The influence of regulative contents, stakeholders, and formalization on managerial autonomy perceived at the front line

ABSTRACT

Reforms of deregulation have aimed to increase managerial autonomy of frontline managers with varying success. The article investigates the link between regulation and managerial autonomy by matching a panel of content coding of local regulation (N = 194) to a panel survey with five waves (n = 2,332) measuring perceived managerial autonomy of school managers in Denmark. The findings show no link between the specific content of the regulation and perceived managerial autonomy, whereas unilaterally decided regulation and formalized regulation decrease managerial autonomy. The results underline the regulatory process matter for frontline managers’ perception of autonomy.

KEYWORDS:

• Managerial autonomy
• regulation
• deregulation
• stakeholder involvement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The data used in this article was mainly collected for and funded by the Danish Ministry of Education. Coding of the working time regulation was partly funded by FAOS research programme (2014-2018), including funding from Danish Trade Unions, Employers’ organizations, and the Danish Ministry of Employment.

Notes on contributors

Bente Bjørnholt

Bente Bjørnholt is senior researcher at the Danish Center for Social Science research. Research. Her research interests include leadership, performance management, and performance and she has contributed to research concerning steering and evaluation.

Stefan Boye

Stefan Boye is a PhD student at the Crown Prince Frederik Center for Public Leadership, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. His research interests include autonomy and motivation of public managers.

Nana Wesley Hansen

Nana Wesley Hansen is an Associate Professor at the Employment Relations Research Centre (FAOS), Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. Her primary research interests are collective bargaining and labour-management relations within public sector. She has contributed with research on the role and powers of government employers and consequences of reform and economic crisis for public service employment relations in the Nordic countries.