Recent years have shown that strategic responses to crises by local governments (LGs) depend on the type of crisis, the institutional environment, but also internal capacities and sensemaking processes. However, such relationships have not been tested widely yet. Based on a survey of managers (n = 590) from cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, this study explores the role played by specific organizational capacities (critical thinking, bricolage, and financial capacities) and crisis perceptions (valence—i.e., threat vs. opportunity; and controllability) in shaping adaptive or regressive response strategies. Results show that these capacities are associated with how LGs' managers perceive crises and the type of responses adopted. Higher financial capacity, bricolage, and critical thinking are associated with stronger sense of organizational controllability, but they have different relationships with threat and opportunity perceptions. The study confirms the importance of distinguishing valence (threat and opportunity) from controllability perceptions.

中文翻译：

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地方政府管理者的见解：通过组织能力和观念应对危机


近年来的情况表明，地方政府（LG）对危机的战略反应不仅取决于危机的类型、制度环境，还取决于内部能力和意义建构过程。然而，这种关系尚未得到广泛测试。基于对管理者的调查（ n = 590）来自法国、德国、意大利和英国人口超过 15,000 人的城市，本研究探讨了特定组织能力（批判性思维、拼凑和财务能力）和危机认知（效价，即，威胁与机会；以及可控性）来制定适应性或回归性响应策略。结果表明，这些能力与地方政府管理者如何看待危机以及采取的应对措施有关。较高的财务能力、拼凑能力和批判性思维与较强的组织可控感相关，但它们与威胁和机会感知的关系不同。该研究证实了区分效价（威胁和机会）与可控性认知的重要性。