Administrative Innovation among Ohio Local Government Finance Officers

Abstract

This study centers on a mailed survey of Ohio local government finance officers that recorded a 43% response rate. It seeks to determine the extent to which the represented jurisdictions have adopted innovative administrative management tools and techniques, to identify possible determinants of adoption, and to explore potential outcomes of adoption. The authors conducted a longitudinal analysis to provide for the identification of potential outcomes. they found that Ohio local governments have been less innovative than jurisdictions surveyed in national surveys and that smaller local governments in Ohio tend to be more innovative than larger governments. The authors were unable to identify determinants of adoption or to construct a model of adoption. The article concludes that the adoption of administrative innovations appears to be an idiosyncratic process. Adoption does not appear to lead to greater satisfaction with the quality of the services provided by the respondent's jurisdiction or with the overall efficiency of the service delivery system. However, the adoption of administrative innovations appears to be positively related to fund balances in future years—that is, innovation appears to pay off.