Banca de DEFESA: MARCOS AURELIO SALES FILHO

EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT CAPACITY OF MANAGERS ON THE FINANCIAL CONDITION 

OF LARGE BRAZILIAN MUNICIPALITIES.

Managerial Capacity, Public Manager, Financial Condition.

Although there are theoretical arguments about the benefits of organizational factors in the financial condition, there are few studies on how these factors affect municipal and state governments finances in Brazil. This study aimed to verify the influence of managerial capacity of managers on the financial condition of large Brazilian municipalities. The theoretical foundation is based on the theory of human capital and the theory of financial condition, in addition to the support of empirical studies. Based on the theoretical framework, hypotheses were elaborated that the education and experience of mayors, as well as the education of administration and finance directors, and civil servants, can positively influence the financial condition of local governments. To measure the financial condition, indicators proposed by the by Vieira (2019) were chosen. Based on these indicators, factor analysis by principal components was used as recommended in Rusca et al. (2015) and Bunce and Goldberg (1979). To measure the managerial capacity of managers, education and experience were used as proxies. The study covered the 100 largest Brazilian municipalities in terms of GDP, from 2009 to 2019 and used the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression technique to test the proposed hypotheses. The results revealed that the mayor's schooling and experience related to public management contribute to improve the financial condition. Regarding the schooling of administration and finance directors, it was also found that professional qualification has a positive influence on the financial condition. Finally, regarding the education of public servants, a positive effect was found on the financial condition, revealing the importance of the educational level of the entire public administration in the government financial manangemnt. The research results corroborates to the human capital literature related to the financial condition, serving as instrument to support public finance management.