Further Understanding Accountability in Public Organizations: Actionable Knowledge and the Structure-Agency Duality

Accountability research in public organizations has made significant progress, but it remains unclear exactly how public managers deal with conflicting accountability pressures and how accountability systems can make a positive difference. This article reviews the accountability literature and submits that developing more actionable knowledge requires more attention to the interactive relationship between human agency and accountability structure and to the causal mechanisms linking accountability, behavior, and outcome in a long period of time. Giddens' structuration theory is used to illustrate a more interactive and dynamic understanding of accountability. Theoretical and methodological implications for future research are discussed accordingly.