Politics

Politics

Building on previous research on leadership change in local government, this project develops a new perspective on succession in central government executive agencies and a novel extension of the theory of insider and outsider succession.

Research projects

Chief executive succession and the performance of central government agencies

An ESRC funded project jointly conducted between the University of Exeter, Cardiff University and University of Kentucky. Oct. 2010 to Sept. 2012.

Research objectives

Chief executive succession is believed to have major consequences for an organisation’s mission and performance. However, in contrast to extensive research on private firms and some recent work on local services, there has not previously been a systematic analysis of chief executive succession in central government. Building on previous research on leadership change in local government, this project develops a new perspective on succession in central government executive agencies and a novel extension of the theory of insider and outsider succession.
The objectives of the project are to answer the following questions:

What are the effects of chief executive succession on agency mission and performance?
What are the moderating effects of insider and outsider status on the relationship between succession and agency performance?
What are the moderating effects of context, notably an agency’s source of funding, on the impact of succession and insider and outsider succession?

Research methods

The project combines quantitative and qualitative methods. We are in the process of constructing a new panel data set of UK Executive Agencies from 1988 to the present day. Key variables include measures of mission and performance, tenure of chief executives, their insider/ outsider background, the degree of public funding and regulation of agencies, and political saliency to ministers. The quantitative analysis seeks to identify the broad patterns and relationships in succession and performance. The qualitative work aims to further illuminate whether and how changing the chief executive makes a difference to organisations and the role of different types of insider/outsider succession.

Data and publications

A key objective of the project is to create a database which will be publically accessible. It is likely to be of particular interest to public administration and public management scholars. Currently the existing data on executive agencies is found in numerous difference sources, including official publications, directories and websites. This project will for the first time bring together a comprehensive range of information concerning Executive Agencies’ budgets, funding structure, their lifespan, performance and mission as well as biographical details and turnover of CEOs. The final dataset will be available online and will also be deposited in the ESRC data archive. See below for an introductory chapter containing background material on UK Executive Agencies. Further project papers and briefing notes will be added as the project develops.

James, O. Moseley, A., Petrovsky, N. and Boyne, G. 2011. ‘The United Kingdom’, in Verhoest K., van Thiel S., Bouckaert G. and Laegreid P. (eds). Government Agencies in Europe and Beyond: Practices and Lessons from 30 Countries. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Download a draft chapter.