Professor Kenneth Meier

Research interests

Management of Public Organizations, Quantitative Methods, Organization Theory

Selected publications

1. Books

Meier, K. J., Bohte J. 2007. Politics and the bureaucracy. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.

Espino R., Leal, D. R., and Meier, K. J. 2007. Latino politics: Identity, mobilization, and representation. Charlottesville VA: University of Virginia Press.

Boyne, G., Meier, K. J, O'Toole, J. L., Walker, R. 2006. Public service performance: Perspectives on measurement and management. London: Cambridge University Press.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J. 2006. Bureaucracy in a democratic state: A governance perspective. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Meier, K. J., Brudney, J. L., and Bohte J. 2006. Applied statistics for public administration. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.

Krause, G., Meier, K. J. 2003. Politics, policy and organizations: New frontiers in the scientific study of bureaucracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

McFarlane, D. R., Meier, K. J. 2001. The politics of fertility control policy. New York: Chatham House Publishers.

2. Periodicals

Meier, K. J., Gill J. 2001. Ralph's pretty good grocery versus ralph's super market: Separating excellent agencies from the good ones. Public Administration Review, 61: 9-17.

Meier, K. J., Eller, W. S., Wrinkle R., Polinard, J. L. 2001. Zen and the art of policy analysis. Journal of Politics, 63: 616-29.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole L. J. 2001. Managerial strategies and behavior in networks. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11: 271-295.

Bohte J, Meier, K. J.. 2001. Structure and the performance of public organizations. Public Organization Review, 1: 341-354.

Bohte, J., Meier, K. J. 2001. Structure and discretion: Missing links in representative bureaucracy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11: 455-470.

Meier, K. J. 2002. A research agenda on elections and education. Educational Policy, 16: 219-230.

Meier, K. J., Wilkins, V M. 2002. Gender differences in agency head salaries. Public Administration Review, 62: 397-403.

Keiser, L R, Wilkins, V M, Holland C, Meier K. J.. 2002. Lipstick and logarithms: Gender, institutional context and representative bureaucracy. American Political Science Review, 96: 553-564.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. 2002. Public management and organizational performance: The impact of managerial quality. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management,21: 629-643.

Nicholson-Crotty, S, Meier, K. J.. 2002. Size doesn't matter: In defense of single state studies. State Politics and Policy Quarterly,2: 411-422.

Meier, K. J., Bohte, J. 2003. Span of control and public organizations: implementing Luther Gulick's research design. Public Administration Review, 63: 22-31.

Nicholson-Crotty, S, Meier, K. J.. 2003. Crime and punishment: The politics of federal criminal justice sanctions. Political Research Quarterly,56: 119-26.

Meier, K. J., Bothe, J. 2003. Not with a bang but a whimper: Explaining organizational failures. Administration & Society, 35: 104-121.

Nicholson-Crotty, J, Meier, K. J.. 2003. The politics of structure in higher education: Bureaucracy and access to education. Educational Policy, 17: 98-120.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J.. 2003. Plus ça change: Public management, personnel stability, and organizational performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 13: 43-64.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. 2003. Public management and educational performance: The impact of managerial networking. Public Administration Review, 63: 675-685.

Haider-Markel, D M, Meier, K. J.. 2003. Legislative victory, electoral uncertainty: Explaining outcomes in the battles over lesbian and gay civil rights. Review of Policy Research,20: 671-690.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Nicholson-Crotty S. 2004. Multilevel governance and organizational performance: Investigating the political-bureaucratic labyrinth. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management,23: 31-48.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J.. 2004. Parkinson's law and the new public management? Contracting determinants and service quality consequences in public education. Public Administration Review,64: 342-352.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J.. 2004. Desperately seeking Selznick: Cooptation and the dark side of public management in networks. Public Administration Review, 64: 681-693.

Meier, K. J., McClain, P D, Wrinkle, R W, Polinard, J L. 2004. Divided or together? Conflict and cooperation between African Americans and Latinos. Political Research Quarterly,57: 399-409.

Leal, D, Martinez-Ebers, V, Meier, K. J.. 2004. The politics of Latino education: The biases of at-large elections. Journal of Politics,66: 1224-1244.

Meier, K. J., Robinson, S A, Eller, W E, Marchbanks, M E, Wrinkle, R W, Polinard, J L. 2004. A lingering question of priorities: Athletic budgets and academic performance revisited. Review of Policy Research,21: 799-808.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J.. 2005. Public management in intergovernmental networks: Matching structural networks and managerial networking. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 14: 469-495.

Meier, K. J., Eller W E, Pennington M S. 2005. Race, sex and Clarence Thomas: Representation change in the EEOC. Public Administration Review,65: 171-179.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J., Nicholson-Crotty. 2005. Managing upward, downward, and outward: Networks, hierarchical relationships and performance. Public Management Review, 7: 45-68.

Andrews, R, Boyne, G A, Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Walker, R. 2005. Representative bureaucracy, organizational strategy and public service performance: An empirical analysis of English local governments. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15: 489-504.

Meier, K. J., Gonzalez Juenke, E, Wrinkle, R W, and Polinard, J L. 2005. Structural choices and representational biases: The post-election color of representation. American Journal of Political Science,49: 758-769.

Boyne, G A, Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Walker, R. 2005. Where next? Research directions on performance in public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory,15: 633-639.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. 2005. Managerial networking: Issues of measurement and research design. Administration & Society, 37: 523-541.

Meier, K. J.. 2005. Public administration and the myth of positivism: The antichrist's view. Administrative Theory and Praxis,27: 650-668.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. 2006. Political control versus bureaucratic values: Reframing the debate. Public Administration Review,66: 177-192.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Goerdel H T. 2006. Management activity and program performance: Gender as management capital. Public Administration Review,66: 24-36.

Meier, K. J., Nicholson-Crotty J. 2006. Gender, representative bureaucracy, and law enforcement: The case of sexual assault. Public Administration Review, 66: 850-860.

Meier, K. J., Mastracci, S H, Wilson K. 2006. Gender and emotional labor in public organizations: An empirical examination of the link to performance. Public Administration Review,66: 899-910.

Robinson, S E, Meier, K. J.. 2006. Path dependence and organizational behavior: Bureaucracy and social promotion. American Review of Public Administration, 36:241-260.

Meier, K. J., Hawes, D P. 2006. "Le lien entre represéntativité passive et active de l'administration." [The Linkages between Active and Passive Bureaucratic Representation] Revue française d'Administration publique, 118: 265-280.

Meier, K. J., Doerfler C, Hawes, D P, Hicklin, A K, Rocha, R R. 2006. The role of management in improving performance of disadvantaged students: An application of Bum Phillips' 'Don Shula Rule.' Review of Policy Research,23: 1095-1110.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier K. J.. 2006. Networking in the penumbra: Public management, cooptative links, and distributional consequences. International Public Management Journal, 9: 271-294.

Robinson, S E, Caver, F, Meier, K. J., O'Toole, J L. 2007. Explaining policy punctuations: Bureaucratic centralization, organizational size and the punctuated equilibrium theory of public agency budgets. American Journal of Political Science,50: 140-150.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier K. J.. 2007. Public management and the administrative conservator: Empirical support for Larry Terry's prescriptions." Administrative Theory and Praxis,19: 148-156.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Boyne, G A, Walker, R. 2007. Strategic management and the performance of public organizations: Testing venerable ideas against recent theories. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory,17: 357-379.

Walker, R, O'Toole, L. J., Meier K. J.. 2007. It's where you are that matters: The networking behaviour of English local government officers. Public Administration, 85: 739-756.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. forthcoming. Modeling public management: Empirical analysis of the management-performance nexus. Public Management Review.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J.. forthcoming. Management theory and Occam's Razor: How public organizations buffer the environment. Administration & Society (January 2008) with Laurence J. O'Toole.

O'Toole, L. J., Walker, R, Meier, K. J.. forthcoming. Networking in comparative context: Public managers in the US and UK. Public Management Review.

Hicklin, A K, O'Toole, L. J., Meier K. J.. forthcoming. Serpents in the sand: Managerial networking and nonlinear influences on organizational performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole L. J.. forthcoming. The dog that didn't bark: How public managers handle environmental shocks. Public Administration.

Meier, K. J., Hicklin, A K. forthcoming. Employee turnover and organizational Performance: Testing a Hypothesis from Classical Public Administration," Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Hicklin, A K, Meier, K. J.. forthcoming. Race, structure and state governments: The politics of higher education diversity." Journal of Politics.

3. Chapters in books.

Meier, K. J.. 2001. Drugs, sex, rock and roll: A theory of morality politics. In C. Z. Mooney (Eds.), The Public Clash of Private Values: 21-36. New York: Chatham House.

Meier, Meier, K. J., & Schlesinger, T. 2002. The Targeting of Political Corruption in the United States. In A. Heidenheimer &
M. Johnston (Eds.), Political Corruption, 3rd ed.: 627-644. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier, K. J. 2003. Bureaucracy and Uncertainty. In B. C. Burden (Eds.), Everything But Death and Taxes: Uncertainty and the Study of American Politic: 98-117. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Krause, G. & Meier, K. J. 2003. The Scientific Study of Bureaucracy: An Overview. In G. Krause & K. J. Meier (Eds.), Politics, Policy and Organizations: 1-22. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Krause, G. & Meier, K. J. 2003. An Agenda for the Scientific Study of Bureaucracy. In G. Krause and K. J. Meier (Eds.), Politics, Policy and Organizations: 292-308. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Eshbaugh-Soha, M. & Meier, K. J. 2004. Regulation. In Virginia Gray & Russell Hanson (Eds), Politics in the American States, 8th ed.: 389-417. Washington: CQ Press.

Meier, K. J. 2004. Structure, Politics, and Policy: The Logic of Mayoral Control. In J. R. Henig & W. C. Rich (Eds.), Mayors in the Middle: Politics, Race, and Mayoral Control of Urban Schools: 221-231. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.

Waterman, R & Meier, K. J. 2004. Principal-Agent Models: A Theoretical Cul-de-sac. In R. Waterman, A. Rouse, & R.

Wright (Eds.), Bureaucrats, Politics, and the Environment: 19-42. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Meier, K. J. & O'Toole, L. J. 2004. Conceptual Issues in Modeling and Measuring Management and Its Impacts on Performance. In P. Ingraham & L. E. Lynn, Jr. (Eds.), The Art of Governance: Analyzing Management and Administration: 195-223. Washington: Georgetown University Press.

Nicholson-Crotty, S. & Meier K. J.. 2005. The New Dangerous Class: Social Construction and Criminal Justice Policy. In A. L. Schneider & H. Ingram (Eds.), Deserving and Entitled: Social Constructions and Public Policy:223-224. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Meier, K. J. & Gonzalez, J. 2005. Electoral Structure and the Quality of Representation: The Policy Consequences of School Board Elections. In W. Howell (Ed.), Besieged: School Boards and the Future of Education: 199-227. Washington: The Brookings Institution.

Meier, K. J. 2005. School Boards and the Politics of Education Policy: Downstream Consequences of Structure. In R. Hero & C. Wolbrecht (Eds.), The Politics of Democratic Inclusion: 238-289. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Meier, K. J. & Hill, G. C. 2005. Bureaucracy in the 21st Century. In C. Pollitt, E. Ferlie, & L. Lynn (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Public Management: 51-72. London: Oxford University Press.

O'Toole, L. J., Meier K. J. & Y. Yu 2006. All that Glitters Is Not Gold: Disaggregating Networks and the Impact on Performance. In G. Boyne et al. (Ed.), Public Service Performance: Perspectives on Measurement and Management: 152-170. London: Cambridge University Press.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J. 2006. Public Management and Organizational Performance: An Agenda for Research. In G. Boyne et al (Ed.), Public Service Performance: Perspectives on Measurement and Management: 295-311. London:
Cambridge University Press.

Meier, K. J. 2007. What We Don't Know and Why We Don't Know It: One Research Agenda in Latino Politics. In R. Espino, III, et al (Ed.), Latino Politics: Identity, Mobilization, and Representation: 280-290. Charlottesville VA: University of Virginia Press.

Meier, K. J. (forthcoming) Organizational Stability: The Neglected Stepchild of Public Management. In R. Ashworth & T. Entwistle (Eds.), Public Service Improvement: Theories and Evidence: Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L. J., Robinson, S. & Hicklin, A. Calming the Storm: Collaborative Public Management, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and Disaster Response. In R. O'Leary, The Collaborative Manager: Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.

Activities

Awards

2007:
Accenture Advances in Public Management Award for “Networking in the Penumbra: Public Management, Cooptative Links, and Distributional Consequences.” International Public Management Journal 9 Number 3, 2006), 271-294 with Laurence J. O’Toole.

Lucius Barker Award for the best paper on race and ethnicity presented at the 2006 Midwest Political Science Association Meetings for “Social Capital and Racial Diversity: Evaluating the Determinants of Equity in the American States,” with Daniel P. Hawes and Rene R. Rocha.

Herbert Kaufman Award by the Public Administration Organized Section of the American Political Science Association for the best paper presented at the 2006 annual meeting for "Management Theory and Occam's Razor: How Public Organizations Buffer the Environment," with Laurence J. O’Toole, Jr.

2006:
John Gaus Award for a “lifetime of exemplary scholarship in the joint tradition of political science and public administration,” American Political Science Association.

Excellence in Mentoring Award, Public Policy Organized Section, American Political Science Association.

Phi Beta Delta, honorary life member. Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, elected 2005. President, Midwest Political Science Association, 2005-2006.

2005:
Adalijza Sosa-Riddell Latino/a Mentoring Award for outstanding mentoring of Latino/a graduate students in political science, Committee on the Status of Latinos y Latinas in the Profession, American Political Science Association.

Charles H. Levine Memorial Award for Excellence in Public Administration, American Society for Public Administration.

William E. Mosher and Frederick C. Mosher Award for the best article published by an academic in Public Administration Reviewduring 2004 for “Parkinson’s Law and the New Public Management? Contracting Determinants and Service Quality Consequences in Public Education.” Public Administration Review64 (May/June 2004), 342-352 with Laurence J. O’Toole.

President, Public Management Research Association, 2003-5

President-Elect, Midwest Political Science Association, 2004-5.

2004:
Advanced Institute for Management International Fellow, Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.) Cardiff University (Wales).

Joseph Wholey Distinguished Scholarship Award for “outstanding scholarship on performance in public and nonprofit organizations,” The Center for Accountability and Performance, American Society for Public Administration.

2003:
Big XII Faculty Fellow, University of Missouri, Columbia.

Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in Research.

American Society for Public Administration/National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Distinguished Research Award “In recognition of a record of published work that has had a substantial impact on thought and understanding of the profession.”

Vice President, Public Management Research Association, 2001-3.

2002:
Presidential Citation of Merit, American Society for Public Administration for “engaging in activities toward improved public perception of the public service and advocacy on behalf of public service.”

College of Liberal Arts Superior Service Award for facilitating diversity in research and recruitment at Texas A&M University.

2001:
Editor’s Choice Award, Public Administration Review.

Herbert Kaufman Award by the Public Administration Organized Section of the American Political Science Association for the best paper presented at the 2000 annual meeting for “Gender, Identity, and Representative Bureaucracy: A Neoinstitutional Approach.” with Lael Keiser, Vicky Wilkins, and Catherine Holland.

President, Southwestern Political Science Association, 1999-2000.

2000:
Best Article Award, Academy of Management, Public and Nonprofit Division for “Modeling the Impact of Public Management: The Implications of Structural Context.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 9 (October 1999), 505-526, with Laurence J. O'Toole.

President-Elect, Southwestern Political Science Association, 1998-9.

1999:

Herbert Simon Award, for a “significant contribution to the scientific study of bureaucracy,” Midwest Public Administration Caucus, Midwest Political Science Association.
President, Public Policy Section, American Political Science Association, 1993-94.

1993:

Gustavus Myers Award for the “best scholarship on the subject of intolerance in the United States,” for The Politics of Hispanic Education: Un paso pa'lante y dos pa'tras. Albany, NY: State University of New York