German Local Government Research Articles

Local Government Employees’ Technology Acceptance of E-Participation: An Empirical Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling

The quality and quantity of e-participation procedures depend heavily on the acceptance of the local government employees involved. Based on Venkatesh’s unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, this study investigates the factors influencing these employees’ usage intentions. The results of an online survey of German local government employees show that facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, and social influence significantly impact acceptance. The effect of factors like administrative culture could not be confirmed. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Perceived usability of local government (LG) financial statements by local councillors: comparative study of Finland and Germany

PurposeThis paper studies the usability of LG financial statements as perceived by local councillors. By drawing on a comparative view of two countries with different periods of accrual accounting use in the public sector, the authors investigate how local councillors assess the usability of LG financial statements in order to question accounting reform success. Determinants that influence the usability assessment are explored.Design/methodology/approachExploratory design: data were collected from questionnaires with 24 local councillors from five Finnish local governments (LGs) and 30 local councillors from six German LGs. An adjusted variant of the system usability scale was analysed with descriptive statistics and non-parametric group comparisons.FindingsIn both countries, the usability assessment of financial statements seems to be positive, indicating a successful reform process. In Finland, where the accrual government accounting reform has had a longer time to settle in, councillors seem to assess usability only partially better than German councillors. Several determinants of the usability assessment were detected, such as size and debt level of the LG as well as local councillors' gender, political orientation and education. Generally, councillors need more assistance and training in using financial statements.Originality/valueThe study is the first to conduct a quantitative assessment of the usability of LG financial statements as perceived by councillors. The system usability scale was adjusted to a public sector reporting context. The paper adopts a transnational comparative approach.

Comment: Towards a Viable Local Government Structure in Nigeria: Overview of US and German Local Government Systems

Local governments are principally established for development at the grassroots and they must be structured in a manner that makes them viable and capable of achieving this purpose. The objective of this comment is to appraise the current local government structure under the Nigerian constitutional framework with a view to evolving a more viable structure that will lead to better service delivery at the local level. Comparative reference is made to the local government systems in the United States of America (USA) and Germany so that good practices can be compared with the Nigerian System. The comment suggests a system that will be in tune with the Nigerian local milieu.Key terms: Local government, local administration, one-tier model, two-tier model, hybrid structure, Nigeria

Are Some Citizens More Equal than Others? Evidence from a Field Experiment

AbstractThe equal treatment of all citizens is one of the fundamental principles of good administrative practice. Nevertheless, there are growing numbers of media and scientific reports on unequal treatment by public administrations. This article examines the unequal treatment of citizens by gender and ethnic origin by means of a survey‐based field experiment in German local government. With the help of two vignettes and randomized assignment of names, responses to fake citizen requests by local governments are analyzed for speed, quality, and service orientation. The results show very limited discrimination effects. While there is no evidence for general ethnic discrimination, a more differentiated analysis indicates patterns of ethnic discrimination conditioned by gender.

Participation of Local Government in National Legislative Process - Focused on German Federation, State and Local Government -

Participation of Local Government in National Legislative Process - Focused on German Federation, State and Local Government -

THE PSM–LEADERSHIP FIT: A MODEL OF PERFORMANCE INFORMATION USE

This article examines the use of performance information by public managers. It conceptualizes purposeful data use as a type of extra‐role behaviour which requires additional effort on the part of the managers and which is not extrinsically rewarded. The article sheds light on one potential antecedent of performance information use – the motivation of the users. It argues that we can observe high levels of data use if managers driven by public service motivation (PSM) work under transformational leaders. Using a needs–supply perspective on supervisors and followers, we suggest that there is aPSM–leadership fit which fosters the performance of this extra‐role behaviour. The article is based on data from German local government and its findings contribute to the literatures onPSMas well as on performance management.

The Other Type of Performance Information: Nonroutine Feedback, Its Relevance and Use

The literature on performance information use explains how public managers deal with mainly quantitative data that are systematically collected and formally reported. This article argues that such a narrow understanding is incomplete, as it excludes all kinds of nonroutine performance information, including verbal, ad hoc, and qualitative feedback. To understand how responsive public managers are to performance feedback, alternative sources of performance information need to be taken into account. A literature review suggests considering two important sources of nonroutine feedback: organizational insiders and relevant external stakeholders. Using survey data from German local government, this article shows that public managers prefer to use nonroutine feedback over routine data from performance reports. Furthermore, a regression analysis indicates that different sources of performance information require different determinants to trigger their use. This finding is essential because it suggests that explanations of performance information use can covary with the information source studied.

Value for money? German local government efficiency in a comparative perspective

In this article, we investigate the cost efficiency of German local governments in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2004 using a stochastic frontier approach. Besides being the first study on German data, we add two elements to the literature. First, we provide a comparative perspective, allowing us to embed our results in the broader literature. Second, unlike most previous studies, we explicitly account for exogenous or nondiscretionary influences when estimating municipal efficiency scores. The results suggest that disregarding such exogenous factors can lead to significant and systematic bias in the estimated inefficiency levels. Particularly, underestimation of efficiency occurs for municipalities with high tourist activity, while the reverse is true for municipalities with high unemployment.

Reforming Local Government in Germany: Institutional Changes and Performance Impacts

The article analyses trajectories and impacts of local government reforms in Germany. It scrutinises four major approaches of reform that have affected the local authorities since the beginning of the 1990s: decentralisation, privatisation, administrative reforms (‘New Steering Model’) and the direct election of mayors. The objective of the article is to encompass the multifaceted elements and effects of local government reform in Germany. Firstly, the author examines the institutional changes that have occurred in the local councils. Secondly, the broader effects and impacts of the institutional transformations are dealt with, analysing how the latter has enhanced performance, steering capacity and political accountability. Finally, the author evaluates the extent to which the reforms have put their mark on the inherited and historic tradition of the German local government system.

Citizens versus Parties: Explaining Institutional Change in German Local Government, 1989–2008

From 1989 to 2008, local governments in Germany have experienced ‘massive’ institutional change. Local constitutions have been altered in all German states giving citizens more say in local politics, while at the same time reducing local parties' influence. The paper first describes the changes according to two analytical models of local democracy. It then tries to explain the institutional change as a process of diffusion in a federal state. Three questions are answered in the explanatory part: Why did some forerunner states start with the reforms at the beginning of the 1990s and not earlier? Why did the reforms continue in other states although there was no general pressure from above? And why did some states continue with the reforms while others did not? In the first part of the paper the changes are described quantitatively while a qualitative approach is used in the explanatory part. The analyses show that the beginning of the reforms is related to ‘massive political failure’ while further reforms are a result of rational learning by different actors (large parties, small parties, non-governmental actors) depending on different means of reform. Based on these results we forecast a continuation of the reforms in the next years leading to a convergence of citizen-oriented local government all over Germany.

Initiatives, Actors, and Environment: The Munster City Council and "Jewish Policy" in the National Socialist State

German local government showed great continuity from before 1933 to well after 1945, but its leaders have been considered responsible for National Socialism only rarely: city councils did not initiate the Holocaust. Nevertheless, local authorities formed part of the National Socialist system of discrimination, oppression, and terror. This article examines the government of Munster to explain its role in the persecution of the Jews, focusing on the expropriation of property. The author demonstrates that although the Munster City Council was less Nazified than others, it not only carried out central initiatives but also undertook acts of plunder on its own. Her analysis shows that local authorities often determined the day-to-day persecution of Jews more than did legal provisions emanating from the highest levels of government.

Nachhaltige Finanz- und Investitionspolitik der Bundesl�nder: Die ostdeutsche Perspektive

: The article examines the fiscal adjustments necessary in East Germany to ensure that the East German state and local government sector runs a sustainable fiscal policy in the next decades and maintains a high level of public investment expenditures. The latter is of special importance in East Germany because in some areas the public infrastructure capital stock in East Germany is still deficient as compared to West German standards. In addition, regional development policy still uses capital subsidies to attract mobile business capital to East Germany. These subsidies are co-financed by the East German state governments, the federal government as well as the EU. We derive a sustainable time path of primary expenditures in East Germany and estimate the volume of investment expenditures that can be financed without violating fundamental sustainability restrictions. In addition, we inspect the fiscal federalism perspective of public investment taking into account the specific institutional settings in Germany.

The Use of Budget Reforms to Modernize Governance in German Local Government

This article discusses the NPM-style reforms being introduced to German local government. The authors focus on the experiences of the city of Uelzen in Lower Saxony because it is quite advanced in terms of implementing NPM-based reforms.

Local Government Modernization in Germany: Between Incrementalism and Reform Waves

In taking a historical‐institutionlist approach, this paper looks at the development of administrative reforms in German local government which, because of the comparatively high degree of political and administrative decentralization of the Federal Republic has played a crucial role in the latter’s entire politico‐administrative setting and, hence, in its institutional reforms. The paper mainly identifies three stages in the post‐war development of administrative reforms. During the ‘planning movement’ of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Germany’s local level government and administration underwent significant and, to a considerable degree, lasting institutional changes. The 1980s were a period of incrementalist adaptation. Since the beginning of the 1990s, conspicuously later than in the Anglo‐Saxon and Scandinavian countries, but earlier and faster than the federal and the Länder levels, Germany’s local government has embarked upon dramatic changes particularly on two scores. First, in a growing number of municipalities and counties, administrative modernization was incorporated under the heading of a ‘New Steering Model’ (NSM) that largely drew on the dominant international New Public Management (NPM) debate. The dynamics of the ongoing administrative reforms are marked by an ‘amalgamation’ of NPM/NSM and earlier (‘traditional’) reform concepts. Secondly, at the same time, the political institutions of local government have under‐gone a significant shift as a result of the introduction of direct democratic procedures (direct election of mayors and heads of counties, binding local referenda). The paper argues that it is this co‐incidence and co‐evolution of administrative and political reforms that make for the peculiarity of Germany’s current modernization trajectory, distinguishing it from the Anglo‐Saxon and, to a lesser degree, from the Scandinavian modernization paths.

Budgetary imbalance and the politics of cutback management in German local government

(1985). Budgetary imbalance and the politics of cutback management in German local government. Local Government Studies: Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 43-61.

Professional organizations in West German local government

Public AdministrationVolume 61, Issue 3 p. 327-329 Professional organizations in West German local government GERHARD BANNER, GERHARD BANNER Executive Director KGSt (Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsvereinfachung) CologneSearch for more papers by this author GERHARD BANNER, GERHARD BANNER Executive Director KGSt (Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsvereinfachung) CologneSearch for more papers by this author First published: September 1983 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1983.tb00528.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume61, Issue3September 1983Pages 327-329 RelatedInformation

German State and Local Government

German State and Local Government

The West German health and social services: A comparison with their British equivalents

An analysis has been made of the German local government, health and social services, with particular reference to West Berlin. A comparative study of these with those of Great Britain show many points of similarity but also reveal several fundamental differences. These are:— o (i) Federal, Land and Local Government .—The Land , like the American State, is the sovereign power in the federal system. Its local government units are based on regional groupings which incorporate both town and country and control almost all public utilities and services which are situated within their own area. (ii) Health Services .—( a ) By their almost complete devolution of authority from the Land to the local unit of authority, the latter's health department has the opportunity of offering a much more comprehensive co-ordination of all social, health and welfare agencies at community level. ( b ) Insurance medical practice is still a part of the general insurance scheme. Great Britain would have had a comparable scheme if, in 1948, the National Health Insurance's range of medical care had been extended to cover dependents and all forms of institutional treatment. (iii) Social Insurance .—( a ) The insurance schemes run by public corporations, are actuarial in that they are self-supporting and, within an upper and a lower limit, the more a man earns the greater his contributions and his eventual benefits. As these schemes are entirely independent of the Land finances, the individual contributions are much higher than those in Great Britain. ( b ) These insurance schemes show, incidentally, that the Germans have accepted the principle of equal pay for equal work. In the salaried groups the pay is weighted for both marriage and children. (iv) Labour Department .—( a ) Unemployment benefits include a rent assessment and so are relatively higher than those in Britain. There is, however, a tighter means test employed for those on assistance. ( b ) The German trade unions have advanced beyond joint consultation in industry to an active share in industrial policy decisions.

The new roof over German local government

AbstractInterference with local initiative likely result of developing doctrine of state dominance.

English and German Local Government Compared.

English and German Local Government Compared.