Politicisation in Public Sector Organisations Through the Lens of Information Asymmetry

Research has shown that politicisation is on the rise in many countries in Europe. However, this research has been overly-concentrated on qualitative country-level case studies. This thesis attempts to explain what factors may cause different levels of politicisation on the organisational level using a quantitative analysis. The dependent variable politicisation was broadened into three separate variables; political appointments, respect for expertise and interference in routine activities, all of which are different methods of politicisation. The theory of information asymmetry was used as a guide in choosing the factors that may be an influence. It was thought that the greater the information asymmetry between a politician and an organisation, the more likely it is that they will politicise it. Therefore the size of the organisation, the policy area dealt with and the distance of the organisation from central government were all chosen as factors that may influence the level of politicisation due to a need to control them. The analysis was carried out using a data set of civil service executives’ perceptions in European countries. The results of the multiple regression analysis were quite surprising. Distance from government was the most influential factor, but most of the hypotheses proved to be incorrect; it was expected that agencies further from central government would show higher perceptions of political appointments and higher levels of respect for expertise, but this was not the case. Larger organisations are shown to have higher levels of politicisation, and the results correspond with the predicted hypotheses. No conclusive results about the influence of policy area were found on measurements based on the technical level of the policy area or the political saliency of the policy area. It can be concluded that information asymmetry does not seem to play a momentous role in explaining the phenomenon of politicisation. However closer attention must be paid to this phenomenon, as increased politicisation may lead to negative consequences such as corruption and inefficiency. Further research should be conducted to establish the extent of the problem. Appropriate action can then be taken such as allowing more regulated politicisation or taking action to prevent it completely. The researcher would recommend the latter.