Revisiting “big questions” of public administration after COVID-19: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed changes on governments across the world. Scholars responded to this crisis with a wide range of comparative studies and theoretical alternatives that addressed “big questions” of public administration. To summarise what we now know about governments, citizens, and civil society as a result of this pandemic, we conduct a systematic review of 188 articles using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. While the range of topics addressed was broad, we began our review by narrowing our focus ex-ante to studies that addressed three “big questions” of public administration: (1) What are the instruments of collective action?; (2) How shall tensions between national and subnational governments be resolved?; and (3) How can processes of societal learning be improved? Two additional “big questions” later emerged from the review process itself: (4) How can public trust in governments be fostered? and (5) Do public services enhance social equity? Answers to each of these questions are reviewed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• systematic review
• public administration
• big questions

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ting-An-Xu Liu

Ting-An-Xu Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. Her current research focuses on OB&HRM especially on performance information use and corruption.

G. Breck Wightman

G. Breck Wightman is a doctoral candidate in public affairs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. His research focuses on executive succession and bureaucratic personnel issues, such as hiring transparency, job vacancies, and person-organisation fit.

Euipyo Lee

Euipyo Lee is a PhD student in public affairs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests include public management, focusing particularly on representative bureaucracy, organisational behaviour, and policing.

Jordan Hunter

Jordan Hunter is a PhD candidate in public affairs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. His research focuses on citizen coproduction, administrative burden, and decision-making and motivation related to public affairs.