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Tom Christensen

Professor emeritus - Department of Political Science

Email tom.christensen@stv.uio.no

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Postal address Postboks 1097 Blindern 0317 OSLO

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Scientific interests

Theoretical basis in organization theory, including instrumental and institustional theory.
Long-term empirical interest in the structure and actions of the central civil service, related to larhe survey every tenth year from 1976-2016, but also to numerous case studies,
Case studies of reforms in governmental administration, for example reforms in ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises, in different policy area - welfare administrative, police, military, higher education and research, health, societal security, immigration, etc.
Participated, through a lot of international projects and networks, in comparative studies of governmental reforms, in particular NPM and post-NPM reforms in the Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand and China.
Christensen has the last 10-20 years collaborated with a lot of Chinese researchers on studies of public administration and policy.
Participated in a lot of studies of the handling of the COVID-19 and published intensive on teh handling in Norway, but also comparatively regarding the Nordic countries and China.

Background

Tom Christensen became magister artium at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo in 1974. He took his Dr.Phil. degree at the University of Tromsø in 1983. He was affiliated with University of Tromsø in the period 1975-86 as research assistent, assistant professor and associate professor and later also as adjunct professor. He became associate professor at Department of Political Science, University of Oslo in 1986 and was full professor from 1993 until he retired in 2019 and became professor emeritus. He was adjunct professor at the Rokkan Center at University of Bergen for ten years endring in 2017. He is currently Visiting Professor at the School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University. Christensen has the last 30 years spent 7-8 years at Scancor (Scandinavian Consortium of Organizational Research), Stanford University. Christensen is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Tags: China

Chen, Liu; Christensen, Tom & Zhu, Xufeng (2026). Balancing Particularism and Universalism in Welfare Policy: Insights From China's Hukou Reform. Policy Studies Journal (PSJ). ISSN 0190-292X. 54(4). doi: 10.1111/psj.70160. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Welfare policies often combine particularistic and universalistic elements, yet we know less about how shifts in this balance shape public attitudes toward vulnerable low‐status groups. This article develops a three‐dimensional framework for analyzing welfare policy, distinguishing among welfare scope, welfare benefits, and inclusion criteria. We argue that public attitudes toward lower‐status groups are shaped by the combined signal about the welfare deservingness hierarchy generated by the configuration of particularistic and universalistic elements across these dimensions. Because policy design packages convey a broader normative stance about who belongs and who deserves, they can influence perceptions of groups that are not directly targeted by a policy change, lowering or raising their perceived deservingness. Using difference‐in‐differences and regression discontinuity methods, we analyze Weibo posts during China's two‐round hukou reform. We find that shifts toward more particularistic policy configurations lead to more negative attitudes toward low‐skilled migrant workers, whereas shifts toward more universalistic configurations yield more positive attitudes. Subgroup analyses yield suggestive patterns across local economic contexts and individual characteristics. These findings have broader implications for research on welfare policy systems and for reform efforts regarding social integration.
Tian, Xiaolong; Christensen, Tom & Ma, Liang (2026). Public sector reform and party dominance: China’s 2023 Party-state institutional reform. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 2327-6665. p. 1–21. doi: 10.1080/23276665.2026.2701728. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In 2023, China launched a new round of Party – state institutionalreform that further consolidated Party dominance. This article ana-lyzes the reform’s underlying dynamics and the reconfiguration ofParty leadership within the administrative system. The findings sug-gest that the reform represents a nationally driven, adaptive institu-tional project aligned with Chinese modernisation. In response tointernal and external pressures, it advances a “new national system”and institutionalises a Party-dominated networked governance struc-ture linking the Communist Party of China Central Committee’sdecision-making bodies with the State Council’s functional depart-ments. Culturally, the reform embodies continuity and change,grounded in Confucian and Marxist-Leninist conceptions of govern-ance and democracy. From a polity perspective, Party dominance isfurther institutionalised through administrative restructuring. Overall,the reform reflects China’s effort to develop an autonomous govern-ance knowledge system and a Party-state governance model centredon Party leadership. The study contributes to public administrationscholarship by providing an empirically grounded interpretation ofinstitutional reform in a non-Western context
Li, Hongxia; Chen, Sicheng; Yao, Rongrong & Christensen, Tom (2026). Managing emergencies and shaping images: how swift crisis interventions affect public perception of local government reputation. Public Management Review. ISSN 1471-9037. doi: 10.1080/14719037.2025.2610360. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study examines how crisis response timing (pre-crisis vs. post-crisis), sequence (no prioritization, defensive prioritization, accommodative prioritization), and tempo (fast-paced vs. slow-paced) affect public perception of local government reputation. Through a 2 × 3 × 2 factorial experiment (n = 1520), results reveal that pre-crisis risk communication, accommodative prioritization, and fast-paced responses significantly enhance public perception of local government reputation. Crisis responsibility attribution functions as an indirect mechanism. Integrating temporal dimensions into crisis management frameworks, the research advances theoretical understanding and offers governments actionable strategies for reputation protection through timely interventions
Qin, Shuai & Christensen, Tom (2026). Managing hybridity: China’s compressed reform trajectory. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 2327-6665. 48(1), p. 59–81. doi: 10.1080/23276665.2025.2588339. Full text in Research Archive
Liu, Yihong; Comfort, Louise; Christensen, Tom & Chen, Wu (2025). Framing the COVID-19 Crisis: Analyzing State Media Strategies in China Using Deep Learning Models. Public Performance and Management Review. ISSN 1530-9576. 49(1), p. 243–270. doi: 10.1080/15309576.2025.2559626. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study examines China’s crisis communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic through computational analysis of state media. Using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and logic-tree analysis, we analyzed 17,631 sentences from Xinwen Lianbo broadcasts (January–September 2020) to identify framing patterns in centralized governance systems. Our analysis revealed 16 distinct frames organized hierarchically, encompassing both substantive (policy measures, epidemic information) and symbolic (political narratives, unity themes) dimensions. Three key findings emerged: (1) China maintained strategic equilibrium between substantive and symbolic framing to balance operational competence with ideological legitimacy; (2) communication strategies demonstrated dynamic phase-based adaptation while preserving core political narratives; (3) innovation occurred primarily in technical domains rather than fundamental communication approaches. These findings extend crisis communication theory beyond Western democratic contexts, revealing how centralized systems achieve adaptive flexibility through coordinated channels while maintaining message consistency.
AlQurashi, Suzan M.A.; Alshehri, Afnan M. & Christensen, Tom (2025). Examining the Effects of the New Public Service Model (NPS) and New Public Management Model (NPM) on Organizational Efficiency in the Saudi Ground Services Company. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. doi: 10.1007/s11115-025-00919-9. Full text in Research Archive
Mu, Rui; Chen, Sicheng & Christensen, Tom (2025). Reputation signals, individual characteristics and citizens’ coproduction willingness. Public Management Review. ISSN 1471-9037. doi: 10.1080/14719037.2025.2591760. Full text in Research Archive
Qin, Shuai & Christensen, Tom (2025). Reforming a Public Personnel System – A Bounded Rational Layering Development in China, 1979–2019. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 25(4), p. 2123–2139. doi: 10.1007/s11115-025-00897-y. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2025). The agency model and autonomy. In Peters, Brainhard Guy (Eds.), Handbook on Bureaucratic Autonomy. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781803927039. p. 79–95. doi: 10.4337/9781803927046.00014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The agency model derived from the New Public Management has been an important source of bureaucratic autonomy. The emphasis on management rather than policymaking, and the reduction of political control over agencies, both contributed to increased autonomy. This chapter provides a detailed description and analysis of the impact of agencification on the autonomy of public organizations. It also discusses the empirical and normative implications of this model of public administration.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2025). Future Challenges of Public Administration. Public Performance and Management Review. ISSN 1530-9576. doi: 10.1080/15309576.2025.2549297. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article addresses the future theoretical, thematical, empirical, and normative challenges for public administration as a research field. Theoretically, it argues for combining organizational and institutional approaches addressing theories on a meso level, taking the context into account, and stronger links to political science addressing accountability issues as well as the temporal dimension. Thematically, there is a need for more studies on crisis management, unsettled and turbulent situations, wicked issues, and digital governance. Empirically, we argue for studying public administration as “living” political organizations from a design perspective, addressing decision-making in public administration but also going further out in the effect chain, and studying multilevel governance as well as the relations between public administration and other institutional spheres. The normative challenges revolve around the need for rediscovering bureaucracy and the role of public administration in protecting the values of liberal democracy, the rule of law, and merit-based bureaucracy in a period characterized by democratic backsliding.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2025). Cabinet Turbulence and Political Scandals— Accountability Under Pressure. Scandinavian Political Studies. ISSN 0080-6757. 48(3). doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.70014. Full text in Research Archive
Quingguo, Meng; Xiaoyang, Cheng; Sicheng, Chen & Christensen, Tom (2025). Reputation management and communication under political control: The case of China’s central bank. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. p. 1–20. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2025.2503830. Full text in Research Archive
Xiaolong, Tian; Ma, Liang & Christensen, Tom (2025). Why did China persist with a zero-COVID policy? A cultural interpretation of Confucianism. Public Policy and Administration. ISSN 0952-0767. doi: 10.1177/09520767251360124. Full text in Research Archive
Liang, Ma; Chen, Bin; Christensen, Tom & Liu, Weixing (2025). The evolution of mandated coordination in policy implementation: Evidence from China's central government agencies. Review of Policy Research. ISSN 1541-132X. doi: 10.1111/ropr.70003. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2025). Reversing Government Reforms: Radical Change or Adaptive Adjustments? Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. 103(4), p. 1218–1231. doi: 10.1111/padm.13060. Full text in Research Archive
Wei, Xiong; Feng, Wang; Christensen, Tom & Carter, Casady (2025). Bureaucratic redundancy and administrative burden: Evidence from private-public partnerships (PPPs) in China. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. 103, p. 66–93. doi: 10.1111/padm.13003. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2025). Future Directions of Public Administration Research—Addressing Fundamental Issues and Questions. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. 48(5-6), p. 299–305. doi: 10.1080/01900692.2025.2470006. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This introduction to the special issue on future directions of Public Administration research addressing fundamental issues and questions, reflects on some selected subjects emerging from the accepted articles. We outline some main themes and place aspects of the single articles within them. The topics covered are theoretical development in Public Administration, the significance of the political and normative context of transboundary public administration, the importance of temporal context, and increased focus on specific policy areas such as crisis management and digitalization in a comparative perspective. It concludes by pointing to the importance of understanding and meeting the challenges of democratic backsliding, regime-threatening populism, and autocratic government.
Ma, Liang; Liu, Weixing; Chen, Sicheng & Christensen, Tom (2024). Where you are matters: Network position, designed network, and central government agency termination. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. doi: 10.1111/padm.13026. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study synthesizes insights from collaborative network and agency termination theories to investigate how agencies' positions in designed networks impact their survival probability. Using longitudinal data for the central apparatus in China from 2005 to 2020, along with the designed networks derived from 1243 joint tasks arranged by the State Council, we conducted event history analyses to test our hypotheses. Our findings suggest that a centralized network position can significantly reduce an agency's likelihood of termination, while agencies in the periphery of designed networks may be less likely to survive significant restructuring. It is also discovered that stronger agencies, such as larger, economically functioning, or statutorily created ones, benefit more from centralized network positions. These findings underscore the pivotal role played by agencies' positions within designed networks in their survival prospects. As such, agencies should strategically leverage their positions within collaborative networks to mitigate the risk of termination.
Ma, Liang; Liu, Weixing; Chen, Sicheng & Christensen, Tom (2024). Where you are matters: Network position, designed network, and central government agency termination. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. 103(2), p. 417–444. doi: 10.1111/padm.13026. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2024). Reputation management in turmoil—An analysis of the clashing narratives in the introduction of a “salmon tax” in Norway. Review of Policy Research. ISSN 1541-132X. 41(3). doi: 10.1111/ropr.12615. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study deals with reputation management, addressing collective issues, strategic communication by the government, and the dynamics between this communication and counter-symbols from societal stakeholders. Empirically, it examines the political debates in Norway in recent years regarding the conflict over establishing a “ground rent” tax on extra profit earned through use of natural resources belonging to the community, related to salmon farming. The overall research question is how major concepts from reputation theory can explain the process and outcome of the decision-making process. A main finding is that reputation varies across reputational dimensions and actors, and between government and audiences. Another is that it is necessary to examine reputation in relation to the field, the actors, and the task environment it concerns. The study also shows that reputation management is informed by the politics of reputation, revealing the challenge of balancing evidence-based policy making and being responsive to opinion-based stakeholder input, and that reputational threats and strategic communication are interlinked.
Chengwei, Wang; Liang, Ma & Christensen, Tom (2024). Does leadership gender representativeness improve policy outcomes? Evidence from local governments in China. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. doi: 10.1111/padm.12988. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Numerous studies have delved into the intricate dynamics of representative bureaucracy in public service provision, yet a significant gap exists in our understanding of the distinctions between top leaders and members of the top management team (TMT). Using the panel data of 317 subdistricts in Beijing, this research revealed that top female leaders have stronger influences on public service delivery than female TMT members. Top female leaders handle citizens' complaints better than their male counterparts, while the effect of TMT gender representation is nonsignificant. This research underscores the imperative need to differentiate between the representative roles of top leaders and TMT members, thereby revealing nuanced effects in the realm of gender representation.
Xiong, Wei; Wang, Fang; Christensen, Tom & Casady, Carter B. (2024). Bureaucratic redundancy and administrative burden: Evidence from public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. doi: 10.1111/padm.13003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Administrative burden is experienced by both individuals and businesses when dealing with government entities. While previous literature suggests administrative burden arises from the deliberate choices of political actors, this study highlights how bureaucratic redundancies also lead to administrative burden. Using a dataset of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China, this study explored the influence of bureaucratic redundancy on administrative burden, in particular contractors' compliance costs caused by PPP regulations. The analysis found that bureaucratic redundancy has a positive and curvilinear relationship with compliance costs, which in turn has a positive relationship with the likelihood of PPP contract termination. These results hold even after controlling for political and economic factors. Nevertheless, such effects can be mitigated through government reforms, such as jurisdictional reduction and legislative centralization.
Christensen, Tom (2024). Tjenestedesign i offentlig forvaltning - perspektiver og utfordringer. In Moldenæs, Turid; Pettersen, Hilde Marie & Røvik, Kjell Arne (Ed.), Tjenestedesign i det offentlige. Fra ide til praksis – den besværlige veien.. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245044164. p. 73–86. Full text in Research Archive
Yan, Yang; Christensen, Tom & Yang, Zhusong (2024). Personnel Control and Local Officials’ Attention to Economic Development: Evidence from China. Administration & Society. ISSN 0095-3997. doi: 10.1177/00953997231223518. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Compared to democracies, our understanding of policy attention in authoritarian governments remains limited. Using data from 612 Chinese municipal party secretaries’ official activities, we investigate the structural factors within the authoritarian bureaucratic system influencing new officials’ attention for economic issues. The findings reveal that younger officials and those transferred from other regions exhibit a clear preference for economic issues. Moreover, higher economic growth expectations from superior governments are linked to increased attention to urban economic affairs by officials. This study enriches the literature on comparative agenda research by discussing the relationship between policy attention allocation and authoritarian cadre management.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2024). Academic freedom and freedom of speech. Translating travelling ideas. In Arora-Jonsson, Stefan (Eds.), An ecology of ideas permeating science, higher education, and society. Essays for Kerstin Sahlin. Uppsala universitet. ISSN 9789151319728. p. 91–108. Full text in Research Archive
Chen, Sicheng; Christensen, Tom & Ma, Liang (2024). Written directives and ministerial tenure in China: a novel gauge for political performance? Journal of Asian Public Policy (JAPP). ISSN 1751-6234. doi: 10.1080/17516234.2024.2339078. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
While prior research on Chinese political elites has predominantly centred on local officials, assessing the performance of ministers may pose significant challenges. This paper uses written directives (WDs), a pivotal form of elite communication, as a metric for evaluating ministers’ political performance. We posit that a higher frequency of WDs received by ministers from top leaders signifies increased attention and enhanced political success, potentially bolstering their longevity in office and career advancement. To test this hypothesis, we analyse ministerial tenure in China from 1949 to 1976, a period characterized by the unparalleled influence of Chairman Mao Zedong, which facilitated the measurement of WDs. Our findings indicate that ministers who received a greater number of WDs, on average, enjoyed longer tenures, while those with a shared historical background with Mao did not. These results align with previous historical analyses demonstrating Mao’s adept consolidation of power within political elites. Moreover, the recent release of historical Chinese materials has unveiled a wealth of political communication among Chinese political elites, with WDs offering a novel avenue for gauging political performance. This research contributes empirical insights from China to the global literature on ministerial tenure, enriching the landscape of contemporary Chinese bureaucratic studies.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2024). Complexity in Public Policy. In Gerven, Minna van (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Public Policy. Springer. ISSN 9783030904340. p. 1–8. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_113-1. Full text in Research Archive
Tian, Xiaolong & Christensen, Tom (2024). Traditional bureaucracy and newly-revived leading groups: The Chinese government’s organizational responses to COVID-19. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2024.2328217. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Drawing on instrumental-structural and cultural-value perspectives, this article examines the Chinese government’s organizational responses to COVID-19 in Wuhan. It highlights two stages: cover-up and inaction, and then a draconian national campaign, with the creation of a central Leading Group (LG) as a major landmark. This process involves a layered institutional change, integrating networked LG arrangements into the existing bureaucracy system. Culturally, collective values initially discourage local risky action but later encourage national mobilization. Importantly, under the Party’s leadership, a network of networks has been formed around the CLG, showcasing both Chinese characteristics and post-NPM features.
Cui, Qun; Dong, Lisheng & Christensen, Tom (2024). How to encourage more public participation in marine disaster risk management: Evidence from a survey experiment in China. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development. ISSN 2572-7931. 8(12). doi: 10.24294/jipd.v8i12.6360. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Raising public awareness of maritime risk and disseminating information about disaster prevention and reduction are the most frequent ways that the government incorporates citizens in marine disaster risk management (DRM). However, these measures are deemed to be insufficient to drive the participation rate. This study aims to understand the participation trend of citizens in marine DRM. On the basis of the theory of citizen participation’s ladder, public participation within marine DRM is categorized into non-participation, tokenistic participation, and substantive participation. Using organization theory, the government’s strategies for encouraging participation are classified into common approach (raising awareness), structural approach (innovating instruments), and cultural approach (developing citizenship). Considering the vignette experiment of 403 citizens in a coastal city of China that has historically been subject to marine disasters, it was found that effectiveness of the strategies, from highest to lowest, are citizenship development, risk education, and instruments innovation. At the individual level, psychological characteristics such as trust in the government, past disaster experience, and knowledge of marine DRM did not significantly influence citizens’ participation preferences. At the government level, even when citizens are informed about new participatory mechanisms and tools, they still tend to be unwilling to share responsibilities. However, self-efficacy and understanding the beneficial outcomes of their participation in marine (DRM) can positively impact the willingness to participate. The results show that to encourage public participation substantively in the marine DRM, it is important to cultivate a sense of civic duty and enhance citizens’ sense of ownership, fostering a closer and more equitable partnership between the state and society.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2023). Crisis Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Nordic Way and the Swedish Exceptionalism. In Cheung, Anthony B L & Thiel, Sandra van (Ed.), Crisis Leadership and Public Governance during COVID-19 Pandemic. International Comparisons. World Scientific. ISSN 9789811262845. p. 289–325. doi: 10.1142/9789811262852_00011. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This chapter examines the Nordic countries crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic by addressing the public health measures. It first outlines the Nordic context and the policy features of the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Second, it describes the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of infection and death rates which were much higher in Sweden than in the other Nordic countries. Third, it gives an account of how the crisis has been managed in the five countries. The focus is on how prepared the authorities were, on the strategies and policy tools used to contain the pandemic, on leadership and politics, on crisis communication, and trust in government. Fourth, it discusses how to understand Swedish exceptionalism. While the Swedes applied a soft strategy, delegating most of the handling to expert bodies, the other Nordic countries implemented more drastic measures in which the political leadership had a more prominent role to play. To understand the variation in crisis management among the Nordic countries. We apply an institutional approach drawn from organization theory. We address structural features, administrative traditions, and leadership strategies as well as governance capacity and governance legitimacy, taking contextual features into consideration. Finally, it draws some conclusions and lessons learned.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2023). The Politics of Vaccines—How to Determine a Fair Vaccine Allocation: Hierarchy, Negotiations, or Culture? Administration & Society. ISSN 0095-3997. 55(6), p. 1171–1193. doi: 10.1177/00953997231167557. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study examines vaccine allocation policy during the COVID-19 pandemic by applying a hierarchical, a negotiation, and a cultural perspective. It addresses how vaccine allocation principles under conditions of scarcity are translated into practice in the case of Norway. A main finding is that the policy was informed by instrumentalism as well as by path dependencies, but over time the issue became more salient by activating stakeholder interests, which resulted in an adaptation of established norms. The three perspectives reveal how different approaches to a “fair vaccine allocation” policy can lead to different explanations of the same phenomenon.
Niva, Golan-Nadir & Christensen, Tom (2023). Collective action and co-production of public services as alternative politics: The case of public transportation in Israel. Australian Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0313-6647. 82(1), p. 96–115. doi: 10.1111/1467-8500.12578. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Can dissatisfaction with existing policies lead to the co-production of public goods and services? If so, under what conditions could such dissatisfaction lead to the co-production of public goods and services? We posit that when (1) citizens are dissatisfied with the policy as designed, (2) third-sector organisations are formed, and (3) politicians and street-level managers are engaged, the co-production of public goods and services will take place. Analysing the Israeli religion-based restrictions on public transportation on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), this study argues that the intentional lack of public transport on Saturdays is overall met with discontent within the population and, in turn, leads third-sector organisations and local authorities to combine forces to find solutions on the local level. We have employed various mixed methods tools (e.g. a public opinion survey, existing statistics, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis) in order to test the Israeli case as an illustrative, crucial case study.
Lund-Tønnesen, Jonas & Christensen, Tom (2023). Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications from Governance Capacity and Legitimacy. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 23(2), p. 431–449. doi: 10.1007/s11115-023-00705-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract This paper examines the crisis management learning by the Norwegian government after the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on types of learning based on the concepts of governance capacity and legitimacy. Using unique interview data with 36 elite administrative and political executives in Norway, the study finds varied learning by the involved actors, and most learning about coordination between ministries and agencies, which are amplified by the lack of knowledge related to analytical capacity. The study contributes to advance the analytical understanding of crisis management learning and provides insight into what a high performing government in the pandemic attempts to learn.
Peng, Tao; Christensen, Tom; Yihong, Liu & Chun, Chun (2023). Power Structure, Issue Priorities and Attention Dynamics of Leaders from 2001 to 2017 in China. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 24, p. 351–368. doi: 10.1007/s11115-023-00723-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article explores the allocation of and competition for political attention in China. Responding to outside policy signals, the leader’s instructions from the ruling Party carry the highest political authority and set the agenda for high-level policy, as do the Premier’s instructions to the administration. These political instructions are used to measure political attention from 2001 to 2017. A textual analysis of political instructions transmitted via supervised machine learning reveals that Chinese leaders’ attention to policy issues is characterized by punctuated equilibriums. This helps us to understand how central leaders organize their attention through issue stability, issue diversity, and issue competition in China.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2023). Assessing the crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic: a study of inquiry commission reports in Norway and Sweden. Policy and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Policy Research. ISSN 1449-4035. 42(4), p. 548–563. doi: 10.1093/polsoc/puad020. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article examines the inquiry reports from the commissions charged with investigating government crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway and Sweden. Such postcrises commissions have been a common feature in many countries as they seek to systematize their experiences and learn from the crisis. In this article, we used various dimensions of governance capacity and governance legitimacy as assessment criteria. It reveals that the commissions’ assessment criteria were not very specific in their reports, but a reanalysis of their findings shows that governance capacity and governance legitimacy dimensions are useful to assess the reports themselves. The two reports reveal a lack of preparedness in both countries, but they differ in their conclusions about governance regulation and output legitimacy.
Christensen, Tom; Jensen, Mads Dagnis; Kluth, Michael; Kristinsson, Gunnar Helgi; Lynggaard, Kennet & Lægreid, Per [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2022). The Nordic governments' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic: A comparative study of variation in governance arrangements and regulatory instruments. Regulation & Governance. ISSN 1748-5983. p. 1–19. doi: 10.1111/rego.12497. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Nordic states—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—exhibit similarities and differences. This article investigates the extent to which crisis policymaking diverges from normal policymaking within the Nordic countries and whether variations between the countries are associated with the role of expertise and the level of politicization. Government responses are analyzed in terms of governance arrangements and regulatory instruments. Findings demonstrate some deviation from normal policymaking within and considerable variation between the Nordic countries, as Denmark, Finland, and to some extent Norway exhibit similar patterns with hierarchical command and control governance arrangements, while Iceland, in some instances, resembles the case of Sweden, which has made use of network-based governance. The article shows that the higher the influence of experts, the more likely it is that the governance arrangement will be network-based.
Askim, Jostein & Christensen, Tom (2022). Crisis decision-making inside the core executive: Rationality, bureaucratic politics, standard procedures and the COVID-19 lockdown. Public Policy and Administration. ISSN 0952-0767. 40(1), p. 151–169. doi: 10.1177/09520767221129676. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The article explains how the unprecedented pandemic management decision to lock down the country came about, using the case of Norway and drawing on unique interview material from political and administrative executives. Urgency and precaution were the government’s primary considerations in March 2020, with proportionality and due process only peripheral decision premises. Voices of moderation were drowned out at critical moments to pave the way for a lockdown. Moreover, Norway’s lockdown decision lacked distinct and official agency, with none of the key actors able to say precisely when, where and by whom this decision of unprecedented size and scope had been taken. An interpretation using Graham Allison’s analytical models shows that the rational policy model most accurately captures the case. The suggested implication is that when senior political executives take active control of an ultra-high-stakes process, decisions are unlikely to be the product of political resultants or organisational output.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Scientization under pressure—The problematic role of expert bodies during the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 22, p. 291–307. doi: 10.1007/s11115-022-00605-0. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article focuses on the role of experts in the Norwegian decision-making process in central government during the crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on a structural-instrumental and a cultural perspective. The main findings are that managing the pandemic led to a centralization of power in the hands of the political leadership, a blurring of the dichotomy between politics and administration, and a variety of expert advice. The crisis management also reflected the cultural appropriateness of a collaborative decision-making style, but it was not characterized by a scientization of policymaking. Rather than policymaking by experts it was policymaking informed by experts.
Lund-Tønnesen, Jonas & Christensen, Tom (2022). The dynamics of governance capacity and legitimacy: the case of a digital tracing technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. 26(1), p. 126–144. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2022.2112328. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Input, throughput, and output legitimacy of government measures are considered to be essential for governance capacity in crisis. During the COVID-19 crisis, governments around the world developed digital contact-tracing applications to support their crisis management—with varying degrees of success. While Norway is seen as a high performer in the crisis, the contact-tracing app called Smittestopp developed in Norway had little impact. Using a case study, we studied the governance capacity and legitimacy of this technology in terms of how it was developed, how much it was utilized by citizens, and its usefulness relative to other government measures. Although the app did very little to help the COVID-19 crisis management in Norway, we identify some important lessons to be learned. We argue that the initial input and throughput legitimacy is important if a government policy is to maintain output legitimacy over time and be effective in a crisis. Consequently, this study contributes to the literature on governance capacity and legitimacy in crisis management.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Special Issue on The Scientization of Public Decision-Making Processes – the Relevance for the Handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 22, p. 215–221. doi: 10.1007/s11115-022-00632-x. Full text in Research Archive
Khan, Tayyeb Ali; Jabeen, Nasira & Christensen, Tom (2022). Rewarding academics: Experiences of the Tenure Track System in Pakistan. Higher Education Quarterly. ISSN 0951-5224. p. 1–20. doi: 10.1111/hequ.12410. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Pakistan introduced the Tenure Track System (TTS) as a new performance-based reform in public universities in 2005. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of higher education authorities, university leaders and tenure-track faculty about the implementation of this reform. This is a qualitative interpretive study and utilised a nested case study design, focusing on two cases—Science Faculty and Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty in a large provincial university. It utilises three perspectives taken from organisation theory—instrumental, cultural and myth perspectives. The main results show instrumental problems of hierarchical authority and horizontal coordination, lack of expertise to implement, cultural compatibility problems through active resistance from some groups and active use of symbols to modify the impression of a challenging reform implementations. Summing up, this is a Western-inspired reform that meet challenging conditions in Pakistan, making is rather less successful.
Chen, Sicheng; Christensen, Tom & Liang, Man (2022). Reputation Management and Administrative Reorganization: How Different Media Reputation Dimensions Matter for Agency Termination. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART). ISSN 1053-1858. 33(2), p. 217–231. doi: 10.1093/jopart/muac028. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract Studies on public organization reform have convincingly demonstrated the relevance of media salience for administrative reorganization. However, an understanding of how different media reputation dimensions influence government decisions to terminate administrative agencies is required. This study combined insights from bureaucratic reputation and agency termination theories to determine if media reputation dimensions (performative, moral, procedural, and technical) increase the probability of agency survival. These findings were based on advanced machine learning coding of 4,95,384 articles on 449 central agencies in China published in the People’s Daily from 1949 to 2019. Event history analyses and piecewise constant exponential models revealed that media salience significantly and negatively influenced agency termination probability. The procedural dimension consistently mitigated agency termination risk, and the moral and performative dimensions only periodically mitigated agency termination risk. The findings suggested that the appearance in the media and specific reputation dimensions were critical for agency survival. In addition, agencies should strategically manage their media reputation to meet the expectations of multifaceted audiences and decrease the risk of agency termination.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Norway: A Pragmatic, Collaborative, and Legitimate Response. In Lynggaard, Kennet; Jensen, Mads Dagnis & Kluth, Michael (Ed.), Governments' Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Europe. Navigating the Perfect Storm. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031141447. p. 295–306. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-14145-4_25. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Norway has performed well in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping both infections and deaths lower than in most other countries at the same time as it avoided the most intrusive regulatory measures. The government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic played out in a context of low politicization illustrated by absent of mass polarization, a cooperative society and a cooperative political elite. The policy measures were informed by a suppression strategy based on the precautionary principle of giving first priority to life and health issues, and adaptive collaborative and pragmatic approach as the pandemic developed. Adding to this, a lot of resources, generous economic compensation packages, a big welfare state, a professional bureaucracy and hospital system, a trustworthy crisis communication with the public and a high level of citizens’ trust in government all contributed to the well-performing Norwegian crisis management. This illustrates that both governance capacity and governance legitimacy as well as leadership matter for a well-performing crisis management.
Cui, Qun; Dong, Lisheng & Christensen, Tom (2022). Strong capacity and high trust: perceptions of crisis management and increased nationalism among Chinese civil servants. In Jakupec, Viktor (Eds.), COVID-19 and Foreign Aid: Nationalism and Global Development in a New World Order.. Routledge. ISSN 9781032227146. p. 246–265. doi: 10.4324/9781003273844-14. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This chapter examines how Chinese civil servants perceive China’s crisis management efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these perceptions interlink with changing attitudes toward nationalism. The chapter also explains variations in perceived capacity and legitimacy from both the structural and cultural perspectives. Based on a questionnaire survey of Chinese civil servants, the chapter empirically demonstrates that Chinese civil servants perceive better crisis management performance by the Chinese government than Western governments or supranational agencies, especially on the dimension of coordination capability and output legitimacy. The chapter argues that demographic factors, ‘all-of-government and all-of-society’ crisis response mechanisms, and reputation management instruments and cultural preferences for security, performance, and authority explain variations in such perceptions of the efficacy of the response. While the crisis itself resulted in an upsurge in nationalism in democratic countries, the high self-evaluation of crisis management capabilities by Chinese civil servants facilitates and reinforces pre-existing nationalist sentiment among public administrators in an authoritarian context.
Xiaolong, Tian & Christensen, Tom (2022). Leading groups: public sector reform with Chinese characteristics in a post-NPM era. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2022.2046665. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In recent decades, the emerging post-New Public Management (post-NPM) reform wave has introduced a variety of coordinative organizational forms, among them super-ministries and networks. In this study of Leading Groups (LGs), a form of network that characterizes China’s public sector reforms, an instrumental-structural and a cultural-value perspective are used to analyze the post-NPM features of the LG model, paying special attention to its Chinese characteristics. It reveals that LGs are in fact part of China’s public reform tradition and have been revived in the Xi era. They resemble post-NPM in that they are designed to strengthen integration and coordination, but they also show a great deal of cultural path-dependency. LG reform efforts are a central part of a broader Party-dominated network framework involving the recentralization of administrative power to the Party, which is typically Chinese.
Fan, Ziteng; Christensen, Tom & Ma, Liang (2022). Policy attention and the adoption of public sector innovation. Public Management Review. ISSN 1471-9037. p. 1–15. doi: 10.1080/14719037.2022.2050283. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
We explore the nuanced role of policy attention in the adoption of public sector innovation by differentiating it between the issue and dimension levels. Using the case of Chinese online service platforms (OSPs), we find that provinces are more likely to adopt OSPs if they pay more attention to e-government issues or define e-government more as economic-related issues. The findings enrich our understanding of the pivotal role of policy attention in eliciting digital innovations and contribute to the literature on innovation adoption and e-government. Managing policy attention is a more flexible alternative than organizational and environmental leverages to facilitate innovations.
Wang, Yihuan; Ma, Liang & Christensen, Tom (2022). The hybridization of policy learning in multilevel regimes: a case study of the long-term care insurance in China. Journal of Asian Public Policy (JAPP). ISSN 1751-6234. doi: 10.1080/17516234.2022.2103392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
We use the case of the long-term care insurance (LTCI) in China to examine the mechanisms of transnational policy learning in a complicated multi-level regime. The 15 pilot cities learned from either German or Japan model, and they also learned from each other. We reveal the first-, second-, and third-order learning processes, which suggest a hybridization of international best practices, pioneering lessons, and local conditions. Local governments have both symbolic and substantive motivations in adopting LTCI, and both the rational-instrumental and instructional-cultural perspectives are relevant for the diversified policy learning processes.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Taking stock: New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM reforms - trends and challenges. In Ladner, Andreas & Sager, Fritz (Ed.), Handbook on the Politics of Public Administration. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781839109430. p. 38–49. doi: 10.4337/9781839109447.00010. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This chapter takes stock of the New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM public-sector reforms. It describes NPM as an ambiguous, multi-faceted and expanded concept and discusses the driving forces behind NPM. It is argued that there has been no convergence towards one common NPM model but instead significant divergence between countries, government levels, policy areas, tasks and over time. The effects and implications of NPM are ambiguous, inconclusive and contested, The chapter also addresses post-NPM reform trends, examining their background, driving forces and content, with its focus on centralization and increased coordination across public organizations. Post-NPM has been introduced in addition to NPM and thus made public administration more complex, hybrid and layered. The effects of post-NPM reforms have yet to be fully explored.
Frank, Ohemeng & Christensen, Tom (2022). Guest editorial: Rethinking the state of the administrative state: Is the state back in? International Journal of Public Sector Management. ISSN 0951-3558. 35(4), p. 373–387. doi: 10.1108/IJPSM-05-2022-349. Full text in Research Archive
Kaibing, Zhong; Yihong, Liu & Christensen, Tom (2022). Crisis coordination in centralized regimes: Explaining china's strategy for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. p. 1131–1150. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2022.2073411. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Based on the existing literature on government policy and crisis management, this article provides an internal-external and vertical-horizontal coordination framework with which to study coordination in a highly centralized regime. Four types of top-down crisis coordination are introduced to explain how resources fragmented among various sectors, regions, levels, and organizations are swiftly mobilized and deployed to support a strong crisis response. The article’s analytical framework is applied to China’s strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how the sequence of coordinative action combined all four types of crisis coordination and how the coordinative measures co-exist in a hybrid and layered pattern, which enables highly centralized regimes to mobilize various resources across the country and achieve their final aim of crisis termination.
Cheng, Bo; Christensen, Tom; Ma, Liang & Yu, Junli (2021). Does public money drive out private? Evidence from government regulations of industrial overcapacity governance in urban China. International Review of Economics and Finance. ISSN 1059-0560. doi: 10.1016/j.iref.2021.07.012. Full text in Research Archive
Liang, Ma; Christensen, Tom & Yueping, Zheng (2021). Government technological capacity and public–private partnerships regarding digital service delivery: evidence from Chinese cities. International Review of Administrative Sciences. ISSN 0020-8523. 89(1), p. 95–111. doi: 10.1177/00208523211018849. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Governments have increased their collaboration with the private sector regarding public service delivery, and their propensities to do so are largely shaped by their own in-house capacities. In this article, we theorize and analyze whether governments with an extremely low or extremely high technological capacity are more likely to collaborate with third-party platforms in order to jointly provide digital services. We expect there to be a U-shaped relationship between the technological capacity of those governments and their public–private partnership choices. An empirical analysis of digital service delivery across 290 prefecture-level cities in China corroborates this hypothesis. These results deepen our understanding of the competing motivations that drive the public–private partnership process. Points for practitioners Public–private collaboration has been widely adopted to promote digital service delivery. This article confirms the U-shaped relationship between government technological capacity and public–private collaboration in digital service delivery at the city level. To encourage the collaboration, it is crucial to target governments with varying capacities, which seems to be easier in large cities with high administrative rank and that are overall technologically mature and in a competitive environment technologically.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2021). Performance management: Experiences and challenge. In W.Bartley, Hildreth (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Public Administration. Routledge. ISSN 9781498750035. Full text in Research Archive
Yihong, Liu & Christensen, Tom (2021). The long-term development of crisis management in China—Continuity, institutional punctuations and reforms. Review of Policy Research. ISSN 1541-132X. doi: 10.1111/ropr.12455. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study focuses on the long-term development of crisis management on the central level in China. Drawing on archival and interview data, it describes and analyzes how governance capacity and the formal structure of crisis management have changed, but also how culturally based legitimacy has altered over the past seventy years. These processes of change are divided into three phases, punctuated by institutional shifts in the history of crisis management institutions, whereby both vertical and horizontal coordination have become stronger over time. Crisis management in China is a legacy of traditional disaster management. In this respect it is different from the West, where crisis management has its origins in civil defense. We argue that each reform element is blended with traditional practices in an ever more complex combination, producing hybrid reform patterns. We conclude that centralization and a government-centered approach in the institutional history can explain the high short-term mobilization capacity and the challenges of communication in Chinese crisis management.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2021). REPRESENTATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BUREAUCRACY: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OVER 40 YEARS OF NORWEGIAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. In Pinheiro, Romulo & Trondal, Jarle (Ed.), Organizing and Governing Governmental Institutions. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245035322. p. 403–424. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Ma, Liang (2021). Comparing SARS and COVID-19: Challenges of Governance Capacity and Legitimacy. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 21(4), p. 629–645. doi: 10.1007/s11115-021-00510-y. Full text in Research Archive
Klausen, Jan Erling; Askim, Jostein & Christensen, Tom (2021). Local Government Reform: Compromise Through Cross-Cutting Cleavages. Political Studies Review. ISSN 1478-9299. doi: 10.1177/1478929919887649. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Public sector reforms often take place in heterogeneous reform environments. Key political, administrative, and societal actors often advocate different definitions of problems and solutions. A major leadership challenge is to choose a reform strategy that ensures the requisite level of support, even when the initial conflict structure is highly complex. Using cleavage theory, we develop assumptions about how the reform leader’s assessment of the initial conflict affects the leader’s choice between three distinct reform strategies. These assumptions are applied to a case study of a complex and contested public sector reform, Norway’s national local government reform. We show how the government’s choice of a reform strategy can be understood in light of cleavage theory, and discuss the implications of these findings for further theory development.
Christensen, Tom (2021). The Social Policy Response to COVID-19 – The Failure to Help Vulnerable Children and Elderly People. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. doi: 10.1007/s11115-021-00560-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract Norway’s handling of COVID-19 has been seen as a success. Vulnerable groups among young and elderly people, have however, not been part of this success. Their interests have been defocused in two ways. First, they have not been prioritized in the big picture, because the precautionary principle and health concerns, in particular the capacity questions, have dominated. Second, the more specific social policy measures have been indirect and not particular targeted vulnerable children, youths and old people, and had negative effects for them, such as social isolation and lack of daily support and services, resulting in increasing problems.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2021). The Logic of Appropriateness . A Central Concept of Institutional Theory. In Christine, Beckman (Eds.), Carnegie goes to California: Advancing and Celebrating the Work of James G. March.. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781800439795. p. 179–200. doi: 10.1108/S0733-558X20210000076008. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). ICT use in central government: Scope, predictors and effects on coordination quality. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. p. 1–14. doi: 10.1080/01900692.2020.1851256. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This paper addresses the use of ICT tools in central government, what can explain the variation in the use of such tools and the effects of them on perceived coordination quality. The data base is a survey to civil servants in Norwegian central government. Structural and cultural perspectives are applied to understand the variation in scope and effects of ICT tools. The paper finds that ICT tools are widespread in central government, but government-to-government tools are more used than government-to-citizens tools. The predictors of ICT use are mainly structural features. Use of government-to-government tools have a significant effect on perceived coordination quality but also cultural features matter.
Christensen, Tom & Ma, Liang (2020). Chinese University Administrations: Chinese Characteristics or Global Influence? International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. doi: 10.1057/s41307-020-00208-8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this article, we examine the units of the central administrations of Chinese universities to ascertain to what extent they reflect Chinese structural and cultural characteristics or global templates, seen through certain administrative units in the US model of excellence for universities. We describe and analyze the main features of the Chinese university administrations and compare our case with similar US studies. The data from the websites of 174 universities reveal that the main structures of Chinese university administrations are highly standardized and that apart from some notable differences across differently ranked universities they are homogeneous. We also find that Chinese universities are structurally distinct from their US counterparts in most respects, but there are also some similarities. Most universities have set up development offices similar to the US ones, but few have diversity or legal offices. These findings suggest that Chinese universities diverge strategically from global trends but there is some selective convergence.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). Balancing Governance Capacity and Legitimacy: How the Norwegian Government Handled the COVID-19 Crisis as a High Performer. Public Administration Review. ISSN 0033-3352. 80(5). doi: 10.1111/puar.13241. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This essay addresses how the Norwegian government has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Compared with many other countries, Norway has performed well in handling the crisis. This must be understood in the context of competent politicians, a high-trust society with a reliable and professional bureaucracy, a strong state, a good economic situation, a big welfare state, and low population density. The Norwegian government managed to control the pandemic rather quickly by adopting a suppression strategy, followed by a control strategy, based on a collaborative and pragmatic decision-making style, successful communication with the public, a lot of resources, and a high level of citizen trust in government. The alleged success of the Norwegian case is about the relationship between crisis management capacity and legitimacy. Crisis management is most successful when it is able to combine democratic legitimacy with government capacity.
Xiaolong, Tian & Christensen, Tom (2020). Ambiguous hybridity? Main features of China's service-oriented government reform. International Journal of Public Sector Management. ISSN 0951-3558. 33(4). doi: 10.1108/IJPSM-09-2019-0241. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Purpose Compared with the worldwide reform trend of transcending new public management (NPM) during the past two decades, China's service-oriented government (SOG) reforms are a relatively different reform approach. After building an SOG was politically identified in 2004, China launched three rounds of SOG reforms in 2008, 2013 and 2018. The purpose of this article is to examine what is meant by China's SOG approach and analyze the reasons behind its emergence. In particular, it explores how this approach might be interpreted in NPM, and particularly post-NPM terms. Design/methodology/approach The main theoretical basis of the paper is three theoretical perspectives from organizational theory – the instrumental, cultural and myth perspectives, but more specifically, the concepts complexity and hybridity. The empirical examples are selected from the SOG reforms of 2008, 2013 and 2018. The data used are a combination of public documents and scholarly secondary literature. Findings This paper discusses the SOG approach in China as a response to the negative effects of NPM-related reforms and informed by the western post-NPM reforms. It contends that China's SOG is a complex and hybrid approach in which NPM and post-NPM elements coexist and their balance is different from the west. Originality/value Few authors have considered China's SOG approach in NPM and post-NPM terms. This paper contributes not only to a wider understanding of the ongoing SOG reform process in China, but also to the understanding of the relevance of public administration theories in a comparative perspective.
Christensen, Tom; Gavrila, S.Gabriela; Ma, Liang & Ramirez, Francisco O. (2020). Reputation management by Chinese universities: Primary profile and comparative features. Public Administration. ISSN 0033-3298. doi: 10.1111/padm.12679. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this study, we analyse data from 176 Chinese universities to examine the use of reputation symbols on official websites. We find that Chinese universities prefer professional and performative symbols more than moral symbols. Reputation symbols are mainly observed in teaching, research, history and strategy categories, whereas their use in internal operations and the external environment is limited. A comparison with samples from the United States and Nordic countries indicates that their universities differ in the use of reputation symbols, with relatively high emphasis on professional and moral symbols, respectively. This difference can be attributed to divergent national cultures, higher education regimes and globalization. Here, we discuss the implications of our findings on reputation management by universities in a globalized world.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). The Norwegian Government Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In Paul, Joyce; Fabienne, Maron & Sivanarain, Reddy Purshottama (Ed.), Good Public Governance in a Global Pandemic. IIAS Public Governance Series. ISSN 9782931003022. p. 339–348. Full text in Research Archive
Xiaolong, Tian & Christensen, Tom (2020). Myths, instrumental reality, or cultural change? Modern service-oriented government reforms in China. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2019.1710311. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article provides a greater understanding of the service-oriented government (SOG) reforms that China carried out at the central level in 2008, 2013, and 2018. These reforms involved two common post-NPM structural measures – namely, super-ministries and cross-ministerial networks or leading groups. Using a mythical, an instrumental, and a cultural perspective, this article examines how SOG reforms were carried out and enquires into the relevance of “Chinese characteristics.” Our analysis shows that China’s SOG reforms represent quite a complex and hybrid pattern with a dual orientation of service value and coordination action. The CPC’s leadership of government reform and major work in all areas are fundamental characteristics of China’s socialist administrative system.
Wu, Shuai & Christensen, Tom (2020). Corruption and Accountability in China's Rural Poverty Governance: Main Features from Village and Township Cadres. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. p. 1–11. doi: 10.1080/01900692.2020.1765799. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Corruption among village and township cadres is a serious problem in China’s governance of rural poverty. Based primarily on government websites, but also newspapers and interviews, the article analyzes categories, types and the degree of corruption as well as forms of accountability. The findings show that there is more corruption among village cadres than township cadres. The main form of corruption is embezzlement of poverty funds; there is more individual than group corruption; and political accountability is the most important form of accountability. Using an instrumental and a cultural approach, the characteristics of corruption and accountability among village and township cadres are explained. The conclusion is that, although the new anti-corruption policies and laws have been implemented, corruption among village and township cadres is still extensive and difficult to eliminate in the short term. Accountability also has some room for improvement.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). The coronavirus crisis—crisis communication, meaning-making, and reputation management. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. 23(5), p. 713–729. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2020.1812455. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article addresses the Norwegian government’s meaning-making, crises communication and reputation management during the Corona pandemic crisis. It argues that reputation management can be seen as a combination of governance capacity and legitimacy reflected in a well performing crisis communication and meaning-making. Under the slogan “working together” the government emphasized the need for a supportive and cohesive culture in order to to balance efforts at increasing governance capacity as well as governance legitimacy, through shaping a common understanding and broad consensus on what the crisis was about and what needed to be done to deal with it. A main lesson learned from the Norwegian case is that the effectiveness of the government in controlling the pandemic was enhanced by successful meaning-making and communication with the public, and to the high level of citizens’ trust in government.
Khan, Tayyeb Ali & Christensen, Tom (2020). Challenges of Implementing a Performance and Reward System in Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan: Perceptions of Top Leaders in Contending Regulatory Bodies. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. doi: 10.1007/s11115-020-00486-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract This article is a study of the challenges of implementing a performance and rewards management system for academics (Tenure Track System - TTS) in Pakistan over the last decade. The main empirical focus is on the perceptions of the leading implementer, the Higher Education Commission (HEC). These are supplemented by the perceptions of the Provincial Higher Education Commission (PHEC) in Punjab. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were the two methods used to collect data. The study is based on two perspectives from organizational theory, a structural and a cultural perspective. The main findings highlight how leaders implemented TTS despite its incompatibility with the structure and culture of public universities in Pakistan. The study also revealed tensions between two reward systems – BPS and TTS – as well as the effects of the 18th constitutional amendment on the implementation of higher education programs. This study contributes insights into the reform of the higher education system in developing countries in the context of NPM.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). The Demise of an Agency Director – A Puzzling Saga of Political Control and Professional Autonomy. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. 44(3). doi: 10.1080/01900692.2019.1707224. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article aims at addressing the relationship between expertise and politics by examining a reorganization process of Statistics Norway. The puzzle is why a minor reorganization with low political salience, in a consensus-oriented political administrative setting with high level of trust between ministries and agencies, and high autonomy for agencies ended up as a major conflict resulting in the resignation of the agency director. Based on an instrumental, a cultural and a symbolic perspective the article examines the internal and external dynamics ensuing from conflicting views regarding the balance between political control and professional autonomy, and from reorganization proposals that represented a break with the cultural path the organization had followed. It adds insights into the tensions between different types of institutional logics, resulting in institutional hybridity.
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2019). Coordination quality in central government – the case of Norway. Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. p. 1–18. doi: 10.1007/s11115-018-00434-0. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article focuses on perceived coordination quality among Norwegian civil servants. It explains how they assess the quality of coordination in their own field of work along different dimensions. To what degree have such perceptions changed over the past 10 years and what can explain the variations in perceived coordination quality from a structural and a cultural perspective? The data base is a comprehensive survey in ministries and central agencies. The civil servants perceive coordination as better within their own policy area than across administrative levels and policy areas. The perceptions are rather stable over time. The most important factors for understanding variations in coordination quality are coordination capacity, mutual trust and administrative level.
Liu, Siyu & Christensen, Tom (2019). All Roads Lead To Rome? The Contingency Factors Of Institutional Integration. A Comparative Case Study On Environmental Institutional Reform In Guangdong, China. International Public Management Journal. ISSN 1096-7494. p. 1–28. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2019.1663327. Full text in Research Archive
Ma, Liang & Christensen, Tom (2019). Reputation Profiles of Chinese Universities - Converging with Global Trends or National Characteristics? In Christensen, Tom; Gornitzka, Åse & Ramirez, Francisco O. (Ed.), Universities as Agencies. Reputation and Professionalization. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319927121. p. 93–116. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-92713-8_4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Reputation management varies across contexts, and it is of theoretical importance to compare reputation symbols in different countries. In this chapter we examine reputation management profiles of universities in China, and compare their strategies with other countries. A content analysis of 146 universities reveals that performative and professional symbols are much more presented in official websites than moral ones, suggesting reputation profiles of Chinese universities is converging with global trends but also diverging with national characteristics. Universities in China are rather similar in reputation management, and larger, older, high-ranked, and general and engineering universities are generally more likely to use performative symbols than smaller, younger, low-ranked, and other specialized universities. Our findings generate helpful implications for future research avenues and policy suggestions.
Christensen, Tom; Lægreid, Per & Rykkja, Lise H. (2019). How to Balance Individual Rights and Societal Security? The View of Civil Servants. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. ISSN 1057-610X. doi: 10.1080/1057610X.2018.1538187. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
How do Norwegian government officials perceive the dilemma between liberty and security after the 2011 terrorist attacks? A survey from 2016 shows that the central government officials’ attitudes are rather similar to the general population. Both are willing to trade individual rights for more societal security. Structural, cultural, and demographic features explain variations in the civil servants’ views. Position and perceptions of crisis management capacity make a difference. Officials responsible for crisis management are more willing to prioritize security. Low conflict, high trust, and a strong identification with central government creates support for security measures. Furthermore, age and gender matter.
Christensen, Tom; Gornitzka, Åse & Ramirez, Francisco O. (2019). Reputation Management, Social Embeddedness, and Rationalization of Universities. In Christensen, Tom; Gornitzka, Åse & Ramirez, Francisco O. (Ed.), Universities as Agencies. Reputation and Professionalization. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319927121. p. 3–42. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-92713-8_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Reputation management or branding, has become increasingly important for universities in the last decades. This is partly reflecting increasing social embeddedness and the global pressure toward increasing formalization and rationalization of the universities. Accordingly, the book tries to answer the following questions: What is typical for the reputation management of the universities, as reflected by their websites? What are the core symbols—related to their performance record, professional qualities, moral features and procedural features—balanced and changing over time? How is social embeddedness reflected in the institutionalization in universities over time of diverse organizational features, exemplified by the emergence of development offices, diversity units and legal units? What explains differences between universities with respect to reputation management and the institutionalization of new organizational units?
Christensen, Tom & Gornitzka, Åse (2019). Reputation Management in Nordic Universities - Profile and Development over Time. In Christensen, Tom; Gornitzka, Åse & Ramirez, Francisco O. (Ed.), Universities as Agencies. Reputation and Professionalization. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319927121. p. 43–66. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-92713-8_2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The times are long gone when universities were closed entities dominated by a selected group of professors. Modern universities cater to a wide variety of stakeholder groups and are hence socially embedded. This makes universities ‘social accountable’: they provide information, project an image of themselves and are connected in different ways to actors in the environment who are important providers of resources, support, commitment, trust and legitimacy. Reputation management is therefore important. We ask what is typical for the reputation management of universities? What are the core symbols and how are different types of symbols balanced? How much do universities focus on their performance record, their moral symbols (openness, trust, caring, etc.) and professional qualities? We set out to answer these questions using a comparative analysis of twenty universities in four Nordic countries. The data consist of a web-census—a systematic analysis of the websites of the universities in question in 2005 and 2015.
Christensen, Tom & Klemsdal, Lars (2019). Social Science Disciplines in Complex Development Contexts - the Professional Dimension of Reputation Management. In Christensen, Tom; Gornitzka, Åse & Ramirez, Francisco O. (Ed.), Universities as Agencies. Reputation and Professionalization. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319927121. p. 117–154. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-92713-8_5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The chapter addresses the dynamics of reputation management at the operational level of universities, specifically the level of local organization of disciplines within departments. Through a comparative historical study of the political science and sociology departments, respectively, at the University of Oslo, covering a period of approximately 50 years (1965–2016), we disclose changing concerns and audiences between the local disciplines as well as within them when it comes to managing their professional reputation. We find that the dynamics of reputation management at the local operational level of university disciplines are contingent upon their local institutional environment, but also their disciplinary cultural and cognitive traits. However, we also find that the effect of the disciplinary cultural and cognitive traits fades in favor of the local institutional environment and specifically the institutionalized expectations of presenting themselves as organizations, as we move historically from the 1965–2016.

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Christensen, Tom; Lægreid, Per & Røvik, Kjell Arne (2026). Organisasjonsteori for offentlig sektor, 5. utgave. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215076232. 295 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Dette er ei lærebok i organisasjonsteori for offentlig sektor, med faglig forankring i statsvitenskap. Boka fokuserer på offentlig sektors organisering og virkemåte i representative, demokratiske land som Norge.Boka er et sentralt verktøy for studenter i
Ydersbond, Inga Margrete; Tveit, Andreas Kokkvoll; Christensen, Tom & Halse, Askill Harkjerr (2023). Topp-politikeres bruk av beslutningsgrunnlaget for store statlige investeringer. Ex ante akademisk forlag. ISBN 9788284330389. 118 p. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom; Egeberg, Morten; Lægreid, Per & Aars, Jacob (2021). Forvaltning og politikk. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215045351. 282 p. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom; Lægreid, Per & Røvik, Kjell Arne (2021). Organisasjonsteori for offenlig sektor. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215045559. 256 p. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom; Lægreid, Per & Røvik, Kjell Arne (2020). Organization Theory and Public Sector. Routledge. ISBN 9780367428907. 206 p. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). Political Control or Professional Autonomy? A Case of Agency Director Resignation. Springer. ISBN 9783319209289. 6 p. Full text in Research Archive

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Ydersbond, Inga Margrete; Tveit, Andreas Kokkvoll; Christensen, Tom & Halse, Askill Harkjerr (2025). Topp-politikernes bruk av beslutningsgrunnlaget for store, statlige investeringer. Full text in Research Archive
Ydersbond, Inga Margrete; Tveit, Andreas Kokkvoll; Halse, Askill Harkjerr & Christensen, Tom (2024). Topp-politikeres bruk av beslutningsgrunnlaget i store, statlige investeringsprosesser. Full text in Research Archive
Ydersbond, Inga Margrete; Tveit, Andreas Kokkvoll; Halse, Askill Harkjerr & Christensen, Tom (2024). Top politicians’ use of decision-making premises in major public projects. Full text in Research Archive
Ydersbond, Inga Margrete; Tveit, Andreas Kokkvoll; Halse, Askill Harkjerr & Christensen, Tom (2024). Top politicians’ use of decision-making premises in major public projects - presentasjon for Transportudvalget i det danske Folketinget. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom (2024). Reversing government reforms: radical change or agile and adaptive adjustments? Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom (2024). Cabinet turbulence – accountability and appropriateness under stress. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Author Correction: Special Issue on The Scientization of Public Decision-Making Processes – the Relevance for the Handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Public Organization Review, (2022), 22, 2, (215-221), 10.1007/s11115-022-00632-x). Public Organization Review. ISSN 1566-7170. 22(2), p. 491–491. doi: 10.1007/s11115-022-00640-x. Full text in Research Archive
Schwarz, Gary; Christensen, Tom & Zhu, Xufeng (2022). Bounded Rationality, Satisficing, Artificial Intelligence, and Decision-Making in Public Organizations: The Contributions of Herbert Simon. Public Administration Review. ISSN 0033-3352. 82(5), p. 902–904. doi: 10.1111/puar.13540. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Political Control or Professional Autonomy? A Case of Agency Director Resignation. In Farazmand, Ali (Eds.), Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783030662523. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_4027. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). The politics/administration dichotomy – the challenging role of experts during COVID-19. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Assessing the crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic - The Scandinavian way. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2022). Accountability in unsettled situations: deciding on draconic measures to fight COVID-19. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2021). ICT tools in central government: Scope, predictors and effect on coordination quality. In Farazmand, Ali (Eds.), Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance 2021. Springer. ISSN 9783319318165. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4270-1. Full text in Research Archive
Lægreid, Per & Christensen, Tom (2021). Crisis Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Nordic Way. Full text in Research Archive
Lægreid, Per & Christensen, Tom (2021). The changing politics of vaccines – main principles and challenges of actual allocation. Full text in Research Archive
Christensen, Tom & Lægreid, Per (2020). The Norwegian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Full text in Research Archive
Heuvel-Greve, Martine J van den; Jørgensen, Lis Lindal; Seito, Sei-Ichi; Aquarone, Mario; Berkman, Paul Arthur & Bluhm, Bodil [Show all 30 contributors for this article] (2022). ICES/PICES/PAME WORKING GROUP ON INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT (IEA) FOR THE CENTRAL ARCTIC OCEAN (WGICA; outcomes from 2021 meeting). International Council for the Exploration of the Seas. Full text in Research Archive

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Published Sep. 21, 2010 1:17 PM - Last modified Jan. 15, 2022 12:23 PM

Research groups

Policy, Bureaucracy, and Organization (PBO)