A fundamental yet insufficiently theorized question in public administration is why the same institutions, administrative reforms and even the same administrative actors produce markedly different administrative behaviour and governance outcomes across changing contexts. This panel argues that the answer lies in the often-overlooked “black box” of public administration: "administrative culture". While institutions, political leadership, administrative reforms, technological transformations and organizational arrangements are the visible drivers of administrative change, the processes through which these forces are interpreted, negotiated, internalized, adapted and ultimately translated into everyday administrative behaviour remain largely invisible and insufficiently theorized.
Administrative systems today operate in an environment characterized by rapid technological transformation, artificial intelligence, digital governance, globalization, complex interdependence, changing political leadership, increasing citizen expectations and evolving institutional arrangements. These transformations continuously reshape the conditions under which administrative systems function. Despite these developments, much of the existing literature continues to conceptualize administrative culture primarily as a relatively stable attribute of administrative systems or as a collection of shared values, beliefs and behavioural orientations.
While this perspective remains valuable, it does not sufficiently explain how administrative culture itself evolves in response to changing political, institutional, societal and technological environments. Rather than replacing existing perspectives, this panel seeks to extend and reposition the study of administrative culture as an integrative paradigm for governance and administrative theory. It reconceptualizes administrative culture not as a static set of shared values, beliefs or behavioural norms, but as a dynamic, adaptive and continuously evolving process through which institutions, political leadership, societal expectations, technological transformations and administrative actors collectively shape administrative behaviour, organizational practices and governance outcomes across diverse administrative contexts. Understanding this dynamic process is essential for explaining why administrative systems evolve differently across countries, sub-national governments, organizations, governments-in-exile and other administrative settings despite facing similar governance challenges.
The panel welcomes theoretical, conceptual, comparative and empirical contributions that advance new perspectives on administrative culture across diverse governance settings. Comparative case studies, interdisciplinary research, conceptual innovations and methodological approaches that enrich, extend or reconceptualize the study of administrative culture as an integrative paradigm for governance and administrative theory are particularly encouraged.
