PERCEPTION OF

ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRAINTS
AND LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION
OF SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES
By Ssu-Hsien Chen (Olivia)
 Presentation Outline

Introduction
Literature
Review
Research
Design
Results

Conclusion
Introduction
◦ Taiwan has implemented the energy efficiency and sustainability policies (EESP).
◦ During Taiwan’s implementation, attention must be paid to constraints within the
implementation process and the complex environment of street-level bureaucrats (Chiou,
2004).
◦ Organizational constraints are defined as the aspects of the immediate work environment that
inhibit the translation of motivation and abilities into effective performance (Peters and
O'Connor, 1980).
◦ Taiwan’s EESP implementation can be considered the result of interaction between the upper
and lower levels of a hierarchical administrative context where local administrative bodies of
cities, counties, townships, districts and villages are involved in the implementation of EESP.
◦ The local administrative bodies is believed to have great room for improvement regarding their
implementation of EESP and may encounter numerous problems when implementing the
policies
Introduction
◦ Research Questions:
1. What organizational constraints do Taiwan’s local administrative bodies face when they
implement EESP? To what extent do these constraints affect the perception of
implementation outcomes?
2. Does any relationship exist between internal and external organizational constraints?
◦ Research objectives: To find out the impact of organizational constraints on sustainability
policy implementation in local administration bodies in Taiwan.
 ◦ The external constraints are a lack of thoroughness in
the planning by upper-level administrative bodies and

Literature
the unsupportive attitude of elected heads.
◦ The internal constraints include static factors such as

Review budget, human resources and policy-related training and

dynamic factors such as policy promotion channels, the
administration process and the implementation
timeframe.
 External Context of Policy Planning Towards Local Policy
Implementation
◦ The organizations can achieve organizational goals through resource exchange or interactions with the
external environment.
◦ If the upper-level government can effectively plan for a policy, long-term and supportive flow and
exchange of resources and information can occur, then the policy implementation would be greatly
facilitated in the local level.
◦ EESP implementation in Taiwan essentially involves collective action and administrative bodies inevitably
experience constraints in implementing such highly collective policies.
◦ Contextual planning for the policies of upper-level government plays an essential role in the process. If
individual differences can be coordinated during policy planning and a thorough proposal is provided to
facilitate policy implementation by local administrative bodies, EESP can be successfully implemented.
◦ In this study the perception of policy thoroughness was used as a factor reflecting the perceived
organizational external constraints and explored the effect of this factor on local policy implementation to
provide insight into the leading status held by context and upper-level government in the process of
implementing EESP.
Local Political leadership: Roles and application of
democratically elected heads of municipality in local policy
implementation

◦ If county (or city) mayors can properly leverage their leadership style, they can establish positive
interactive relationships, irrespective of executive–legislative relations, and even transcend the influence
and differences among political parties (Liu & Shih, 2008).
◦ Local officials’ perception of elected head’s positive attitude towards EESP would be helpful in giving
policy priority and achieving policy goals. The attitude of municipal leadership shapes the administrative
organizational faith and the values of action taken.
◦ With perceived support from municipal leaders, positive relations can be cultivated with citizens and other
stakeholders, and EESP preference can be taken into account when policy priority decisions are made.
◦ This study investigated the role of municipal governing body to determine the effect of elected heads’
attitude on EESP implementation and examine the correlation between local political power and other
variables effecting organizational constraints.
 Research Design - Hypotheses

◦ H1: When local administrative bodies implement EESP, the perception of external organizational
constraints contributes to the results of internal organizational constraints.
◦ H1-1: Perception of the lack of thorough contextual planning for EESP contributes to the results of
internal organizational constraints faced by local administrative bodies when implementing these
policies.
◦ H1-2: Perception of an indifferent or unsupportive attitude among elected heads towards EESP
contributes to the results of internal organizational constraints faced by local administrative bodies when
implementing these policies.
◦ H2: When local administrative bodies implement EESP, the perception of external orga- nizational
constraints contributes to the results of a perceived low degree of policy implementation.
Hypotheses

◦ H2-1: Perception of the lack of thorough contextual planning for EESP contributes to the results
of a perceived low degree of policy implementation.
◦ H2-2: Perception of the indifferent or unsupportive attitude of elected heads towards EESP
contributes to the results of a perceived low degree of policy implementation.
◦ H3: When local administrative bodies implement EESP, the perception of internal orga-
nizational constraints contributes to the results of a perceived low degree of policy
implementation.
◦ H3-1: Perception of static organizational constraints (i.e. lack of a budgeting plan, work- force
shortage and lack of professional training) for EESP contributes to the results of a perceived low
degree of policy implementation.
◦ H3-2: Perception of dynamic organizational constraints (i.e. lack of promotion channels, tedious
administrative procedures and a short implementation timeframe) for EESP contributes to the
results of a perceived low degree of policy implementation.
Research
Framework
Research Method
◦ Unit of Analysis : The local administrative Bodies
◦ Three levels of local administrative bodies : Local self-governing bodies with public legal status,
district administrative bodies, village administrative bodies.
◦ The sample of Questionnaire Survey
◦ Local self-governing bodies (Level 1) = 226
◦ District administrative bodies (Level 2) = 164
◦ Village administrative bodies (Level 3) = 7831
◦ Eventually, 859 valid responses were collected, including 191 responses from individuals
representing local self-governing bodies with public legal status, 138 for district administrative
bodies and 530 for village administrative bodies. The average response rate was 73.17%.
◦ Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were
employed to determine the situation and examine the relationships among variables.
Results and Discussion – Descriptive Statistics of Variables
Results and Discussion – Correlation Analysis
Results and
Discussion
---------
Multiple Regression
Analysis
 RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
---------
STEPWISE REGRESSION
ANALYSIS
Path Analysis of Factors Related to EESP
by Local Administrative Bodies
Conclusion
◦ The perceived outcomes of EESP implementation were significantly affected by the perceived
degree of thoroughness of contextual planning for EESP and whether the head of the municipal
government actively supported the EESP.
◦ If an organization is short of budget and policy promotion channels, EESP implementation is
strongly and adversely affected.
◦ The external organizational constraints have a stronger effect on EESP implementation than
internal constraints do.
◦ Static factors have more significant effect than dynamic factors.
◦ Regarding correlation among variables, each variable was significantly and negatively
correlated with the implementation of EESP.
◦ The perception of external and contextual support gives local administrative officers
confidence in their EESP implementation. When they anticipate long-term support from the
context, they are more willing to contribute to the implementation effort and have a higher
degree of awareness of the implementation.
THANK YOU