基层干部何以担当作为?测量、动机与前因机制

How to drive street-level cadres to take charge? A study on measurements, motivations, and antecedents

基层政府职能转变和担当离不开广大基层干部的担当作为。但是,什么是基层干部的担当作为,如何测量?基层干部担当作为是出于怎样的动机?受到哪些因素的影响?如何促进?这些问题尚未得到系统研究。因此,基于行为公共管理学视角,首先以实证的方式研究基层干部担当作为的内涵结构和具体测量;第二,突破传统动机研究对利他的依赖和内外动机二分的束缚,以自我决定理论为基础,从自主动机(内在调节、整合调节、认同调节)和受控动机(内摄调节、外在调节)精细化研究担当作为动机;第三,关注从动机到行为的整合框架,提出担当角色认同的中介变量,关注个体因素和组织因素的交互以及中介过程中的调节作用,解释担当作为动机将如何产生担当作为行为,并有何种权变因素。通过实证研究,最终回应基层干部担当作为的测量、管理和激励问题。

That street-level cadres take charge and live up to their responsibility is essential to the function transition and performance of public duties of grass-root government. Against this backdrop, however, some critical questions are pending in the literature. For instance, what are taking charge behaviors and how should we measure them? What are the motivations underlying those behaviors? Are there any contingencies for those behaviors and how to effectively promote them? The present project aims to answer these questions. First, in view of the behavioral public administration perspective, we will c larify the dimensions of taking charge behaviors and develop an assessment tool. Second, we draw on the self-determination theory and investigate a controlled-autonomous motivation spectrum underlying the taking charge behaviors. This approach departs from the previously established altruism perspective and the dichotomy of internal and external motivation. Additionally, this project will extend the literature by delving into taking charge role identity as a key mechanism linking autonomous/controlled motivations to taking charge behaviors and by exploring personal/situational contingencies for the process. In other words, the present project elucidates how and when autonomous/controlled motivations translate into taking charge behaviors. This empirical project has significant implications for assessing, managing and promoting taking charge behaviors of street-level cadres.