Michele Tantardini, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Public Administration, School of Public Affairs
Professor-in-Charge, Certificate Program in Policy Analysis and Evaluation
Affiliate Faculty, Penn State Social Science Research Institute
Olmsted Building, W157
777 W. HARRISBURG PIKE,
W157 OLMSTED BUIDLING
MIDDLETOWN, PA 17057

Michele Tantardini earned an undergraduate and master’s degree in economics and management of public administration at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy). His academic career has focused on the management of public sector institutions and organizations. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg. He earned his Ph.D. in Public Affairs at Florida International University (Miami, FL) with a dissertation on the relationship between performance information use and organizational social capital.

Dr. Michele Tantardini has spent time researching the following topics: performance information use, social capital, and public service motivation. Among the others, his publications appeared in the following journals: Public Performance and Management Review, International Public Management Journal, Review of Public Personnel Administration, International Journal of Public Administration, Public Administration Quarterly, State and Local Government Review, and Teaching Public Administration.

He is currently focusing his research efforts on exploring the manifold relations between religion, faith, spirituality, and public administration. His work on religion and public administration has been published in Public Policy and Administration, Administration & Society, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Administration, and Public Money & Management. The monograph “Religion and Public Administration: An Introduction” was published by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

  • Public Management
  • Religion, faith, and spirituality
  • Performance Management
  • Social Capital
  • Public Service Motivation

Books

Ongaro, E. & Tantardini, M. (2023). Religion and public administration: An introduction. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Journal Articles

Prysmakova, P., & Tantardini, M. (In Press). Financial performance and ethics: Employing commitment to public values as proxy. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 29. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPSPM.2022.10049417

Ongaro, E., & Tantardini, M. (2024). Contours of a research programme for the study of the relationship of religion and public administration. Public Policy & Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767241272897

Ongaro, E., & Tantardini, M. (2024). Bringing religion into Public Value theory and practice: Rationale and perspectives. Administration & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997241264474

Tantardini, M. (2024). Performance measurement and management during the Roman Empire: Evidence from the letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan. Public Administration Quarterly. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/07349149241231095

Ongaro, E., & Tantardini, M. (2024) Debate: Why the religious factor has been forgotten in PA studies? (And how to remedy it). Public Money & Management, 44(1), 7–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2023.2264054

*Levine, E. J., & Tantardini, M. (2023). Defining and measuring economic development: A literature review and outlook. Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs 9(3), 1-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20899/jpna.9.3.1-32

Ongaro, E., & Tantardini, M. (2023). Advancing knowledge in public administration: Why religion matters [Editorial]. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 45(01), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/23276665.2022.2155858

Ongaro, E., & Tantardini, M. (2023). Religion and public administration: A systematic literature review and outlook. Public Policy & Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076722114686

Tantardini, M. (2022). Organizational social capital and performance information use: The mediating role of Public Service Motivation. State and Local Government Review, 54(3), 202-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X221113366

*Zhang, X., Tantardini, M., Kim, Y., & De Lancer Julnes, P. (2021). Is performance management reform living up to its expectations? An analysis of public management reform in China’s Guangdong Province. Public Performance & Management Review, 44(1), 81-107. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1806085

Tantardini, M., & Tolay, J. (2020). Does performance matter in migration governance? The case of the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement. International Journal of Public Administration, 43(2), 137-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2019.1672189

Morcol, G., Tantardini, M., Williams, A., & Slagle, D. R. (2020). Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy degrees: Differences and similarities in the curricula and course contents. Teaching Public Administration, 38(3), 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0144739420915758

Tantardini, M. (2019). Routine and nonroutine performance information use: An assessment about substitution and complementarity. Public Management Review, 21(5), 755-774. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1523452

Kroll, A., & Tantardini, M. (2019). Motivating and retaining government employees: The role of organizational social capital. International Public Management Journal, 22(2), 232-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2017.1367341

Prysmakova, P., Tantardini, M., & Potkański, T. (2019). The role of financial performance in motivating Polish municipal employees. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 39(1), 75-105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X16685600

Tantardini, M., Guo, H., & Ganapati, N. (2017). Social capital and public financial performance: Lessons from Florida. Public Performance & Management Review, 40(3), 480-503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2016.1276463

Tantardini, M., & Garcia-Zamor, J.-C. (2015). Organizational social capital and anticorruption policies: An exploratory analysis. Public Organization Review, 15(4), 599-609. ISBN/ISSN: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11115-014-0294-7

Tantardini, M., & Kroll, A. (2015). The role of organizational social capital in performance management. Public Performance and Management Review, 39(1), 83-99. ISBN/ISSN: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2016.1071163

Ph.D. (Florida International University, Miami, FL)
Master (Bocconi University, Milan, Italy)
Bachelor (Bocconi University, Milan, Italy)

PADM 503: Research Design
PADM 505: Human Resources in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors
PADM 510: Organization Behavior
PADM 511: Organizational Change and Development
PADM 521: Performance Measurement and Management
PADM 550: Policy and Program Evaluation
PADM 596: Individual Studies
PADM 600: Thesis Research
PADM 601: Ph.D. Dissertation Full-Time