Benefits, blame, and budgets: Citizen responses to cutback management strategies in public education
通过在线调查实验，研究预算赤字时学校绩效高低如何影响公众对削减策略的责任归因和评价，发现公众主要依据考试成绩而非赤字责任或预算策略来评价学区整体表现。
Public organizations derive value, such as positive public perceptions, from good performance. In this study, we assess if above average organizational performance can help preserve agency evaluations when facing a negative event—a budget deficit. In the context of K-12 education, we examine how blame for a budget deficit and cutback management strategies influence public evaluations of high and low performing school districts. Through an online survey experiment, we find that respondents attribute the overall performance of a district to test scores, not blame for a deficit or budget strategy that the district selected. Findings show fiscal management evaluations are lower when the district is to blame for a deficit and there are cuts to personnel to balance the budget. Higher performance does yield more favorable ratings when the blame for the deficit is on other organizations.