公共行政中的感知问责:分析框架与研究展望

Felt Accountability in Public Administration:Analytic Framework and Research Agenda

作为现代民主治理的主要标志之一,问责的重要性不言而喻。但在面对客观问责制度时,不同的问责对象总会不可避免地产生不同的主观认知与解读,进而影响其行为与决策。感知问责作为连接宏观问责制度与微观个体行为之间的“桥梁”,可有效弥合两者之间的鸿沟,提升问责效能。目前,国际公共行政学者已经关注到这一概念,并开展一些研究。论文首先梳理国际公共行政学者对于感知问责的相关学术研究,便于我国公共行政学者与实务者了解并熟悉该议题。基于现有研究,论文从个体、组织与制度三个层面,围绕八个因素建立一项分析框架,为我国公共行政学者开展感知问责研究提供理论指引。在个体层面,论文关注三个因素:自我效能感、自主性与个体官僚与领导关系。在组织层面,主要关注两个因素:组织支持度与组织透明度。在制度层面,主要关注三个因素:问责主体的特征、问责标准的特征与问责过程与内容的特征。在未来,我国的公共行政学者可以聚焦感知问责的概念建构、解释、后果与管理议题,为感知问责这一崭新的研究领域做出贡献。

As a cornerstone of democratic governance,accountability can never be underestimated.Despite objective institutional accountability,individuals will inevitably create their own perceptions and interpretations,which inform their action or inaction.Felt accountability has the potential to bridge the gap between institutional accountability and individual behaviors,leading to the high efficacy of accountability institutions.It has received sufficient scholarly attention from the international public administration field.We first reviewed relevant studies conducted by international public administration scholars and developed a new analytic framework surrounding eight conditions at the individual,organizational,and institutional levels.At the individual level,we focused on three conditions:selfefficacy,discretion,and relationships with supervisors.At the organizational level,we examined two conditions:organizational support and organizational transparency.At the institutional level,we investigated three conditions:the characteristics of accountholders,the characteristics of accountability standards,and the characteristics of the accountability process and content.Chinese public administration scholars should pay more attention to the following issues:constructing theory,exploring the explanations,consequences,and management of felt accountability,and contributing to the field of felt accountability.