VALENTINA MELE

VALENTINA MELE

Courses a.y. 2024/2025

Biographical note

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Political Science at Bocconi University. 

I am a public administration scholar. My work can be broadly situated in the areas of innovation in government, collaborative and cross-sector governance at the national and supranational levels, and the conduct of work of civil servants. It has appeared in the leading public administration and management journals, such as the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Public Administration, Governance, Academy of Management Journal, and Journal of Business Ethics. It received the International Geneva Award (2012 and 2016), the Best Published Paper award (OMT, Academy of Management) in 2016, and recognition as a “Highly cited article from recent years in JPART,” Oxford University Press (2021). 

I am a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Geneva and a Senior Fellow at the ESADE Center for Public Governance. I have been a visiting professor or visiting scholar at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, Earth Institute at Columbia University, Fudan University, LSE-Center for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation, and UC Irvine. I have been a Fulbright student and scholar. 

I am the Senior Executive Editor of the Journal of Public Policy and sit on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Public Administration Review, and Governance

From 2014 to 2019, I was the director of the MSc GIO - Economics and Management of Government and International Organizations at Bocconi University. I am currently a member of the Bocconi Evaluation Unit. 


Research interests

  • Reform and innovation in government: Processes of policy change and public sector reform, Diffusion and management of technological innovation in public organizations.
  • Global governance and cross-sector partnerships: Multistakeholder partnerships, Public-private partnerships, Organization dynamics in international organizations. 
  • The conduct of work of civil servants: conflict of interests of civil servants, telework and remote work. 

 


Selected Publications

Mele, Valentina; Bellé, Nicola; Cucciniello, Maria
Thanks, but no thanks : preferences towards teleworking colleagues in public organizations
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY, 2021

Mele, Valentina; Belardinelli, Paolo; Bellé, Nicola
Telework in public organizations: a systematic review and research agenda
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, 2023

Mele, Valentina; Compagni, Amelia; Cavazza, Marianna
Governing through evidence. A study of technological innovation in healthcare.
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY, 2014

Compagni, Amelia; Mele, Valentina; Ravasi, Davide
How early implementations influence later adoptions of innovation: social positioning and skill reproduction in the diffusion of robotic surgery
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 58, 1, 242-278, 2015

Bellé, Nicola; Belardinelli, Paolo; Cantarelli, Paola; Mele, Valentina
On iron cages and suboptimal choices: an experimental test of the micro-foundations of isomorphism in the public sector
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 2019

L. Baccaro; Mele, Valentina
For lack of anything better?International organizations and global corporate codes
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, 2011

Mele, Valentina; D. Schepers
E Pluribus Unum? Legitimacy Issues and Multi-stakeholder Codes of Conduct
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, 2013

L. Baccaro; Mele, Valentina
Pathologies of Path-Dependency? The ILO and the Challenges of 'New Governance'.
INDUSTRIAL & LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW, 2012

Mele, Valentina; Anderfuhren Biget, Simon; Varone, Frédéric
Conflicts of interest in international organizations: evidence from two United Nations humanitarian agencies
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, 2016

Mele, Valentina; Cappellaro, Giulia
Cross-level coordination among international organizations: dilemmas and practices
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, 96 (4), 2018

Anthony Bertelli; Valentina Mele; Andrew Whitford
When new public management fails: infrastructure public–private partnerships and political constraints in developing and transitional economies
GOVERNANCE, 2020

Mele, Valentina; Belardinelli, Paolo
Mixed methods in public administration research: selecting, sequencing, and connecting
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY, 2019

Valentina Mele; Marc Esteve; Seulki Lee; Germà Bel; Giulia Cappellaro; Nicolai Petrovsky; Sonia M. Ospina
Enhancing methodological reporting in public administration: the functional equivalents framework
AMERICAN REVIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, 50 (8), 2020