Just keep silent… Defensive silence as a reaction to successive structural reforms

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Table 1. Comparison of histories of the original and used sample.

	Original Sample				Used Sample
	2006		2016		2006		2016		Independent Samples T
	Mean	Sd.	Mean	Sd.	Mean	Sd.	Mean	Sd.	2006		20
History (1)	2,21	2,77	3,04	2,90	2,40	2,88	3,29	3,03	t=-1.55	p=.12	t=-.02
History (2)	1,35	1,87	2,37	2,34	1,43	1,94	2,58	2,47	t=-.73	p=.46	t=-0.48
History (3)	0,19	0,41	0,08	0,21	0,21	0,45	0,09	0,23	t=.59	p=.55	t=1.12

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

Variables	Question^a		Mean	Sd.
	2006	2016
Defensive silence	Factore	Score	3.870	0.758
Failed to propose an issue	46	40	4.283	0.943
Failed to raise an issue	47	47_1	4.268	0.928
Organizational level N = 41 (across 2 years)
Individuals per organizations			Min.	6
			Average	26,3
			Max.	78
Number of events			2.877	2.853
Linear depreciation			2.048	2.425
			0.117	0.257
			5.024	2.992
			39.60	46.71
Individual level N = 1077
Age	9	531	3.807	1.062
Gender	10	54	1.434	0.496
Position	2	2I	1.750	1.071
Tenure	2B	6I_3	2.669	0.569
Startingjob	5	5I	2.004	1.073
Rules	17	7	2.829	1.159
Task	15	5	6.003	2.474
Joboffers	8A	52A	1.655	0.476
Study abroad	13	56	1.805	0.396
Language	54	57	1.929	0.374
Important_loyality	18B	18B	1.666	0.837
Important_Professional	18F	18F	1.378	0.601
Important_Law	18J	18J	1.499	0.852
Political	59	62	0.291	0.454
Attitude to superior	49	43	1.500	0.615
Year			2010	4.942

^aThe surveys can be consulted on line:

http://www.nsd.uib.no/polsys/StatiskeDokument/SpSkjemaDir06.html

Table 3. Correlation matrix between key independent and dependent variables.

Variables		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Failed to propose an issue	(1)	1.0000
Failed to raise an issue	(2)	0.6011*	1.0000
Number of events	(3)	−0.0203	0.0016	1.0000
Linear depreciation	(4)	−0.0239	0.0039	0.8802*	1.0000
Exponential depreciation	(5)	−0.0026	−0.0664	0.2010	0.1845*	1.0000

Table 4. Multilevel results with crossed effects.

Index Defensive Silence
Variables	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Constant	3.90***	3.72***	3.71***	3.71***	3.71***
	(0.05)	(0.26)	(0.27)	(0.28)	(0.28)
Individual level
Age		0.08***	0.08***	0.08***	0.07***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Gender		0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Position		χ^2 (3)=1.37	χ^2 (3)=1.01	χ^2 (3)=0.92	χ^2 (3)=1.05
Tenure		χ^2 (2)=0.82	χ^2 (2)=1.4	χ^2 (2)=1.29	χ^2 (2)=1.42
Startingjob		χ^2 (4)=4.57	χ^2 (4)=3.85	χ^2 (4)=3.83	χ^2 (4)=4.15
Rules		-0.07***	-0.07***	-0.07***	-0.07***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Task		χ^2 (9)=18.32**	χ^2 (9)=19.2**	χ^2 (9)=19.16**	χ^2 (9)=20.22**
Joboffers		0.06	0.06	0.06	0.06
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Attitude to superior		0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03
		(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)
Studiedabroad		0.02	0.01	0.00	0.01
		(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Language		χ^2 (3)=4.65	χ^2 (3)=5.33	χ^2 (3)=5.18	χ^2 (3)=4.99
Importance_loyality		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
		(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)
Importance_Professional		-0.11***	-0.11***	-0.11***	-0.12***
		(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)
Importance_Law		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01
		(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)
Political		-0.18***	-0.18***	-0.18***	-0.18***
Organizational level
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Cofog			χ^2 (9)=23.6***	χ^2 (9)=21.85***	χ^2 (9)=19.35***
Organizational age			0.00 (0.00)	0.00 (0.00)	-0.00 (0.00)
History (1)			-0.04*** (0.01)
History (2)				-0.03** (0.01)
History (3)					-0.18* (0.10)
Observations	1.077	1.077	1.077	1.077	1.077
Number of Organizations	41	41	41	41	41
Number of Years	2	2	2	2	2
LR test (conservative)	χ²(2)=44.30***	χ²(2)=40.55***	χ²(2)=8.08**	χ²(2)=8.88**	χ²(2)=9.62***
Intra-class correlation	0.068
Level-1 R²		0.158
Level-2 R²			0.683	0.631	0.597

St andard errors in parent heses *** p<0.01. ** p<0.05. * p<0.1.

Figure 2. Plot of the coefficient of organizational history (number of events).

Figure 1. Available maintenance events and their distributions.

Table A1. Participating organizations.

Organization	Idnum Organization	Used Sample (averages)		Original Sample (averages)
		Age	Gender	Age	Gender
Statistics Norway	1155	3,96	1,42	3,66	1,43
Norwegian Competition Authority	1168	3,17	1,33	3,00	1,33
Directorate of Taxes	1193	3,60	1,31	3,47	1,47
Directorate of Norwegian Customs	1408	3,92	1,60	3,88	1,51
Financial Supervisory Authority	1535	3,74	1,32	3,75	1,44
Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management	1616	4,29	1,41	4,00	1,49
Norwegian Maritime Directorate	2012	3,52	1,19	3,75	1,29
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate	2801	3,79	1,33	3,80	1,35
Norwegian Patent Office	2802	3,24	1,41	3,19	1,54
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate	2813	4,42	1,33	4,05	1,55
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation	4802	4,22	1,59	4,06	1,57
Norwegian National Security Authority (NoNSA)	5814	3,36	1,25	3,53	1,32
Directorate of Fisheries	6801	3,96	1,25	3,78	1,40
Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA)	6802	4,12	1,29	4,10	1,27
Norwegian Board of Health Supervision	7012	4,38	1,50	4,35	1,59
Norwegian Medicines Agency	7668	3,68	1,50	3,68	1,60
Norwegian Directorate of Health (central unit)	7674	3,71	1,51	3,71	1,55
Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority	7806	4,00	1,77	3,67	1,70
Directorate of Public Roads	8801	4,16	1,34	4,04	1,39
Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom)	8805	3,77	1,15	3,56	1,29
Norwegian Railway Inspectorate	8807	3,67	1,33	3,63	1,38
Norwegian National Rail Administration	8808	3,80	1,16	3,80	1,28
Civil Aviation Authority	8813	4,33	1,42	4,23	1,32
Directorate for buidling quality	9805	2,83	1,50	2,93	1,33
Norwegian Directorate of Immigration	9806	3,48	1,59	3,41	1,60
Data Inspectorate	13,505	3,50	1,33	3,44	1,44
National Police Directorate	13,655	3,94	1,50	3,85	1,44
Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning	13,659	3,95	1,44	3,88	1,45
Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs	18,603	3,73	1,59	3,56	1,64
Norwegian Food Safety Authority	19,691	3,97	1,57	3,88	1,61
Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management	19,804	3,81	1,13	3,76	1,29
Norwegian Agricultural Authority	19,828	3,93	1,47	3,54	1,42
Climate and Pollution Agency	20,501	3,39	1,61	3,58	1,58
Arts Council Norway	21,522	4,00	1,63	4,00	1,64
Directorate for Cultural Heritage	21,528	4,14	1,48	4,02	1,49
Norwegian Gaming Board	26,611	3,33	1,50	3,56	1,56
Petroleum Safety Authority Norway	29,603	4,30	1,20	4,02	1,34
Norwegian Media Authority	34,604	4,13	1,38	4,17	1,50
Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training	35,603	3,60	1,57	3,60	1,62
Directorate for Education and Training	38,602	3,63	1,50	3,72	1,50
NAV- Directorate of Labour	38,612	3,67	1,54	3,72	1,52

Table A2. Structural reforms cited in the Norwegian state administration database.

Founding events	Maintenance Events	Ending events
Regular founding	Maintenance by secession	Ending by absorption
Founding by secession	Maintenance by absorption	Ending by splitting
Founding by splitting	Change in name	Ending with a merger
Founding by a merger	Change in location	Pure disband
Founding by complex reorganization	Maintenance by reorganization	Ending by complex reorganization
Entered; new relevant entity	New line of reporting	Discharged; no longer a relevant entity
	New superior organization (horizontal movement)
	New affiliation/administrative level
	New superior organization and level
	No change to units, but a change in superiors
	Units moving into or out of integrated organizations

For more information see http://www.nsd.uib.no/polsys/data/en/forvaltning/internendring

Table A3. COFOG Coding.

COFOG	Description	Frequency (% of organizations)
1	General public services	14
2	Defense	4
3	Public order and safety	8
4	Economic affairs	43
5	Environmental protection	4
6	Housing and community amenities	2
7	Health	6
8	Recreation, culture and religion	6
9	Education	2
10	Social Protection	10

Table A4. Multilevel results with crossed effects (organization and year). Without the structural reform ‘Change of name’.

Variables	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Constant	3.88***	3.66***	3.58***	3.59***	x3.63***
	(0.04)	(0.27)	(0.28)	(0.28)	(0.29)
Individual level
Age		0.08***	0.08***	0.07***	0.07***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Gender		0.03	0.04	0.04	0.04
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Position		χ^2 (3) = 1.6	χ^2 (3) = 1.11	χ^2 (3) = 1.05	χ^2 (3) = 1.34
Tenure		χ^2 (2) = 0.89	χ^2 (2) = 1.24	χ^2 (2) = 1.10	χ^2 (2) = 1.48
Starting job		χ^2 (4) = 4.21	χ^2 (4) = 3.67	χ^2 (4) = 3.62	χ^2 (4) = 3.79
Rules		−0.07***	−0.07***	−0.07***	−0.07***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Task		χ^2 (9) = 18.48**	χ^2 (9) = 19.6**	χ^2 (9) = 18.82**	χ^2 (9) = 20.9**
Job offers		0.06	0.06	0.06	0.07
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Attitude toward superiors		0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03
		(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)
Studied abroad		0.02	0.01	0.00	0.02
		(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Language		χ^2 (3) = 4.85	χ^2 (3) = 5.69	χ^2 (3) = 5.8	χ^2 (3) = 5.39
Importance of loyalty		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01
		(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)
Importance-Professional		−0.10***	−0.11***	−0.11***	−0.11***
		(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.04)
Importance of Laws		−0.00	−0.00	−0.00	0.00
		(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)
Political		−0.18***	−0.18***	−0.18***	−0.18***
		(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)
Organization level
Cofog			χ^2 (9) = 23.07***	χ^2 (9) = 25.24***	χ^2 (9) = 20.29**
Organizational age			0.00	0.00	−0.00
			(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)
History (1)			−0.04***
			(0.01)
History (2)				−0.05***
				(0.02)
History (3)					−0.26**
					(0.11)
Observations	1.049	1.049	1.049	1.049	1.049
Number of Organizations	40	40	40	40	40
Number of Years	2	2	2	2	2
LR test (conservative)	χ^2 (2) = 40.59***	χ^2 (2) = 37.74***	χ^2 (2) = 6.91**	χ^2 (2) = 6.18**	χ^2 (2) = 7.91**
Intra-class correlation	0.12
Level-1 R^2		0.07
Level-2 R^2			0.71	0.72	0.64

Standard errors are shown in parentheses *** p < 0.01. ** p < 0.05. * p < 0.1

Table A5. Correlation matrix.

	Question^a
Variables	2006	2016	Mean	Sd.		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
Defensive silence	Factor	Score	3.870	0.758
Failed to propose an issue	46	40	4.283	0.943	(1)	1.0000
Failed to raise an issue	47	47_I	4.268	0.928	(2)	0.6011*	1.0000
Individual level N = 1077
Age	9	53I	3.807	1.062	(3)	0.1298*	0.0846	1.0000
Gender	10	54	1.434	0.496	(4)	-0.0045	-0.0006	-0.1373*	1.0000
Position	2	2I	1.750	1.071	(5)	0.0480	0.0114	0.2092*	-0.0426	1.0000
Tenure	2B	6I_3	2.669	0.569	(6)	0.0482	0.0150	0.2603*	-0.0449	0.1969*	1.0000
Startingjob	5	5I	2.004	1.073	(7)	0.0008	-0.0430	0.1059	-0.0223	0.5308*	-0.0224	1.0000
Rules	17	7	2.829	1.159	(8)	-0.0246	-0.1664*	-0.0125	0.0094	0.0622	0.0341	0.0775	1.0000
Task	15	5	6.003	2.474	(9)	-0.0139	-0.0060	-0.0079	0.0020	0.0013	-0.0423	0.0350	0.0161	1.0000
Joboffers	8A	52A	1.655	0.476	(10)	0.0422	0.0564	0.1493*	-0.0027	-0.0363	0.0551	-0.0667	-0.0363	0.0103	1.0000
Study abroad	13	56	1.805	0.396	(11)	0.0136	0.0337	0.0429	-0.1038	0.0209	0.0642	0.0301	-0.0483	-0.0554	0.0565
Language	54	57	1.929	0.374	(12)	0.0198	0.0305	-0.1396*	0.0348	-0.0765	-0.0878	-0.0179	-0.0300	0.0273	0.0196
Importance_loyality	18B	18B	1.666	0.837	(13)	0.0070	-0.0423	-0.0351	-0.0311	-0.0808	-0.0254	-0.0618	0.0896	-0.0022	-0.0171
Importance_Professional	18F	18F	1.378	0.601	(14)	-0.0791	-0.0753	-0.0253	-0.1199*	0.0803	-0.0257	0.0699	0.0727	-0.0001	-0.0468
Importance_Law	18J	18J	1.499	0.852	(15)	0.0184	-0.0553	-0.0167	-0.0789	0.0113	0.0010	0.0295	0.2313*	0.1179*	-0.0447
Political	59	62	0.291	0.454	(16)	-0.1034	-0.0947	0.0914	0.0053	0.1016	0.0268	0.0912	0.0485	0.0233	-0.0597
Attitude to superior	49	43	1.500	0.615	(17)	0.0326	-0.0124	0.0471	0.0496	-0.0668	-0.0659	-0.0268	-0.0129	0.0357	0.0228
Year			2010	4.942	(18)	0.0162	0.0849	0.1131*	0.0444	-0.2447*	-0.1243*	-0.0906	-0.1644*	0.0082	0.0125
Organizational level N = 41 (across 2 years)
Individuals per organization			Min.	6
			Average	26,3
			Max.	78
Number of events			2.877	2.853	(19)	-0.0203	0.0016	0.0643	-0.0840	0.0335	-0.0090	-0.0770	-0.0196	-0.0180	-0.0059
Linear depreciation			2.048	2.425	(20)	-0.0239	0.0039	0.0404	-0.0627	0.0051	-0.0298	-0.0625	-0.0440	-0.0280	-0.0373
Exponential depreciation			0.117	0.257	(21)	-0.0026	-0.0664	-0.0099	-0.0725	0.1236*	0.0180	0.0359	0.0143	0.0179	0.0052
COFOG			5.024	2.992	(22)	-0.1358*	-0.0830	-0.0842	0.1207*	-0.0387	-0.0242	0.0310	0.0824	-0.0021	-0.0137
Orgage			39.60	46.71	(23)	0.0900	0.0690	0.0575	-0.0931	0.0137	-0.0124	-0.1154*	-0.0028	0.0049	0.0052
	(11)	(12)	(13)	(14)	(15)	(16)	(17)	(18)	(19)	(20)	(21)	(22)	(23)
Study abroad	1.0000
Language	0.0074	1.0000
Importance_loyality	-0.0174	0.0374	1.0000
Importance_Professional	-0.0493	-0.0301	0.0924	1.0000
Importance_Law	-0.0228	0.0114	0.1649*	0.2558*	1.0000
Political	-0.0566	0.0661	-0.0180	-0.0146	-0.0002	1.0000
Attitude to superior	0.0042	-0.0443	-0.1170*	0.1163*	0.0696	-0.0254	1.0000
Year	-0.0867	0.0810	-0.0964	-0.0968	-0.1432*	0.0280	0.0009	1.0000
Number of events	-0.0433	0.0433	-0.0697	0.0373	-0.0387	-0.0098	0.0090	0.1673*	1.0000
Linear depreciation	-0.0781	0.0488	-0.0768	0.0322	-0.0547	0.0096	0.0341	0.2682*	0.8802*	1.0000
Exponential depreciation	0.0108	0.0391	0.0022	0.0383	0.0651	-0.0307	-0.0202	-0.1951*	0.2010*	0.1845*	1.0000
COFOG	-0.0235	-0.0508	-0.0138	0.0223	0.0011	0.0393	0.0732	-0.0484	-0.2105*	-0.0874	-0.1256*	1.0000
Orgage	0.0398	0.0190	-0.0191	0.0007	0.0260	-0.0722	-0.0171	-0.0566	0.6020*	0.4171*	-0.0289	-0.3782*	1.0000

^aThe surveys can be consulted online: http://www.nsd.uib.no/polsys/StatiskeDokument/SpSkjemaDir06.html

Table A6. Variance inflation factor.

Variable	VIF	SQRT VIF	Tolerance	R-Squared
Defensive silence (q1)	1.63	1.28	0.6148	0.3852
Defensive silence (q2)	1.64	1.28	0.6092	0.3908
Age	1.20	1.10	0.8299	0.1701
Gender	1.06	1.03	0.9453	0.0547
Position	1.54	1.24	0.6505	0.3495
Tenure	1.14	1.07	0.8757	0.1243
Startingjob	1.45	1.20	0.6908	0.3092
Rules	1.11	1.05	0.9031	0.0969
Task	1.02	1.01	0.9763	0.0237
Studiedabroad	1.03	1.02	0.9686	0.0314
Joboffers	1.04	1.02	0.9571	0.0429
Attitude to superior	1.07	1.03	0.9374	0.0626
Language	1.04	1.02	0.9583	0.0417
Loyalty	1.07	1.03	0.9347	0.0653
Professional	1.13	1.06	0.8844	0.1156
Procedure	1.18	1.08	0.8502	0.1498
Political engagement	1.05	1.03	0.9490	0.0510
Mean VIF	1.20