political constraints, which are in large part set by the policy authority and resources given to agency management by elected officials. Shedding light on the nature and impact of management on government performance is a major challenge for scholars given the difficulty of measuring such a complex concept and the complexity of factors that determine performance outcomes. Unfortunately, our current understanding of these issues is limited.;This dissertation provides insights into how to better measure management and assess its impact on government performance outcomes. I address these issues by analyzing the validity of the Government Performance Project state management grades, comparatively testing the explanatory power of the Government Performance Framework and the Mazmanian and Sabatier Implementation Framework in state environmental and transportation performance contexts and demonstrate three approaches for improving management research into the causes of government performance.;My analysis generates several useful insights regarding: (1) the usefulness of the GPP as a measure of management quality and how it could be improved, (2) the potential performance gains that can be achieved by improving management quality, (3) how public administration research can better generate useful insights about the impact of management and other factors impacting government outcomes by using a comparative research design and simulation methods.;I conclude that research using better measures of management quality, more advanced analytical techniques, comparative research designs, and mixed methods will be needed if management scholars want to move management research forward in a way that provides better and more useful insights for scholars, policymakers, and managers.;My analyses facilitate the drawing of general conclusions because the empirical testing is performed using data from all fifty states and within two widely disparate policy contexts that present qualitatively different management and political challenges for producing the desired policy outcomes studied---reducing air pollution and maintaining state highway infrastructure.