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Synonyms

Accountability; Answerability; Performance demands; Responsiveness

Definition

Accountability is a social relationship in which an actor feels an obligation to explain and to justify his or her conducts to some significant other.

Accountability Dimensions

A key definition of accountability is “a social relationship in which an actor feels an obligation to explain and to justify his or her conducts to some significant other” (Bovens 2010). Accountability can also be defined differently based upon social, political, cultural, and institutional conditions. In order to explain and to justify their conduct, public organizations release information about their actions to the public. Thus, accountability is often seen as “transparency” of information. This study follows the concept of accountability as managing and meeting public and other expectations for performance and for bureaucratic, legal, professional, and political responsiveness (Kearns 1996; Romzek and Dubnick 1987).

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Correspondence to Kwangseon Hwang .

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Hwang, K. (2018). Bureaucratic Accountability and Performance. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3322-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3322-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Bureaucratic Accountability and Performance
    Published:
    23 January 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3322-2

  2. Original

    Bureaucratic Accountability and Performance
    Published:
    20 October 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3322-1