The Use of Paradox Theory in Public Administration : A Systematic Literature Review

Public Administration (PA) managers and employees deal every day with competing but equally valid demands from multiple and heterogeneous stakeholders. Paradox theory provides, in this sense, a powerful analytical lens as it offers an approach to accommodate and find synergies between competing interests simultaneously despite their contradictions and interdependency. This article aims to systematically review the application of paradox theory in PA research, adopting the replicable and transparent PRISMA methodology, for unravelling and critically interpreting whether and how this theory has been applied, according to both the explanatory potential of this framework and the specificities of the PA context. In this regard, the findings show that extant literature is under-exploiting the paradox theory framework's potentialities, as (i) paradox theory appears to be only partially applied, and (ii) its applications seem to conceive PA as a ‘normal’ organization, underrepresenting its unique peculiarities. The findings present relevant implications for PA scholars and practitioners and PA educators.