Effective Public Services Research Articles

Public Management Development in England: New Right, New Left and Third Way

This article aims to evaluate the changing notions of public services as expressed in NPM, and to place these in the context of the emergence of new political ideas which are associated with the New Right, New Left and Third Way. There have been different attempts to theorise and formulate the rapidly changing nature of political and managerial re-organisation in Britain. Additionally, there have been different ways of defining and describing these developments. However, similar themes have been emphasized and an agenda of common concerns are recognised that can be articulated as a modernisation movement seeking to enhance democratic governance and effective public service delivery. Among new ideas, most emphasis was placed on corporate management, strategic planning, performance measurement and fundamental corporate review, quality management and administrative accountability. There is also a new emphasis on central-local government relations.

THE PROBLEMS OF COURT SERVICES TYPES AND TARIFF BASED ON GOVERNMENT REGULATION NUMBER 53 OF 2008

The administration of judiciary is a form of state obligation as the fulfillment of civil rights for citizens. Various efforts in improving the quality of court services is continue to be encouraged through a modern judiciary with the development of information system technology, a necessity in the era of globalization. In addition, there is a paradigm shift in public services from traditional model to modern, efficient, effective and transparent public service. This was marked by changes in the form of services from manual performance models to information system automation and digitalization. The general practice of fulfilling public demands for government services continues to evolve rapidly following a series of measures (optimal), while the ability and capacity of service providers in meeting the demands of services of the developing community are slower follows the calculation series. As a result, there is a gap that requires continuous improvement through service innovation that requires sufficient funding. At present, the main government funding sources from the taxation sector are no longer able to cover all state expenditures. The trend of state income from the two sectors of state revenue, namely the tax and non-tax sectors in the last five years shows that the income from the tax sector continues to increase, while the Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) sector is relatively declining. Moreover, the provision of public services is endeavored to be free of charge. In judicial services, optimization of PNBP is based on the principle of administering justice (simple, fast and low cost) which has been regulated through Government Regulation Number 53 of 2008. The instructions for implementing government regulations have not been able to fully accommodate the activities and activities of case services, resulting in internal policies letter of the Secretary of the Republic of Indonesia No.268/SEK/01/V/2010 Regarding Time Remaining Cases and Case Fee Giro Services. Thus, it will be examined whether the demand deposit services and the remaining down-payment cases are the performance of the judiciary and whether it is possible for the Ministries/Institutions to self-determine through internal policies on the types of charges and non-PNBP tariffs set by PP No. 53 of 2008.

The Use of Advertising Appeals and Women Delineation in Breast Cancer Related Web Advertisements: A Semiotic Analysis of Western and Eastern Advertising

This study explores the use of various advertisements and representation of women role in web-based Breast Cancer related advertisements that appeared online, were observed on Google images for three months on weekly basis. Systematic sampling technique was used to gather the sample for the analysis. Signs and symbols are involved in creating the meanings and advertising creates to use of these signs to convey the desired intended messages. This study used semiotics as a method for analyzing various appeals and depiction of females in these breast cancer related web advertisements (BCAds). This research serves as a reagent by building a knowledge base and raising awareness regarding breast cancer related advertisements to develop a persuasive message in order to influence the female in detection of cancer. This study will be significant for policy makers and health communicators in developing effective public services messages to understand the power of signs and symbols.

A Study on Factors Influences Behaviour Intention towards Passenger Rail Transportation

Environment concerns are developing trends as the number of private vehicles in Malaysia has expanded each and every year. The needs for effective and efficient public transportation services are crucial to attract more people to use public transport, hence overcoming the issue of traffic congestion. Rail as sustainable transport capable help in a decrease of private vehicles utilized and in addition accomplish green environment. The aim of this study is to determine the factor that influences behaviour intention towards rail transportation. All the predictor variables are involves in the study. The data were collected from 384 local peoples that stay in Klang Valley through questionnaire. The sampling method used in the study is non-probability. The outcomes of this study are expected encourage people to use the rail transportation services provided in Malaysia. In this study, attributes such as services reliability, fares, safety and security will be investigated to show the relationship between this variables and the behaviour intention of passenger on choosing rail transport. Data collected were then analysed using correlation and multiple regression analysis.

MANAGING WASTEWATER IN DECENTRALIZED INDONESIA: COULD LOCAL DEMOCRACY IMPROVE PUBLIC SERVICE?

ABSTRACT This article seeks the construal of sounds local democracy and public service improvements in Indonesian decentralization context by bringing the example of wastewater management in Bandung Municipality. Data collected through series of interviews with respected individuals involved in wastewater service, particularly those who directly engage in water and sanitation projects funded by local and external funding sources. Despite the positive view on decentralization could create a more powerful local government in overseeing local development for more effective public service delivery. It also could be tested by the fragile administrative system and the immature local democracy. In the case of wastewater service in Bandung Municipality, for example, the respected institution called PDAM Tirtawening (Bandung Municipality Water Supply Agency) shows less efficient use of fund compared to the same project funded by the AusAID (Australian AID) as one of Indonesian development partners. Sound governance and administrative reform should be employed to achieve better public service performance. Keywords: local democracy, decentralized Indonesia, Bandung Municipality, wastewater management, governance reform

Innovative Citizen’s Services through Public Cloud in Pakistan: User’s Privacy Concerns and Impacts on Adoption

The world is going to be more and more digital with effective utilization of information and communication technologies in government services to provide services to their citizens. In developing countries, public cloud is now considered a powerful platform, for providing scalable and cost effective public services to the citizens, due to their limited resources and budget. Public cloud has been adopted by both developed and developing countries for providing e-government services. User’s adoption is equally essential just like the government’s adoption of new services. Government needs to assess the user’s behavior intention and use behavior before choosing public cloud as platform for their innovative citizen’s services also known as government to citizen’s services (G2C). As citizen’s information is stored on public cloud, which is provided by a third party, so user’s concerns about privacy of information may affect the adoption of these services. The aim of this study is to find out the privacy factors that influence the adoption of e-government services by choosing and recommend suitable technology adoption model. As a methodology, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model was amended to add two additional privacy variables from e-commerce domain i.e., Perceived Internal Privacy Risk (PIPR) and Cloud Information Privacy Concern (CIPC). Thus the new model included in addition to PIPR and CIPC, its own four elements of performance expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), and Facilitating Condition (FC). The data was collected from respondents who had used both public cloud and e-government services. Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the effect of all variables on Behavior Intention (BI) and Use Behavior (UB). The findings show that Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE) and Social Influence (SI) had positive effects on user’s Behavior Intention (BI) while Cloud Information Privacy Concerns (CIPC) and Perceived Internet Privacy Risks (PIPR) had negative effects on Behavior Intention (BI). The Facilitating Conditions (FC) and Behavior Intention (BI) had a strong positive effect on User Behavior (UB).

The Quality of Health Services in Tawaeli Health Center, Tawaeli District, Palu City

Effective public services carried out by governments or corporations can strengthen democracy and human rights, promote economic prosperity, reduce poverty, improve environmental protection, be wise in the use of natural resources, deepen trust in government and public administration. The purpose of this study was to determine how the quality of health services at the Tawaeli Health Center, Tawaeli District, North Palu. This type of research is qualitative research that is a study used to investigate, describe and explain a phenomenon or problem. To find out the quality of health services in the Tawaeli Health Center according to Zeithaml-Parasuraman-Berry there are four indicators used namely tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. There are 8 informants in this study with accidental technique, which is the technique of determining samples based on chance. The results in this study indicate that the Health Services at the Tawaeli Health Center in the District of Tawaeli in Palu City are seen from several aspects that are still not good, the first is tangible, responsiveness is also still lacking. However, seen from the aspects of reliability, assurance, and empathy, it was considered good.

Diversity, Inclusive Governance and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Federal Character Principle in Focus

The need for inclusive governance has become more urgent in the face of the ethno-politically propelled violence prevalent in the world especially in Africa. The Federal Character Principle though introduced to redress geopolitical imbalance and bring about national integration, has become the Achilles heel of Nigerian politics. Thus, the thrust of this paper is an in-depth analysis of the Federal Character Principle as an instrument of retooling Nigeria diversity for inclusive governance and sustainable development. Through a documentary search, the paper examined the application of the principle and its effect on key principles that promote effective public service delivery and sustainable development. Our findings show that the principle has gone a long way to reduce various factors of mutual distrust and rivalries among states and geopolitical zones for sharing of the Nigerian commonwealth. However, the implementation of the principle has impinged on the application of the merit principle in public service recruitment and selection which is key to effective service delivery and sustainable development. In its varied application, the principle tries to prop the weak but downplays excellence thereby brewing injustice and inefficiency. Based on the thesis that Nigeria can only continue to seek unity and development upon the continuing basis of ethno-political diversity, the paper makes some recommendations towards a more effective application of the Federal Character Principle. These include applying the principle only at the entry level into the service while climbing up the ladder should depend on solely on merit, recruitment for post requiring specialist training should not be based on Federal Character Principle but strictly on merit among others.

E-Governance and Effective Bureaucratic Practices in Nigeria Civil

E-governance involves the usage of information technology by government agencies to engage citizens and provide government services. It seeks the establishment of effective and productive electronic driven qualitative public service delivey. This research is carried out to ascertain the level of adoption of e-governance and its attendant outcome on public service delivery in Nigeria. Using a survey research design, five hundred questionnaires were administered to federal and State workers. Given the necessity of internet usage to e-governance, results indicated that age had significant negative relations with internet use, which implied that younger employees were more engaged in internet usage than the older employee. Also, while more males than females use more of the internet, marital status was not significantly related to internet use. Also, the results indicated that majority of the workers perceived that while e-governance had eased service delivery, reduced corruption and enhanced productivity of workers; the extent of its adoption and usage is still very low. Respondents identified poor and internet services; poor electricity supply and limited knowledge of and accessibility to computers as some of the problems militating against the effective usage of e-governance. The study concludes that while e-governance has enhanced qualitative service delivery, its limited use in the country makes its positive impact insignificant to the public. The full potential of e-governance could be effectively engaged only if public awareness, enhanced policies, infrastructural development and trainings in communication technology are provided to civil servants in the country.

Double Auction-Based Pricing Mechanism for Autonomous Vehicle Public Transportation System

The autonomous vehicle (AV) is expected to be an important “building block” of the future smart city. Recently, an AV-based public transportation system has been successfully developed to provide precise, effective, and intelligent public transportation services. For better quality of service, the system encourages market competition by accommodating multiple AV operators. To facilitate the pricing process, a pricing mechanism was developed but it can only process one service request each time. This can significantly impair the overall passenger admissibility, especially when there are many outstanding requests to be processed. In this paper, we redesign the pricing mechanism for handling multiple requests simultaneously. To do this, we formulate the key component of the mechanism, i.e., request-AV allocation, as a double combinatorial auction-based process. We construct a new winner determination problem that can accommodate requests of different AV service types. We also investigate its duality to devise an efficient service charge determination rule. We evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism and charging rule with extensive simulations. The results show that the mechanism can result in better social welfare than the original scheme. Moreover, we examine the computational time required and the percentage of successfully served passengers. The simulations demonstrate that the mechanism can make the AV public transportation system more practical.

CO-PRODUCTION OF INNOVATIVE PUBLIC SERVICES – A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Co-production is currently one of the pillars of the public sector reform around the world. The potential of this concept is increasingly recognized in the design and improvement of public services in cities. Co-production is a partnership among citizens, public institutions and enterprises, which enables all the parties to be more involved in the management of the city and contributes to greater control over public resources (Horne, Shirley, 2009). In the subject literature, it is pointed out that these reforms are directed to the implementation of effective public services, are a response to the deficit of active citizenship and active communities and enterprises that are insufficiently involved in the processes of designing and co-creating innovative public services in cities. The basic - and basically still valid today - conceptualization of co-production was carried out in several works published in the first half of the 1980s. The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of research on the issue of co-production in public services and to identify the main research areas related to this subject. The paper was based on a systematic review of literature, which included, among others, the emergence of basic literature and selection of publications, bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The results of the conducted research show that the issue of co-production in public services is a new subject, still not well recognized in the literature and which may constitute a current and interesting area of research.

Strengthening university governance in sub-Sahara Africa: the Ghanaian perspective

PurposeThe incentive to strengthen university governance is espoused by a number of implications but among these three are very conspicuous: improve quality of university education system, and thus provide students and the general public value for money; enhance the utilization of resources invested in university education; and nevertheless contribute significantly in human capital formation, guaranteeing effective and efficient public leadership and services to society. However, there are dearth studies on how this can be realized in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to explore pertinent issues for desirable university governance and how it can be achieved in the sub-region drawing from the Ghanaian perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative study seeking to explore the questions: what is needed to ensure desirable university governance? And how can it be achieved? Data were collected from primary sources and bolstered with secondary sources. In-depth interviews (structured and semi-structured guides) and documentary evidence were used to collect data from 19 participants in selected public and private universities in Ghana.FindingsThe study examines key governance issues such as funding, accountability, infrastructure, trust, and regulation. The paper further identifies and discusses dilemmas (weakness in legislative instruments, quality assurance, increased enrollment and self-regulation) institutions of higher learning have had to contend with in the discharge of their duty.Social implicationsIn an effort to make a difference between poverty and wealth, knowledge becomes an indispensable means and university education is at the center of such knowledge. The call for public universities to be managed like businesses continuous to be as contentious as an issue, as the term governance and the discussion might not end any moment soon. For the proponents of this idea, public universities are no longer getting the needed resource support from the state and by implication the state does no longer view university education as a social good and, therefore, they must find their own way of operating by introducing reasonable fees to generate revenue. However, the school of thought that is against this idea thinks that university education must continue to be treated as a social good because it is geared toward the development of the country and is expensive and if not subsidized, who can afford. The poor and disadvantaged will be marginalized and so the state must directly or indirectly continue to fund university education in return for accountability.Originality/valueThis explorative study is a contribution to the discourse of university governance. It primarily focuses on issues that could serve as a catalyst in enhancing university education. This has important implications for equipping universities in Ghana and within the African sub-region with similar challenges for a better output to meet the development needs of its ailing economies and reposition it as a major firebrand to instill competition on the global arena of lifelong learning.

Sustainability Development of Smart Public Transportation in Globalization

The paper studies the sustainable development opportunities of the public passenger transport market in the globalized environment. The main aim of the research is to improve the competitiveness of sustainable public transport. Transportation needs to be considered as an important aspect of the development of cities in a sustainable manner and for an attempt to create a smart city. Those cities care about inhabitants, apply environmentally acceptable methods of waste management, offer more efficient public transportation, health care, and social system. Many studies have shown the relationship between effective public transportation services and sustainable development at the city level. European Commission is trying to motivate all the regional administration in an overall acceptance of sustainable urban mobility plans as part of the strategic vision for solving pressing problems in the process of functioning of modern cities. The purpose of this study is to present a concrete step in achieving the objectives of the "smart city" concept with the use of modern information technology in the traffic and passengers in the real-time monitoring process, tickets issuing, as well as passengers informing in Subotica, Serbia. There is a wide gap between community expectations from public transportation services and the actual quality of service provided. The resulted grounded theory has brought attention to the necessary reform of transportation institutions; transportation policy which is integrated into settlement development of the smart city strategy and consistency of economic systems; public transportation development proceeding from supply improvement; and finally, the need of awareness improvement via education. The research conclusion is a necessity of external fund allocation through emerging means of liberalization and public-private partnership and the introduction of the more demand responsive transportation system while taking into account sustainable consumption as well.

The potential of service-dominant logic as a tool for developing public sector services

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss the potential of the service-dominant logic (SDL) as a tool for developing more effective public sector services in practice.Design/methodology/approachOne case concerning a public sector service organization has been studied – a contact centre in a Swedish municipality. The material consists of descriptions of managers’ and co-workers’ experiences of how day-to-day operations are performed to manage services provided to citizens. The material has been gathered via interviews and focus group interviews.FindingsThe study found that SDL has something to offer as a tool. SDL indicates that the distinctive features of different kinds of services, the exchange of knowledge and the dependency between actors do not have a high priority in the day-to-day work done at the contact centre. However, SDL cannot actually guarantee that public services will be more effective without including the politicians.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings only originate from one organization. No service users have participated.Practical implicationsWhen using SDL as a tool for developing public sector services, the role of the politician is crucial. Public service managers must therefore find ways of including politicians in the service system as important and committed actors.Originality/valueSDL, in the context of public sector services, has only previously been studied to a very limited degree empirically.

The management of medical records in the context of service delivery in the public sector in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: the case of Ngwelezana hospital

In South Africa, under the public sector reforms, issues of public service delivery are anchored to by Batho Pele principles that were introduced in 1997 to entrench public service delivery in order to underscore transparency and accountability. Among other issues, the Batho Pele principles espouse efficient and effective public health sector delivery services which, in context, can be propelled by a reliable and trustworthy medical records regime. Several studies conducted at national level and particularly at provincial level (Limpopo, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape) point to the fact that good and efficient records management is critical in realising accountable and transparent health service delivery. There has been the recognition of this synergy between medical records management and service delivery, yet there are few empirical studies which examine the role of records management in KwaZulu-Natal province; more particularly, with specific reference to the Ngwelezana Public Hospital. This study, therefore, presents empirical results of an investigation into the implementation of good records management services and the extent to which this contributes to corresponding citizen satisfaction of good health delivery at the community level. The ultimate goal of the study is to understand the scale and dimension of good medical records management in determining issues of accountability in health care for citizens at local or community level in the quest for optimal health service delivery and governance. Overall, the evidence shows that poor records management could undermine the service delivery, particularly transparency and accountability in health delivery. The study endorses, based on best practice, recommendations that underscore good records management governance, recordkeeping system, records management technology and infrastructure, records archival processes, and records management human resource capabilities

PEDAGOGY AND IMPACT OF GIFMIS ADOPTION AS A TOOL FOR PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT

One major problem affecting economic growth of Nigeria is the poor management of the Nations Financial Resources. This arose from corruption, mismanagement and ill-allocation of government financial resources. The need to promote public accountability, transparency, cost effective public service delivery, judicious allocation of government scarce financial resources and economic growth gave impetuous for the introduction of Government integrated financial and management information system (GIFMIS). The study shall examine the effect of GIFMIS on government financial transactions in relation to public funds management and how it has significantly influence government policy. The paper adopts a survey design and primary data which were obtained with the use of well structured administered questionnaires. The data obtained were analyzed using an Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings reveal that with the use of GIFMIS, there has been an appreciable reduction in corruption, financial irregularities and leakages with the attendant improvement in transparency and accountability in the management of government funds. Also, the use of GIFMIS has led to effective implementation of government policy. The paper recommends the adoption of GIFMIS at all levels of government to form part of financial management reforms practices to enhance transparency, accountability and judicious use of government financial resources.

Getting it right! Critical Success Factors of BPM in the Public Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

The continuously evolving and dynamic social, economic, political environments and public pressures demand governments to deliver effective and efficient public services. In the quest for meeting these demands, governments respond by designing extensive reforms and performance objectives to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of their agencies. Many governments have adopted Business Process Management (BPM) as a strategy to achieve these reforms. However, the successful implementation of BPM initiatives has been a challenging task for agencies responsible for these initiatives, with many projects not reaching completion or not achieving the intended outcomes. This paper reports the results of a systematic literature review on critical success factors (CSFs) related to BPM projects in the public sector. We analysed 31 papers in this review covering both the developed and developing country contexts, sourced from refereed and peer reviewed journals. A quasi-deductive approach was applied for the qualitative data analysis using NVivo 10 software. This resulted in the synthesis and identification of 14 critical success factors of BPM in the public sector, each defined and described in detail with specific attention to the sub-factors mentioned within the literature. Any differences between developed and developing country contexts were sought for, and the observations critically analysed. We propose a series of research questions, designed to support the progression of BPM in the public sector of developed as well as developing countries.

Perceptions of Unrestricted Gift Giving and the Integrity of Public Servants in Nigeria

Public policy regulation in Nigeria allows public servants to accept gifts without restriction based on local culture. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand this cultural practice and its implications for the integrity of public servants. Using Mettler and SoRelle’s conceptualization of policy feedback theory, the research questions focused on the perceptions of civic organization leaders on this cultural practice in relation to the integrity of high-level public servants in a region of Nigeria. Data were collected from 10 purposely selected public administrator leaders using open-ended, semistructured interview protocols, and an analysis of publicly available documents. The data were subjected to an inductive coding procedure followed by thematic analysis. Findings suggested that the perceptions of the cultural practice of unrestricted gift giving in the public service were negative and unethical. Consequently, the findings also suggested an amendment to the relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution to provide for a restricted monetary value of gifts allowable in the public service. The implications for positive social change include a better understanding of ethics in public administration. Policy makers and practitioners can utilize findings to bring about ethical, effective, and efficient public service in Nigeria. Other nations can learn from the Nigerian experience of unrestricted gift giving in the public sector.

Informal Sector and Tax Compliance: The Role of Associational Membership in South West, Nigeria

This paper identifies the viability of trade unions and associations in informal sector as agents for state tax collection and their labour absorptive capacity using a field survey of 600 artisans selected from three states (Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo) in the South West region of Nigeria. It reveals that although the informal sector is marginalized with a weak voice in centralized policy making, it has allowed a large proportion of the population to escape extreme poverty through its economic activities. Using logit regression, the result indicated that associational members in informal sectors are strong and showcase a positively significant relationship towards ensuring tax compliance among tax payers. The paper recommends the integration of informal sectors into the formal economic mainstream of Nigeria with the usage of trade associations as agent of tax collection and further recommends the functioning of effective public service delivery by government in a transparent and accountable government towards ensuring tax compliance among taxpayers.

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Smart Sensors for Smart Grids and Smart Cities

Smart city and smart grid are stimulating topics which have spurred a wealth of multidisciplinary research activities for the past few years. Cities and their grids are undergoing remodeling to assure effective services to growing population with heightened demand. Users continuously define new requirements, thus becoming active part in the management and future design of cities and power grids. Investment in buildings, transportation, healthcare, energy and public services brings with it new features that improve quality of life; smart mobility, traffic control, home automation, effective water supply, energy efficiency, renewable energy and new public services are just some examples of the modern revolution we are witnessing.