Reputation-Seeking by a Government Agency in Europe: Direct Evidence from Responses to the 2009 H1N1 “Swine” Influenza Pandemic

Reputation-seeking can explain some decisions of U.S. federal agencies.
However, it has remained unclear whether it could be used in the European
context where agencies have proliferated in national and regional governance
in the past few decades. This article shows that reputation-seeking can occur
at autonomous agencies in the European context. A unique participant-observational study of an international public health agency acting in
response to the 2009 H1N1 “swine” influenza pandemic provides bases for
this conclusion. It adds empirical support for the proposition using real-time
observations of and in-depth interviews on the agency’s decision-making
processes.