Steering, rowing, and bailing water: The role of government regulation and ownership in COVID-19 outcomes in nursing homes

Abstract

Studies of organizations with limited capacity operating in uncertain environments and hit by crises can contribute important insights into public administration. Based on a large-N quantitative analysis of US nursing homes, which became ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, this article examines the effect of government regulation, ownership, and several distinct management strategies on organizational capacity to curb the threats posed by the pandemic. Using hybrid datasets including nursing home data, administrator surveys, COVID-19 outcome data, a COVID-19 regulatory stringency index, and US Census Bureau data, our analysis shows that restrictive COVID-19 state government policies and public/nonprofit ownership help minimize environmental threats and reduce COVID-19 impacts. Yet management strategies—external management, innovation management, distributive leadership, and regulation management—have only modest effects on COVID-19 outcomes. These findings inform our understanding of how organizations operate at the margins and the impact of management on outcomes during a crisis.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miyeon Song

Miyeon Song ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the School of Public Service at Chung-Ang University. Her research interests include public management, government performance, organizational theory and behavior, citizen satisfaction, and comparative public administration.

Anna Amirkhanyan

Anna Amirkhanyan ([email protected]) is a professor of public administration and policy in the School of Public Affairs, American University. Her research focuses on public management, organizational performance, privatization, collaboration, and citizen participation.

William G. Prince

William G. Prince ([email protected]) is a doctoral candidate at the School of Public Affairs, American University School of Public Affairs. His research interests include public personnel management, organization theory, and public performance.

Kenneth J. Meier

Kenneth J. Meier ([email protected]) is a distinguished scholar in residence at the School of Public Affairs and director of the Summer Diversity Academy at American University, a professor of public management at the Cardiff School of Business, Cardiff University (Wales), and professor of bureaucracy and democracy at Leiden University (the Netherlands). His research interests include public management, the role of bureaucracy in democratic systems, comparative public administration, behavioral approaches to public administration, and virtually everything else.