{"title":"The journey of participatory budgeting: a systematic literature review and future research directions","authors":"L. Bartocci, G. Grossi, S. Mauro, C. Ebdon","doi":"10.1177/00208523221078938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523221078938","url":null,"abstract":"This systematic literature review analyses the body of knowledge on the budgeting practice known as participatory budgeting (PB). This review identifies and analyses a dataset of 139 English-language papers focused on PB in the public sector published over three decades (1989–2019) in academic journals of different disciplines. The findings shed new light on PB, by systematizing this body of knowledge and explaining the PB idea journey. A research agenda is also set by clarifying overlooked areas of research and practical interests. Points for practitioners The review provides a conceptual model to cope with specific issues in each phase of a PB journey, and it also sheds light on the role of political and managerial actors. Traditional and new themes to design a PB and implement participatory mechanisms are proposed. Practitioners can benefit from indications about the use of technological tools in mobilizing participation.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"757 - 774"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46426649","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}
{"title":"Government research institutes in the Italian policy advisory system","authors":"M. Galanti, A. Lippi","doi":"10.1177/00208523211070510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211070510","url":null,"abstract":"In a Napoleonic country such as Italy, ministerial cabinets have traditionally served as central advisors in the politicised policy advisory system (PAS), while evidence-based policy-making has usually been marginal. Nevertheless, recent developments in political systems have pushed for the pluralisation of the Napoleonic PAS toward a stronger demand for scientific and expert advice. Against this backdrop, the role of government research institutes (GRIs) as advisors represents an interesting change that could potentially fuel the development of an evidence-based approach in a period of changing advisory practices. We investigate these developments through a case study concerning 20 Italian GRIs that are engaged as influential advisors or recruited to support implementation through policy work. We obtained evidence through document analysis, in-depth interviews, and a questionnaire administered to the 20 GRIs. The overall picture displays a shift in conceiving policy advice in the political system and opens the door to innovation. Points for practitioners Evidence-based policy making is expanding also in countries with scarce policy capacities. Government research institutes may be asked to perform different policy works, including evidence-based advice and also implementation tasks. The financial autonomy and reputation of the government research institute matter for their advisory role. Policy advice is described as the result of the matching between a contingent political demand and the offer of expert knowledge.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"791 - 807"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48817066","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}
{"title":"Measuring red tape in a hospital setting: A survey experiment","authors":"J. Luyten, W. Marneffe","doi":"10.1177/00208523211073498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211073498","url":null,"abstract":"Public administration research is actively exploring alternatives for the General Red Tape (GRT) scale to measure red tape. Owing to increasing criticism on the GRT scale, scholars proposed the Three-Item Red Tape (TIRT) scale as an alternative. Using a repeated cross-sectional design, this article tests both scales in a before–after analysis of a major change in the organization of administration in a hospital. The results indicate that the GRT scale does not capture the resulting major change in red tape, which raises questions on the instrument's validity in a bottom-up research design within one organization. The TIRT scale, however, which measures red tape at the work environment level, does reflect the change in red tape but shows empirical weaknesses in its design. Additionally, by randomly assigning respondents to substantially different red tape definitions, this article shows that the red tape definition does not significantly impact respondents’ GRT ratings. The predominantly used GRT scale is not able to capture an increase in red tape in a bottom-up intraorganizational research design in a hospital, which raises questions on the instrument's validity. A more recent alternative for the GRT scale, more specifically the TIRT scale, captures the increase in red tape but shows empirical weaknesses. The wording of the red tape definition does not impact respondents’ answers on the GRT scale.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43091417","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}
{"title":"Bad government performance and citizens’ perceptions: A quasi-experimental study of local fiscal crisis","authors":"Shugo Shinohara","doi":"10.1177/00208523211067085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211067085","url":null,"abstract":"The link between actual government performance and citizens’ performance perceptions has been controversial. Given the prevalence of negativity bias, however, the link between bad performance and citizens’ perceptions could appear to be strong. To explore this theoretically unconfirmed link, this study uses a quasi-experiment that contrasts a Japanese town in fiscal crisis, involving tax increases and service cuts, with a control village not in fiscal crisis. Using a difference-in-differences analysis with a careful retrospective pretest, it finds negative effects of the fiscal crisis on citizens’ process perception, while it shows no effects on citizens’ service satisfaction and trust in the mayor, council, and administrators. The study further finds positive associations between citizens’ performance perceptions and civic engagement. It discusses these findings to identify the boundary conditions in which a bad performance–negative perception link is likely to appear. Points for practitioners Psychology literature on negativity bias suggests that the causal links and mechanisms between bad performance and negative perceptions are stronger than those between good performance and positive perceptions. Not only citizens, but also politicians and administrators, hold negativity bias. Their blame-avoidance strategies could alleviate the growth of citizens’ negative perceptions with bad performance. Participatory governance might moderate the bad performance–negative perception link by placing citizens in a performance-improvement process and promoting their interaction with government officials.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"722 - 740"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45548724","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}
{"title":"Conceptualizing talent in public sector municipalities","authors":"Daniel Tyskbo","doi":"10.1177/00208523211065162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211065162","url":null,"abstract":"While talent management is considered a top priority among practitioners and constitutes a major research area, the actual meaning of talent still remains largely undefined. In response to a lack of clarity and empirical basis regarding the notion of talent, various calls have been made for exploring how organizations conceptualize talent, particularly in the public sector context. This article answers these calls by adopting a qualitative in-depth case study to explore how senior Human Resources (HR) managers in public sector municipalities conceptualize talent in practice. The findings illustrate how HR managers use a variety of conceptualizations of talent. We analyze and theorize this variation and the ways of conceptualizing talent using two conceptualization categories: non-contextual conceptualizations, which are general and related to official practices (i.e. talent as future leaders and talent as a general commitment and drive forward), and contextual conceptualizations, which are specific and related to informal assumptions (i.e. talent as Trojans and specialists, talent as individual agility, and talent as public service awareness). Points for practitioners Human Resources (HR) managers use a variety of conceptualizations of talent in practice. Two conceptualization categories – that is, “non-contextual” (general and related to official practices) and “contextual” (specific and related to informal assumptions) – help us understand this variation and the ways of conceptualizing talent. HR managers are only partly shaped by the particularities of the public sector context, and some of the talent philosophies held by HR managers do not align with the existing and official talent management practices.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"519 - 535"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45070215","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}
{"title":"Harmonising public sector accounting laws and regulations of the European Union member states: powers and competences","authors":"Karoline Helldorff, J. Christiaens","doi":"10.1177/00208523211060007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211060007","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses the powers and competences of the EU to standardise public sector accounting of the member states and to take other EU action in the field of public sector accounting. We argue that public sector accounting forms part of the administrative organisation of the member states that is not a core EU competence. EU initiatives such as the European Public Sector Accounting Standards project, which aim to increase transparency and comparability, therefore need to follow the rules set out for administrative matters in general. The study reveals on the one hand that EU actions are essentially limited to voluntary cooperation and influences of other policy areas. But on the other hand, it shows that they do not need to be limited to the initiatives currently driven by Eurostat. Points for practitioners The future of the European Public Sector Accounting Standards project is uncertain. However, it is very unlikely that it will take the shape of a top-down set of readymade EU accounting standards that will force public administrations to adjust their inner workings. Public sector accounting is not (yet) a (typical) European policy, but simply a national one that the EU can support. The EU initiative can be considered as an opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing on how to increase transparency of public sector accounting.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"741 - 756"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46123952","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}
Min Zhang, Xi-yang Zhao, Yunpeng Xue, Jun Yang, Yan Zhang
{"title":"A meta-analysis of how the culture and technical development level influence citizens’ adoption of m-government","authors":"Min Zhang, Xi-yang Zhao, Yunpeng Xue, Jun Yang, Yan Zhang","doi":"10.1177/00208523211057358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211057358","url":null,"abstract":"With the popularity of mobile Internet technology, mobile government has become the mainstream of current government affairs management, which highlights the growing importance of exploring citizens’ intention to adopt m-government. To find the important driving factors of m-government adoption and understand what roles the cultural and technical development level play in it, this study conducted a meta-analysis to search for important factors in m-government adoption from 42 studies from 17 countries. Based on the socio-technical theory, this study applied a meta-regression to explain the differences in the effects of these factors, from the perspective of culture and technical development level. The results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude, social influence, perceived compatibility and trust all play important roles in m-government adoption. Culture and technical development level play moderating roles on the above relationships except for the perceived ease of use–perceived usefulness path. Our findings also reveal that the joint moderating effect of cultural and technical development level can better explain the impact of environmental factors on m-government adoption and consequently provide suggestions for the future implementation of m-government in different countries with diverse cultures. Points for practitioners This study proposes a research model of m-government adoption. Public managers should focus on citizens’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude, social influence, perceived compatibility and trust, so as to improve citizens’ intention to use. The results also confirm that culture and technical development level have a specific moderating effect on m-government adoption, which means that public managers should not only consider service quality, but also note environmental factors. They especially should consider the flexible mobile government development strategies in different countries.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"129 - 144"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42271610","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}
Jun Wen, Umer Farooq, M. Tabash, G. E. El Refae, B. Subhani
{"title":"Governance and tax revenue: does foreign aid matter?","authors":"Jun Wen, Umer Farooq, M. Tabash, G. E. El Refae, B. Subhani","doi":"10.1177/00208523211056071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211056071","url":null,"abstract":"This study seeks to explores the relationship among governance, foreign aid, and tax revenue. A common notion on governance is that it is a multifaceted factor, it may affect from other factor that is foreign aid. Foreign aid can hamper the governance situation and thus can reduce tax collection. To test these theoretical assumptions, we collected the numerical data from Asian economies for the years 2001–2019 and employed the panel FMOLS (fully modified ordinary least square) test to estimate the regression. The empirical findings first reveal that governance and foreign aid have a positive association with tax revenue in the long run. However, a negative trend in tax collection was observed following the interaction of foreign aid and governance. Foreign aid deteriorates the governance situation, which has a negative spillover impact on tax revenue. Our empirical analysis suggests that policy officials should focus on exercising governance and foreign aid effectiveness to meet the objective of more tax collection. Points for practitioners Policy officials should focus on better governance exercises. They should carefully decide on the volume of foreign aid receipts. However, if it becomes necessary to receive foreign aid, then they should focus on aid effectiveness. Such steps can benefit the practitioners to collect more tax.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"273 - 291"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45287293","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}
{"title":"Pre-contractual relational governance for public–private partnerships: how can ex-ante relational governance help formal contracting in smart city outsourcing projects?","authors":"R. Mu, Peiyi Wu, Maidina Haershan","doi":"10.1177/00208523211059643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211059643","url":null,"abstract":"In the literature on relational governance, it is often assumed that relational governance emerges primarily after formal contracting and acts as a functional supplement to a formal contract. In this article, we show that especially facing deep uncertainties, relational governance can emerge before the start of formal partnerships, in the form of trust-building, exchanging resources, and fostering flexibility. Based on a case study of a smart city outsourcing project, this article introduces a forward-extended framework of relational governance that captures the pre-contractual dimensions of relationship cultivation and their role in facilitating formal contracting. The study finds that pre-contractual relational governance facilitates formal contracting by reducing substantive, evaluative, technological, and procedural uncertainties in the project and helps the partners to design an elaborative contract, undergo an easy negotiation, adopt short-term contracts, and use simple monitoring and evaluation methods. The article thus argues that only understanding post-contractual relational governance is insufficient for exploring the relation between formal contracting and relational governance; facing deep uncertainties, it is necessary to understand how public and private parties develop their pre-contractual relationship and reduce the uncertainties before a formal contract can be signed. Points for practitioners Practitioners should realize that there is much room for relational governance in the pre-contractual phase of PPP projects when the projects are rife with various uncertainties. Public and private parties can take measures to build trust, foster flexibility, and create interdependence before a formal contract is signed. These ex-ante relational governance measures can facilitate formal contracting by reducing the various uncertainties, making a formal contract designable, making negotiation smooth and easy, and reducing the need for contract supervision.","PeriodicalId":47811,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Administrative Sciences","volume":"89 1","pages":"112 - 128"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47593358","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}