{"title":"Fixing big government or feeding private contractors? Empirical evidence from the case of municipal solid waste management","authors":"Seejeen Park, M. Jae Moon","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12579","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12579","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The assumption of new public management (NPM) that governments can lower costs and improve service quality through a market mechanism, such as competition, has been under debate over several decades. To test the NPM assumption, this study investigates the effects of contracting out on cost savings by analysing municipal solid waste management data collected in 25 local governments in the Republic of Korea over a period of 14 years. Contrary to the NPM assumption, this study suggests that contracting out does not necessarily result in cost savings but rather causes additional financial burden on citizens.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Government officials are strongly encouraged to critically review market-based managerial reforms.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Government officials need to assess both benefits and costs of contracting-out practices prior to any outsourcing or privatisation decisions.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Government officials need to make evidence-based policy decisions and long-term financial implications from the perspective of citizens.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 1","pages":"116-132"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46302270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Courtney Molloy, Sarah Bankins, Anton Kriz, Lisa Barnes
{"title":"Innovating for the greater good: Examining innovation champions and what motivates them","authors":"Courtney Molloy, Sarah Bankins, Anton Kriz, Lisa Barnes","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12577","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12577","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Governments have increasingly tasked the not-for-profit sector with supporting the provision of public goods and services. Alongside this role, not-for-profits have faced increasingly challenging external contexts, including heightened competition and tighter funding regimes. This makes effective innovation critical for the successful delivery of social goods within this setting particularly, and in other public service-oriented organisations more broadly. However, we know little about how innovation occurs in such contexts and even less about the motivations of those who choose to expend the effort to drive innovation there. This study examines the motivations of a key innovation agent, the innovation champion, in the challenging and dynamic not-for-profit context. Via a multi-case study, qualitative approach with 46 interviews, we utilise self-determination theory to surface what motivates innovation champions to develop and drive new idea generation and implementation. The motivations for championing innovations in not-for-profits are varied, spanning intrinsic, prosocial, and other extrinsic drivers. With wider implications for public service-oriented organisations, our work also suggests that champions in such contexts are variably motivated throughout an innovation project and appear to be simultaneously intrinsically and prosocially motivated. We also find that boredom, or its avoidance, can motivate champions toward innovative activities.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Innovation champions, with their passion for change and desire for stimulation, are a valuable agent to foster innovation and combat organisational inertia.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Providing autonomous time, away from scheduled tasks and formal role requirements, can provide employees with the ‘cognitive space’ or ‘slack time’ required for innovative thinking.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Fostering innovation championing can contribute to enhanced employee engagement and a sense of fulfilment in one's role.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Innovation champions are not motivated in any one single way; their motivations span from self-interest to contributing to a ‘greater good’. Where consistency exists, such individuals share an underlying passion for change and a desire to avoid boredom.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Leaders can clearly articulate the organisation's mission as one way to enhance champion motivation, particularly where their work has longer term and/or indirect value to target beneficiaries.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 ","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"83 1","pages":"24-49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12577","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44609247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jill A. Gould, Carol T. Kulik, Shruti R. Sardeshmukh
{"title":"Gender targets and trickle-down effects: Avoiding the ‘decoupling dynamics’ that limit female representation in senior roles","authors":"Jill A. Gould, Carol T. Kulik, Shruti R. Sardeshmukh","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12576","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12576","url":null,"abstract":"Women constitute the majority of the Australian public sector workforce, but their representation in senior roles is not proportional. Australian public services have gender targets to improve the representation of women in senior roles. Based on previous research, targets are expected to first increase female representation at the target’s focal level, such as executive level. Then they should initiate a trickle-down effect (TDE), increasing female representation at the level immediately below the target’s focal level, such as the executive feeder level. However, the TDE observed in a state public service decelerated after a gender target was imposed. We identified whether individual departments had a consistent or inconsistent TDE and conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Too many service-wide targets with low prioritisation of a gender target, as well as missing and ineffective practices, generated decoupling dynamics. Only departments with gender champions who had visible backing from the Chief Executive were able to keep the gender target coupled with practice to achieve its intended outcomes.","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 2","pages":"147-166"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12576","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41680032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Policy on innovation in Australia: Divergence in definitions, problems, and solutions","authors":"Jenny M. Lewis, Gosia Mikolajczak","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12575","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12575","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Innovation has joined the mainstream in many nations as governments search for new ways to tackle challenging societal and economic problems. But Australia is seen to be lagging on innovation policy. Is this related to how governments define innovation? What do they regard as the problem they are addressing? What proposed solutions follow from this? This paper examines how Australian governments have defined innovation over four decades, signalling their policy intentions about how to make the nation more innovative. Definitions of innovation are analysed using 79 Australian (national level) policy documents published from 1976 to 2019. Close reading of these documents suggests two main definitions: innovation as technology, and innovation as culture. Topic modelling uncovers more differentiated themes, shows how definitions change over time, and demonstrates an association between definitions and political parties in government. The divergent approaches suggest a lack of coherence and continuity to policy on innovation in Australia.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Innovation has expanded and broadened in its definition and governments and policymakers have paid increasing attention to it.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>In Australia, there are two main definitions of innovation used in policy—one related to technology and one related to culture.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>The technology view of innovation can be further divided into a focus on businesses or a focus on research and development (R&D).</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Different innovation definitions, problems, and solutions dominate at different times, with Coalition governments tending to favour business and technology over culture, and Labor governments doing the opposite.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>There are divergent approaches to policy on innovation in Australia which suggest a lack of coherence and consistency in policy over the long term.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 1","pages":"26-45"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12575","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48731851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What affects the turnover intention of civil servants: Evidence from Bhutan","authors":"Assel Mussagulova, Mehmet Akif Demircioglu","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12573","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12573","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Research utilising self-determination theory (SDT) and, in particular, the concept of need satisfaction in public organisations has been increasing in recent years. At the same time, most studies are using insights from SDT, and are not really testing them. In fact, we still have limited knowledge on the outcomes of need satisfaction for civil servants. In this study, we aim to understand how need satisfaction affects the intrinsic motivation of civil servants, as well as their intention to leave the organisation in which they currently work. Using original data from 580 civil servants in Bhutan, this study finds that need satisfaction matters for intrinsic motivation and turnover intention. More specifically, this study finds that while need satisfaction has a positive effect on intrinsic motivation, it has a negative effect on turnover intention. Intrinsic motivation also mediates this relationship. To reduce turnover intention, policymakers may need to enhance public sector employees’ need satisfaction and their intrinsic motivation. These findings are consistent with Bhutan's context, in which happiness and human connection and fulfilment are more important than economic values.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Civil servants of Bhutan whose needs are satisfied are more likely to be intrinsically motivated and less likely to express an intention to quit their jobs.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>To reduce turnover intention, policymakers may need to enhance public sector employees’ need satisfaction and their intrinsic motivation.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 3","pages":"325-345"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42383529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Melanie Bryant, Vaughan Higgins, Marta Hernández-Jover, Russell Warman
{"title":"Transforming the Australian agricultural biosecurity framework: The role of institutional logics","authors":"Melanie Bryant, Vaughan Higgins, Marta Hernández-Jover, Russell Warman","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12572","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12572","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The Australian government has transformed the national biosecurity framework by shifting from a quarantine to a shared responsibility approach. This reflects a move from centralised to network-based governance. While network governance enables the development of private and public networks needed to enact a shared responsibility approach, it can sit in tension with this approach, which requires the sharing of risk and legitimacy across an array of non-government actors. Further, little is known about how the beliefs and values of individuals involved in biosecurity decision-making influence whether or how a shared responsibility approach is enacted. We use an institutional logics framework to investigate these issues and found that despite risk-shifting and scale and efficiency logics underpinning a shared responsibility approach, a bureaucracy logic has remained dominant. While a dominant bureaucracy logic can enable a shared responsibility approach by providing clear guidelines around biosecurity compliance, it can also create barriers by creating ambiguity, or increasing reliance of actors on government in the event of a biosecurity outbreak. It can also reflect shadows of hierarchy in which governments moving to network-based governance are either not ready to share power or seek to retain authority over the direction of their policy intention.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Enacting a shared responsibility approach is subject to an array of challenges. However, little is known about how the beliefs and values of individuals involved in biosecurity decision-making influence whether or how a shared responsibility approach is enacted.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Problems can arise with implementation of a shared responsibility approach particularly related to the different and conflicting ways in which decision makers can interpret and understand a policy intention.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Despite efforts from public and private partners to work together, a shared responsibility approach is dominated by a bureaucracy logic. This can provide clear guidelines for actors around compliance but can also create further dependence on government in the event of a biosecurity outbreak.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 4","pages":"407-423"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12572","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46188817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leadership skills for regulators","authors":"Mitzi Bolton, Michael Mintrom","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12571","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12571","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Regulation plays a vital role in reducing harms and promoting public order. However, regulatory reform has been likened to painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it never ends. Coupling this reality with the increasing array of areas requiring regulation, there is an acute need for regulators to become more effective in how they work. We discuss the leadership skills needed to ensure regulators consistently contribute to the creation of public value.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Regulators can be more effective when they appreciate their authorising environment and the factors which make that environment dynamic.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Careful calibration of enforcement practices to the capabilities of those being regulated can reduce conflicts and improve outcomes.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Regulators with good communication skills can do much to resolve apparently intractable disputes.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 1","pages":"133-137"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12571","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44691890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Moloney, Azad Singh Bali, P. Fawcett, Michael Di Francesco
{"title":"Australia and abroad: The AJPA on public administration, Public‐Policymaking, and public sector governance","authors":"K. Moloney, Azad Singh Bali, P. Fawcett, Michael Di Francesco","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12545","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43892730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexandra Kriz, Julia Tresidder, Anne-Maree Dowd, Jay Weerawardena, Lars Witell, Hannah Snyder, Rohan de Pallant
{"title":"Business model–dynamic capabilities and open innovation initiatives in research-intensive organisations: A case of Australia's national science agency","authors":"Alexandra Kriz, Julia Tresidder, Anne-Maree Dowd, Jay Weerawardena, Lars Witell, Hannah Snyder, Rohan de Pallant","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12570","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12570","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Publicly funded national science agencies create value as innovation catalysts and through their scientific and research missions, they tackle wicked problems. Understanding how dynamic capabilities and business model innovation enable research-intensive organisations to seize the market in the mission is key to translating bold new science that has impact. We qualitatively explore how Australia's national science agency—the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)—has pursued open innovation to support business model–dynamic capabilities in an evolving publicly funded landscape. We reflect on the value of open innovation initiatives that have allowed the CSIRO to ambidextrously pursue world-class science while achieving impact.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Dynamic capabilities and business model innovation are strategic tools for publicly funded national science agencies seeking to seize the market in the mission.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>We examine a case of business model–dynamic capabilities in CSIRO.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Open innovation has been important for CSIRO as part of an ambidextrous approach.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 3","pages":"400-404"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12570","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42346834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The mixed effects of e-participation on the dynamic of trust in government: Evidence from Cameroon","authors":"Ge Xin, Elna E. Esembe, Jia Chen","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12569","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1467-8500.12569","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Regular participation of citizens in governance and policy processes has been considered critical to the functioning of the democratic model of governance. While recent studies have documented the emergence and evolution of participatory governance in Western countries, little is known about the influence of citizens’ participation on e-governance in African countries. Leveraging an original survey conducted in Cameroon on citizens’ participation in and satisfaction with a Facebook-based e-participation initiative, this study explores how participation in the governance process through the Internet has affected African citizens’ trust in their local and national governments. The results first suggest a weak positive association between citizens’ e-participation and their trust in governments. However, further decomposition of the positive association between satisfaction, performance, and trust shows that their relationships are critically enhanced by citizens’ participation in e-governance, suggesting that the trust-enchancing impact of e-participation is likely to be dominated by indirect effects. The results also indicate that the moderating mechanism is likely to differ between citizens’ trust in the local and national governments, which sheds light on the understanding of the effects of e-participation for both academics and practitioners.</p>\u0000 \u0000 <p>[Correction added on 14 February 2023, after first online publication: The section “Summary at a glance” should not have been included. It has been removed.]</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>Novel participatory governance initiatives such as e-Participation could enhance trust in the government, but such an effect is likely to be precipitated indirectly.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>e-Participation positively affects people’s trust in their government primarily by reinforcing the trust-enhancing effect of satisfaction with the participatory program and perceived performance of the government.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>The effect of e-Participation on trust in government is also positively moderated by citizens' satisfaction with the participatory program and perceived performance of the government.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 1","pages":"69-95"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48495933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}