2018/05/03 by Kenneth J. Meier · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Public Policy and Administration Research #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/ppmgov/gvy004
openalex publication_date 2018/05/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
The notion of a representative bureaucracy has generated a great deal of research although many issues are yet to be resolved and some have not been addressed. This theoretical essay uses a contingency theory approach to address a set of key questions relevant to representative bureaucracy. It discusses who is represented and what values get represented at the aggregate level, why bureaucrats represent, who they represent, and which bureaucrats represent at the individual level, and the empirical issues of critical mass, intersectionality, and how representation might change as a minority becomes a majority. The essay proposes 15 testable hypotheses and four modeling recommendations for empirical analysis.