Quality Of Local Governance Research Articles

Determinant Factors That Influence Local Government Quality of Accounting Information Systems

Determinant Factors That Influence Local Government Quality of Accounting Information Systems

Agroecology, slow food and sustainable development goals (SDGs): resilience of agro-food systems, combat hunger, and local governance

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), transcending their prescribed targets and actions, propose a critical reflection on global food production and consumption patterns. These inquiries foster the promotion of resilient agri-food systems, with Agroecology identified as a pragmatically viable alternative for achieving the advocated goals. The scope of this article is to discuss these intersections, demonstrating that simple actions such as valuing local products, as advocated by Slow Food, can strengthen relationships and networks around food, promoting food security, preservation of knowledge, practices, traditions, and biodiversity, as well as the sense of belonging, improvement of quality of life, sustainable development, and local governance. Methodologically, this research is qualitative, adopting a bibliographical approach and employing a literature review to contextualize and reflect the problem, anchored in the Agroecology domains, SDGs, and the paradigm proposed by the Slow Food movement. This study substantially contributes to understanding the intricate relationships between the SDGs, agri-food systems, and Agroecology. By emphasizing the importance of seemingly simple practices, such as valuing local products, the article highlights the imperative of holistic and sustainable approaches to achieve broader sustainable development goals guided by the principles of “well-being.”

Factors affecting effective citizen-based monitoring of frontline service delivery in South Africa

Background: In South African local government, citizen-based monitoring (CBM) for frontline service delivery is pivotal for enhancing governance. Understanding the factors shaping effective CBM in this context is crucial for improving public service delivery. This study examines the complex dynamics involving government departments, community-based organisations (CBOs) and local media communities in CBM to uncover challenges and opportunities within frontline service delivery.Aim: This research identifies and analyses the factors impacting the effective CBM of frontline service delivery in South African local government. Despite existing research, gaps persist in understanding collaboration among government departments, CBOs and local media in frontline service delivery.Setting: The study conducted within South African local government focuses on frontline services like healthcare and education across urban and rural areas, ensuring comprehensive insights into CBM challenges.Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used, including qualitative interviews, surveys and document analysis. Interviews with government officials, CBO representatives and media members provided qualitative data, while surveys collected quantitative insights from citizens. Secondary sources supplemented the findings.Results: The study reveals multifaceted factors influencing CBM in frontline service delivery, including communication dynamics, resource availability, political influences and diverse stakeholder perceptions.Conclusion: Addressing these factors requires stakeholder collaboration to foster trust, allocate resources and mitigate political influences. Policymakers must optimise CBM to enhance frontline service delivery.Contribution: This study contributes to improving public service access and quality in South African local government by identifying challenges and opportunities. It offers insights for policymakers and stakeholders to enhance transparency, accountability and citizen engagement.

Public governance, public investment and regional economic growth: Evidence from Vietnam

The article provides evidence on the effect of local public governance on the impact of public investment on local and regional economic growth, using spatial and regional logic. The research uses the spatial Durbin model and produces a panel data set that was conducted on 63 provinces of Vietnam from 2006 to 2022. Based on the interaction between public governance and public investment, the main findings indicate that their interaction plays an important role in adjusting the effects of public investment and public governance on economic growth not only in the locality but also spillover to neighboring localities in both the short and long terms. It suggests that local public governance not only hampers the impact of local public investment on local economic growth but also has spillover effects on the growth of neighboring provinces or regions in Vietnam. Additionally, the results of detailed analysis of PCI component indicators show that many aspects of local public governance are hindering local economic growth but contributing to promoting neighboring localities economic growth. Or, it has no effect the locality but promote or hinder the regional economic growth. The findings in this study implies that authorities of localities need to be cautious when using resources to improve the various aspects of public governance when designing strategies to enhance the quality of local public governance. It also suggests that this spillover effect is a crucial factor in advocating for more redistributive fiscal policies and regional governance policies aimed at reducing economic disparities caused by territorial boundaries. Therefore, authorities should prioritize regional cooperation strategies in their decisions regarding public governance and public capital allocation.

Local Governance Quality and Trust in Government: The Serial Mediation Effect of Perceived Social Fairness and Subjective Well-being

This study aims to investigate the relationship between citizens' trust in government (TiG) and the local governance quality (LGQ), considering the influence of perceived social fairness (PSF) and residents' subjective well-being (SWB) as intermediate factors. The study utilized data from the 2021 Chinese Social Survey (CSS) and employed structural equation modelling (SEM) for analysis. The results indicate that LGQ positively impacts TiG through PSF and SWB mediating factors. Specifically, as LGQ improves in China, residents experience increased social fairness, enhancing SWB and subsequently strengthening their TiG. This research provides a comprehensive understanding of the TiG-LGQ relationship, offering practical insights for improving national leadership and governance by promoting social fairness, justice, and overall well-being.

EVALUASI PRAKTIK AKUNTABILITAS PEMERINTAHAN DI KOTA KENDARI

This study evaluates government accountability practices in Kendari City as a representation of the condition of local government in Indonesia. Qualitative methods were used by involving various parties, and the results showed the Kendari City government's focus on efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and community participation. The evaluation results are based on the use of Key Performance Indicators and Government Institutional Accountability and Performance Reports. The Kendari City Government maintains the Unqualified Fair opinion of BPK RI, even though there are indicators that have not been achieved. Policy recommendations include proactive publication, bureaucratic reform, increased transparency through financial reports, and community empowerment. This research is expected to provide guidance for stakeholders in improving accountability and quality of local governance in Kendari City.

The valuation effect of going International: evidence from QDII in China

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to evaluate the valuation effect of deregulation policy on capital outflows by an event study approach. Using the policy announcement of Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) and Bond Connect in China, we find a short-term valuation effect that the stock market responds negatively to the deregulation on capital outflows and firm’s size could act as a shield to defend this shock. Moreover, the financially constrained firms are more negatively affected by this policy shock, suggesting that financial vulnerability is an important force driving down the stock valuation. Finally, both the quality of corporate governance and bureaucratic quality of local government could help firms to avoid valuation loss from this policy shock especially those with tight financial constraints.

Local government and small business revenue forecasting: evidence from a transition economy

Abstract This study examines the importance of governance quality of local government in small businesses’ future revenue growth forecasting accuracy. Forecasting errors are due to either overestimation or under-estimation. When local governance quality improves, transaction costs are eliminated, boosting firms’ actual performance up to the level forecast, thereby reducing overestimation. Also, when local governance quality improves, institutional trust (trust in government) and generalized trust (trust in strangers) improve, lifting the expectation of future performance to the actual level, thereby reducing under-estimation. We investigate these two mechanisms using a set of more than 250,000 small businesses in Vietnam using an instrumental variable approach to control for potential endogeneity. It is found that governance quality enhances forecasting accuracy by reducing under-estimation forecasting errors but, interestingly, without affecting overestimation errors. This paper is one of the first that links governance quality to business forecasting, indicating that local authorities can help local businesses make efficient resource preparation by improving their governance quality.

THE EFFECT OF E-GOVERNMENT QUALITY (E-GOVQUAL) ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT E-GOVERNMENT USER SATISFACTION

The measurement of E-Government user satisfaction at local governments in Indonesia still needs to be improved to achieve the high accountability demanded by the central government. Based on the theory of behavior, six factors influence the satisfaction of local government E-Government users, namely knowledge of ease of use, trust, function and form interaction, reliability, content and display of information, and support. This study examines the influence of these six factors on the E-Government Quality of local governments in the province of West Java. Respondents in this study were the head of the West Java regional government agency. This study uses PLS-SEM and succeeds in proving that there is a positive and significant effect of ease of use, trust, function and form interaction, reliability, content and display of information, and support for local government E-Government user satisfaction. These findings provide practical contributions as a guide for local governments to improve E-Government Quality. Future research needs to expand the scope of the observation area, incorporate subjective and objective scales of user satisfaction variables, and develop other variables based on other theories such as contingency theory, agency theory, and dynamic capabilities theory.

Aligning Land Grant leadership programs with the needs of elected officials through Extension: Perceptions, priorities, and participation among Florida county commissioners

Addressing complex challenges has become the norm for local elected officials, and the need for skilled leadership at the local level has never been greater. County commissioners are not only tasked with day-to-day county management but must also make crucial decisions on issues such as pandemic response, rapid population growth, and natural disasters. The purpose of our study is to assess a university-based leadership development program for county commissioners, offered in collaboration between Extension at the University of Florida and the Florida Institute for County Government. We explore attitudes toward leadership programs among Florida county commissioners, show which competencies commissioners prioritize for leadership development, and identify potential barriers to participation. We find that county commissioners believe that leadership programs improve the effectiveness of leaders and the quality of local government. Additionally, we discover that the highest priority leadership competencies are strategic planning, communication, economic trends, conflict resolution, and critical thinking. Finally, our study shows that universities that partner with county government associations to offer leadership programs can create an important avenue for rural, resource-constrained counties to build the capacity of elected officials.

The bigger, the better? Optimal NGO size of human resources and governance quality of entrepreneurship in circular economy

PurposeThe paper sets out to understand the key issues that the various functions and optimal allocation of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in the circular economy that provide public services depend not only on external quantities or densities but also on their internal size of human resources.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses different data samples and models to study the influence mechanism of optimal NGO size of human resources and its differentiated effects on governance quality of entrepreneurship.FindingsThe authors find that a reduction in transaction costs and an increase in the aggregation degree of public demand lead to increased human capital and lower financial capital intensity. In addition, the authors find that NGO size of human resources has a relationship that is approximately U-shaped (or inverse U-shaped) with the governance quality of entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsThe paper discusses the implications for programs that encourage NGOs to optimally determine their internal size of human resources and further improve the governance quality of entrepreneurship in the circular economy.Originality/valueThe paper reveals the significant nonmonotonic relationship between local governance quality and NGO financial size, even after controlling for other NGO, city and provincial characteristics.

Participatory Budgeting and Fiscal Transparency of Local Governments : Moderating Effect of Political Competition

The goal of allowing citizens to participate in local government’s decision-making process is to enhance fiscal transparency and accountability. Under the accrual-based accounting system, however, mayors of local governments have substantial discretion in estimating accounting numbers, as well as political incentives to manage performance in order to appease voters. Accordingly, such participation may fail to achieve its intended objective. Utilizing a unique dataset of 220 Korean local governments’ accrual-based financial statements for 2015-2018, we examine the effect of citizens’ participation in the budgeting process on financial reporting quality and how the effect varies with political competition in local municipalities. We first do not find any significant association between the level of participatory budgeting institutions and financial reporting quality measured by the allowances for uncollectible taxes. This finding is consistent with the countervailing effects involved in the participatory budgeting system (i.e., citizens’ enhanced access to accounting information versus mayors’ opportunistic incentives). However, we find that this relation hinges on the level of municipal political competition, captured by the gap in votes obtained by the incumbent mayor and the second-place candidate in the election. The relation becomes significantly positive when political competition is weaker. This evidence implies that mayors’ political incentives and concerns about re-election dominate the monitoring role of citizen councilors, consequently reducing fiscal transparency. Overall, our results suggest that political competition dampens the positive effect of participatory budgeting on the financial reporting quality of local governments.

Regional informal institutions, local governance and internal migration in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Internal migration is an institutionalized process; it is affected not only by economic factors but also by institutional forces. This study thus employs institutional theory to investigate the importance of regional informal institutions and local governance quality on types of migration, as well as their impacts on migrants’ earnings. Examining a set of national internal migration data in Vietnam, we find that pure socialist regions (the north) attract in-migration for job-seeking purposes, while pre-capitalist regions (the south) attract in-migration for business opportunity-seeking purposes. More importantly, migration across regions with dissimilar informal institutions yields adverse effects on migrants’ earnings. Finally, migration from regions with a lower governance quality to regions with a higher governance quality improves migrants’ earnings.

Illegal land use by Italian firms: An empirical analysis through the lens of isomorphism

Illegal land use is an important environmental issue that is attracting increasing attention. Taking the neo-institutional literature as a starting point, this article outlines an approach focusing on illegal land use by firms. The pervasive nature of illegal land use is examined in terms of isomorphism, intended as imitative behaviour, in response to two kinds of environmental pressures: institutional pressure exerted by complementary institutions at local level, and market pressures, particularly the degree of uncertainty affecting certain sectors. Using a database mainly consisting of judgments handed down by the Italian Court of Cassation, this study argues that low quality of the local regulation and enforcement has a significant impact on the incidence and degree of seriousness of illegal land use, though a connection with the low quality of local governance has yet to be proven. In addition, the study highlights the fact that in sectors characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, the spread of illegal land use consists of practices of a more serious nature. An understanding of the extent to which firms replicate illegal land use with a similar degree of seriousness may help in the design of effective land management policies. Due to the complexity of the behaviour of firms a policy mix is suggested, including transparent rules, and fully functioning checks and balances, particularly local enforcement mechanisms. However, it is argued that better outcomes are more likely to be achieved by preventive measures in the sense of more acceptable land-use regulation and industry-specific measures.

The economic returns of decentralisation: Government quality and the role of space

Research on the impact of decentralisation has generally overlooked the fact that the economic returns of transferring powers and resources to subnational tiers of government greatly depend on the quality of the devolved government. Scholarly literature has also neglected that these returns may be similarly affected by the autonomy of neighbouring areas and their government quality. In this paper, we use panel data fixed effects analyses and spatial Durbin econometric models to assess the extent to which the economic returns of political and fiscal decentralisation in the European Union between 2000 and 2015 are mediated by local government quality and that of neighbouring regions. The results suggest that the economic benefits of regional autonomy are greater in regions with a better government quality, while regions with a low quality of government grow less, regardless of their level of decentralisation. The gains of decentralisation mainly accrue through indirect effects, as regions grow more if surrounded by other, more decentralised regions than through their own level of decentralisation. In all cases, local government quality is a powerful driver of growth, irrespective of whether a region is considered individually or in relationship to its neighbours.

Transfer preferences of bureaucrats and spatial disparities in local state presence

Most states lack the ability to maintain a uniform presence at the local level. While in some places, citizens experience an attentive and present state that is quick to address their demands, in other parts, the same state can be unresponsive and absent. The unevenness in state presence shapes its capacity to delivery services and its legitimacy in the eyes of the citizens. What explains the spatial unevenness in local state presence? This paper argues that the transfer preferences of mid-level bureaucrats are an important determinant of local state presence. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines insights from qualitative fieldwork and a unique dataset on the transfers history of mid-level bureaucrats in Indian land bureaucracy, I show that bureaucrats have strong transfer preferences and regularly lobby to avoid being placed in jurisdictions further away from their homes or being relocated over long distances. Jurisdictions less preferred by bureaucrats are more likely to experience state absence at the local level. Further, spatial disparities in local state absence are concentrated according to historical patterns of development across different regions of the state; historically less developed regions with lower bureaucratic representation within the state and experience a more prolonged duration of bureaucratic absence on account of bureaucratic lobbying against transfer directives. This paper highlights the importance of transfer preferences of individual bureaucrats and their collective representation in shaping the quality of local governance.

Pengaruh Kompetensi, Independensi, Integritas, Akuntabilitas dan Profesionalisme terhadap Kualitas Audit di Pemerintahan Daerah (Studi Empiris Pada Inspektorat Provinsi Jambi)

This study aims to determine the effect of competence, independence, integrity, accountability and professionalism on audit quality in local government at the inspectorate of Jambi Province. Several previous studies regarding audit quality show different results. Therefore, other research needs to be done to retest the theory about audit quality. The independent variables in this study are Competence, Independence, Integrity, Accountability and Professionalism. For the dependent variable in this study is audit quality. This research was conducted at the Inspectorate Office of Jambi Province. The data in this study were primary data obtained from distributing questionnaires directly to the Inspectorate Office of Jambi Province. The results of this study partially show that the characteristics of independence and integrity, while competence, accountability, professionalism have no effect on audit quality. The results of this study simultaneously influence audit quality

Local governance quality and law compliance: The case of Mozambican firms

In sub-Saharan Africa, many micro and small enterprises do not (or at least only partially) comply with official rules and regulations. Given that low compliance rates impede economic growth and human development, it is essential to identify mechanisms that can help improve abidance with laws. This paper investigates how the quality of governance (defined as comprising three dimensions: transparency, legal security and infrastructure quality) is related to firm-level compliance with business laws and regulations in the case of Mozambique. We utilise firms’ subjective perceptions of governance quality and their self-reported law compliance over time to study the governance–compliance nexus, taking into account unobserved firm-level heterogeneity. Furthermore, we examine whether political legitimacy acts as a mediator or a moderator between governance and compliance. Our results suggest that perceived improvements in transparency positively affect firms’ compliance with existing legislation. Requests from provincial government officials for firms to comment on local regulations seem to be especially important for law abidance. We find that legitimacy is independently associated with compliance, but does not seem to mediate or moderate the quality of governance. Overall, our results suggest that, even in one of the least developed and non-democratic parts of the world, active participation in political processes is positively associated with law compliance.

The Impact of Quality of Public Administration on Local Economic Growth in Vietnam

This study examines how the quality of public administration influenced local economic growth in Vietnam from 2011 to 2019. Based on previous studies, we evaluate this impact through the Cobb–Douglas function includes government capital, thereby examining both the individual and interactive effects of local government expenditures and quality of public administration on local economic growth in Vietnam. The system GMM method (SGMM) was used to estimate the model with data collected from 61 provinces and cities in Vietnam in the period 2011–2019. The findings suggest that local government expenditures and quality of public administration positively influence local economic growth in Vietnam. Thereby, the authors propose policy implications to improve the efficiency of local government expenditures on local economic growth in Vietnam in terms of public administration.

The The Effects of Government Internal Control Systems and Technology Utilization on the Financial Statement Quality of Local Government

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the internal control system and the usage of information technology on the quality of local government financial reports (a survey on regional working units of Tolitoli regency). This is a quantitative study. The data used are original data gathered by delivering questionnaires to 13 Regional Working Units (RWU) that generate local revenue in Tolitoli Regency; each RWU is represented by three respondents, for a total of 39 respondents. The data was analyzed using multiple linear regression with the Statistical Product and Service Solutions application. The findings revealed that the internal control system and the application of information technology had a significant partial or simultaneous effect on the quality of the Tolitoli district government's financial reports