Date of Award

1-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Public Administration and Policy

Content Description

1 online resource (v, 139 pages) : color illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

J. Ramon Gil-Garcia

Committee Members

Mila Gascó-Hernandez, Matthew C. Ingram

Keywords

citizen participation, coordination, crowdsourcing, decentralization, post-bureaucratic organizations, Decentralization in government, Political participation, Crowdsourcing

Subject Categories

Public Administration

Abstract

Decentralization has been an alternative mechanism of coordination to bureaucratic control. Although decentralization is a very old idea, we do not have enough clarity about how decentralization works and how this alternative can effectively help to overcome some of the problems attributed to traditional bureaucracies. In this dissertation, I bring further insights into the decentralization of decisions through two angles. First, by studying how and for what purposes crowdsourcing, a novel technology-based practice used to decentralize decisions and tasks towards citizens, has been used in government (Chapters 2 and 3). Second, by studying the process of decentralization of decisions within an organization through a horizontal structure (Chapter 4). The overall findings of this dissertation contribute to the literature on decentralization by describing processes, purposes, traps, and dysfunctions in the complicated endeavor of decentralizing decisions and fostering citizen participation.

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