Boundary-Spanning and Perceived Political Environments in Technologically-Intensive Public Agencies.
Abstract
This study seeks to test a number of hypotheses pertaining to boundary spanning in public organizations. The focus is on boundary-spanning behavior within state government with data drawn from questionnaire responses of a sample of individuals employed in technologically-intensive programs of New York State government n-650. Hypothesized predictions of boundary spanning activity include: interorganizational conflict; perception of the importance of external political change; program stability; organizations structure; and job satisfaction. A factor analysis yielded clustering patterns closely conforming to the predictor variables and scores on a boundary-spanning scale were correlated with factor scores for one dimension. Four of the independent variables factors are significantly associated with boundary - spanning activity. Taken together, the findings provide a profile of public sector boundary - spanning. The boundary spanner's organization is enjoying growth but at the expense of some external conflict. In such circumstances it is especially important that political change be closely monitored since any future growth can be expected to be closely tied to developments in the external political environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA093137
Entities
People
- Barry Bozeman
- Robert Mcgowan