Managing Value Conflicts Through Formal and Informal Institutions: A Longitudinal Case Study in Local Government Service Reform
基于俄亥俄州某市2.5年的田野调查，研究揭示了公共管理者如何通过社会与制度互动主动重构公共价值，化解行政效率与民主价值之间的冲突，为改革中维护民主合法性提供了实践路径。
ABSTRACT When governments adopt private‐sector techniques to reform public services, a tension arises between efforts to improve administrative efficiency and to secure democratic values. While scholars acknowledge this tradeoff, the specific institutional processes through which managers resolve these competing values in practice remain a puzzle. To bridge this gap, this study presents a longitudinal case study of Lean Government initiatives, based on 2.5 years of ethnographic fieldwork in an Ohio municipality. Using Constructive Grounded Theory, the analysis reveals that public managers are not passive executors of efficiency mandates; rather, they actively reconstruct public values through sophisticated social and institutional interactions. This research introduces a conceptual framework for the dynamic construction of good governance, demonstrating how value conflicts are mitigated via meso‐level institutional processes. By illustrating how good government and equity are operationalized in managerial decision‐making, the research findings offer a practical roadmap for maintaining democratic legitimacy amid administrative reform.