Human resource management in public transports: organizational typologies and research actions

Purpose: Studying bus local public transport in 20 Italian provincial capitals, the present paper aims to identify organizational factors to assess different modes of service managerial steering. Design/methodology/approach: Starting from bureaucratic theory, the paper analyzes four different modes of managerial steering in a regression model that accounts for several variables to assess the quality of Italian bus local public service transport. Findings: The research shows that a network managerial structure performs significantly better than any other type. The 20 provincial capitals are homogeneous in relation to the variables considered. Italian bus local public transport is managed by bureaucratic public organizations. Adhocracy, as opposed to machine bureaucracy, seems to be the more effective mode of managerial steering for sector specific aspects in different capitals, despite that, network managerial structure – associated adhocracy – is used only in five capitals (main cities). Originality/value: The paper highlights that the dichotomy between machine bureaucracy versus adhocracy shows interesting considerations related to different mode to management of Italian bus local public service transport.