ADMINISTRATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY IN PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: A GLOBAL BIBLIOMETRIC AND THEMATIC ANALYSIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.5065Keywords:
Public Financial Management, Administrative Capacity, Institutional Capacity, Fiscal Decentralization, Bibliometric AnalysisAbstract
Public financial management (PFM) serves as the institutional backbone of fiscal governance, shaping how governments allocate resources, ensure accountability, and sustain macroeconomic stability. While reform agendas over the past decade have emphasized fiscal decentralization, performance-based budgeting, and governance modernization, the role of administrative and institutional capacity in sustaining these reforms remains conceptually fragmented. This study provides a global bibliometric and thematic analysis of research published between 2015 and 2025 to clarify how institutional capacity is positioned within PFM scholarship. Using 458 Scopus-indexed journal articles, the analysis applies Bibliometrix (RStudio 2025.05.1) and VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) to map publication trends, intellectual structures, thematic clusters, and international collaboration networks. Results indicate accelerated growth in the field, with fiscal decentralization and macroeconomic governance emerging as dominant motor themes. However, administrative and institutional capacity appears structurally embedded rather than foregrounded as an independent explanatory construct. Thematic mapping reveals conceptual fragmentation between fiscal performance modeling and governance reform literature, while collaboration analysis highlights geographic concentration in developed economies. These findings suggest that despite expanding scholarly output, theoretical integration between institutional capacity and fiscal sustainability remains incomplete. The study contributes by systematically mapping the intellectual architecture of PFM capacity research and identifying critical gaps, including the underdeveloped operationalization of institutional capacity, limited cross-regional comparisons, and insufficient integration of human capital dimensions. Strengthening conceptual integration is essential for advancing both scholarship and evidence-based fiscal reform.
References
Allen, R., Hemming, R., & Potter, B. H. (Eds.). (2013). The international handbook of public financial management. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-1137315294
Andrews, M., Pritchett, L., & Woolcock, M. (2017). Building state capability: Evidence, analysis, action. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0198801647
Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
Fukuyama, F. (2013). What is governance? Governance, 26(3), 347–368.
https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12035
Grindle, M. S. (Ed.). (1997). Getting good government: Capacity building in the public sectors of developing countries. Harvard Institute for International Development. ISBN: 978-0674354197
Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00779.x
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1989). Rediscovering institutions: The organizational basis of politics. Free Press. ISBN: 978-0029202315
Oates, W. E. (1999). An essay on fiscal federalism. Journal of Economic Literature, 37(3), 1120–1149. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.37.3.1120
OECD. (2019). Budgeting and public expenditures in OECD countries 2019. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264307957-en
Painter, M., & Pierre, J. (2005). Unpacking policy capacity: Issues and themes. Policy and Society, 24(3), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1449-4035(05)70050-3
Peters, B. G. (2010). The politics of bureaucracy: An introduction to comparative public administration (6th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203879146
Robinson, M. (Ed.). (2007). Performance budgeting: Linking funding and results. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137001528
Shah, A. (Ed.). (2007). Budgeting and budgetary institutions. World Bank.
https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-6939-5
van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428114562629
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
I (we) submit this article which is original and unpublished, of my (our) own authorship, to the evaluation of the Veredas do Direito Journal, and agree that the related copyrights will become exclusive property of the Journal, being prohibited any partial or total copy in any other part or other printed or online communication vehicle dissociated from the Veredas do Direito Journal, without the necessary and prior authorization that should be requested in writing to Editor in Chief. I (we) also declare that there is no conflict of interest between the articles theme, the author (s) and enterprises, institutions or individuals.
I (we) recognize that the Veredas do Direito Journal is licensed under a CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE.
Licença Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
