Public Sector Research Research Articles

When Co-Generative Learning Met Co-Production and Co-Creation - On How Three Different Concepts Shaped “Samskaping”

AbstractThe Norwegian/Danish word «samskaping” is today one of the most frequently used terms or concepts in the public discourse of development and change. Scholars familiar with the work of Morten Levin and Max Elden will recognize “samskaping” as a short translation of their model of “cogenerative learning”, originating from the discussion in the 80’s and 90’ on participative action research processes. However, there is no simple line of transfer of ideas from “cogenerative learning” in action research to “samskaping” in public sector today. Rather, three concepts from different disciplines all ended up being translated into or strongly associated with the newly constructed and popular Norwegian word “samskaping”, and Morten Levin’s “cogenerative learning” is one of the three. The two others are co-production and co-creation, which originates from fields of innovation research in private and public sector. Seen from the position of action research and the heritage from Morten Levin, this means that although his (and Max Eldens) concept (in the Norwegian translation) appears to have gained a strong impact Norway the last decade, the meaning and importance of the concept is partially lost to many of its later users. This article will track the main roots of “samskaping” as it has found its way in the everyday language of change and development in Norway, and will in particular try to reclaim for the term or concept, some of the main themes that shaped the discussion and the design of the co-generative learning model in PAR, in particular participation, power and social change.

Innovation portfolio management for the public non-profit research and development sector: What can we learn from the private sector?

ABSTRACT Innovation Portfolio Management refers to the systems, processes and mechanisms to intentionally manage innovation investments and decisions within an organization against its mission or strategy. This approach to managing and optimizing innovation and scaling investments is rarely used by public non-profit R&D organizations. This study draws lessons from innovation portfolio management in private sector organizations. Private sector invests in innovation portfolio management to: (i) enhance transparent and evidence-based decision-making, (ii) strengthen organizational agility and mission-orientedness, (iii) facilitate monitoring, risk management and prioritization and (iv) improve overall organizational performance and learning. These innovation portfolio management benefits are equally relevant for the public non-profit R&D sector, where innovation performance and outcomes are for societal impact. Public non-profit R&D can and should manage their innovation portfolios more intentionally, and can learn from private sector successes and challenges. Embracing the opportunities, whilst managing the challenges and risks requires investment in methods, mechanisms and mindsets for effective innovation portfolio management.

Trade literature provides a path from research to practice

Abstract The work of professionals practicing in the community provides a pathway for knowledge advances to reach practice. Yet outside of medicine, little attention has been paid to this phenomenon. Similarly, professions are defined by bodies of knowledge yet studies of professions do not attend to the dynamic relationship between professionals and the ever advancing frontiers of knowledge. In this paper, we delineate the pathway from research to practice as evidenced in trade literature. Our analysis is based on bibliometric and survey data. We find evidence that trade literature is informed by research in references to research papers found in trade periodicals, and trade press articles authored by researchers. Professionals feed back their advances in practice to the community by writing articles for trade publications, and sometimes these are articles are cited by scholarly journal articles, thus the exchange of knowledge is bi-directional to a certain extent. Our survey established that many professionals read trade literature because the contents are relevant to their practice. They trust, with caveats, the material they read but trust more in material with an obvious connection to public sector research. Professionals can often point to ways their practice has improved due to something they read in a trade periodical. Thus the trade literature has institutionalized a mechanism of indirect linkage between research and practice. Indexing trade periodicals could provide a valuable resource for those wishing to make visible the connection between research and practice.

Metaverse Adoption in Public Sector: A Bibliometric Analysis

The objective of this study is to map the landscape and knowledge structure of the public sector metaverse through bibliometric analysis. Following this, a descriptive overview of the current state of public sector research related to the metaverse, including the leading ten authors and sources, most relevant keywords, and primary research topics, will be presented. The selection of the Scopus database was based on its status as the largest repository of its kind and its provision of an extensive compilation of abstracts and citations for peer-reviewed articles, proceedings, and journals. The initial search yielded 369 documents from Scopus; after eliminating duplicate and irrelevant articles, 354 documents remained. The results demonstrate the substantial development of the metaverse in the public sector, with an annual growth rate of 14.89%. This indicates that the adoption of virtual technology and the metaverse is gaining importance in the public sector. Castronova ranks first in terms of the quantity of studies published, with five articles, followed by De Kool and Zhang. "Metaverse," "virtual reality," and "virtual world" are the most pertinent keywords. Due to the extensive research that has been conducted on these phrases, they represent fundamental concepts in the field. Additional frequently occurring terms include "social networking (online)," "interactive computer graphics," "government data processing," and "internet." These terms underscore the significance of governance, human factors, technology, and data in shaping the trajectory of digital government services. They also exemplify the interdisciplinary character of metaverse applications within the public sector.

Impact of Exchange Rates on Returns in Share Market: A Case of Pakistan

The study focused on appraising the influence of exchange rates on returns in the share market: a case of Pakistan. Time-series data spanning 36 years (1980 to 2016) was utilized. To capture the impact of exchange rates on returns in the share market, a theory-based model consisting of six sub-models was planned and estimated through the recursive simultaneous-equations econometric estimation technique. As the data was time series, augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) tests were employed to assess the stationarity of the considered variables. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was chosen due to some variables being found at different levels, such as me (0) and I (1). Bounds tests in the conclusion declared that the value of F-statistics expressed long-run associations among variables. The results revealed that share market returns were positively influenced by the exchange rate. The model also indicated that share market returns were significantly influenced by Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI). Furthermore, National Savings (NS) demonstrated a positive and significant association with share market returns (SMR). The study's outcomes also illustrated that National Income (NI) had a positive and significant influence on SMR. The study encompassed well-expanded details and estimation techniques of various models and measures required in this type of research, especially when utilizing time-series data. Based on research findings, it was suggested that potential researchers reproduce this research to achieve a better and relatively well-conceived, well-estimated model on the topic. Additionally, it was recommended that public and private sector planners and researchers seek guidance not only on statistically significant exogenous variables but also on other explanatory variables for their effects on the endogenous variables.

The development of knowledge management implementation at the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP)

The Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), a pivotal public sector entity tasked with internal audit functions, recognizes the paramount importance of effectively managing auditors' experience and expertise. This study aims to delineate the Knowledge Management (KM) implementation stages within BPKP, a topic scarcely explored in Indonesian public-sector research. This study uses an abductive approach with a case study method by explaining a series of events over time with theory-based analysis. The results showed that the KM implementation in BPKP was carried out in four stages: preparation at the local level by conducting change management, work culture development, and initial research; implementation at the local level; implementation at the national level with a focus on the development of process, human, and technology aspects; and national development focuses on laying the groundwork for KM culture. There are KM implementation steps carried out by BPKP but not explained in the theory proposition: change management and developing a work culture that supports KM processes, initial research, benchmarking, and KM implementation regulations. BPKP needs to assess the maturity level of KM to determine the focus areas that need to be improved. This study contributes conceptually to KM frameworks tailored for public sector entities.

AUDIT EXPECTATION GAP IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The Audit Expectations Gap (AEG) is a well-known phenomenon in the private sector, and it has developed into an emergent issue that has gotten minimal attention from public sector researchers. Consequently, the AEG in the public sector has been the subject of only a small number of studies, all of which have been carried out pertaining to the financial or performance audit contexts. Subsequently, numerous scholars have defined and assessed the AEG in a variety of ways in a variety of studies using a variety of parameters. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a new synthesis of the extensive literature on the AEG concerning the public sector. Moreover, this study examines the literature on AEG definitions and meanings, diverse dimensions employed to measure AEG, various methodologies used, the reasons for AEG, and mechanisms for narrowing the gap. The relevant articles were mainly selected using related keywords namely “audit expectation gap” and “audit expectation-performance gap” blended with “public sector”, “government sector” or “performance audit” from the Google Scholar search engine and three selected databases from 1974 to 2021, as suggested by Quick (2020). The dominance of the quantitative method within the positivistic approach was found in the examination of the AEG in the Public Sector. Moreover, the Mann-Whitney U test was found to be the predominant analytical method in empirical studies that primarily utilized questionnaire surveys for data collection. The "society" side in the samples has been extraordinarily diverse, whereas the "auditor" end has always been dominated by the Auditor Generals. Further, AEG in the public sector is a multifaceted concept. Multiple causes for the AEG and various approaches to minimizing it in the public sector have been presented. As far as the originality of the study is concerned, this is the first time a literature review on AEG was performed in the public sector context. Further, all of the facets of AEG have been addressed, and research gaps and potential issues for future studies in the public sector are highlighted. Eventually, a novel definition was developed, contributing originality to the existing public sector literature on AEG.

Research on the Development of Public Administration in Lithuania

<div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p class="AbstractText">Research conducted on public administration in Lithuania covers various subjects related to different fields and activities within the public sector. However, most research focuses only on challenges associated with the civil service and local self-government in Lithuania. This research aims to define public administration research and improve understanding of the progress and trajectory of contemporary public sector research in Lithuania. The research methods include document analysis, qualitative descriptive approaches, and historical data analysis. Moreover, the triangulation method verifies research results by integrating data and observations from many sources. The research results found that in the development of public law in Lithuania, researchers in the field of Lithuanian public administration focused on the goals of government reform, civil service modernization, creative solutions, and trends and reforms in central and regional administration. They also concentrate on social policy procedures, improving public governance, and intelligent examination of public administration. Lithuanian authors also focus on improving public governance through the use of the concepts of cooperation, participation, and teamwork. The study of Lithuanian public administration is closely related to the evolution of traditional public administration, focusing on evaluating new public management practices and implementing various public management innovations in government sector organizations since the start of state restoration. Future directions of public administration research in Lithuania will focus on addressing the challenges faced by the public sector and society in other countries. These challenges include sustainable development, climate change, gender equality, and other contemporary issues that directly or indirectly impact the public sector.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING RESEARCH IN INDONESIA: A BIBLIOGRAPHY STUDY

This paper reviews the current state of management accounting research to assess the structure of the research field and track the growing literature of Indonesian researchers. A bibliography study is used to review 244 papers in the field of management accounting published in Indonesia's top national accounting journals over the past 20 years. The study tabulates the topic, research method, and settings utilizing spreadsheet and qualitative data analytics software, Nvivo 12. Management accounting research in Indonesia represents a small portion of the broader accounting field study. This study gives information on which journal produces most accounting management research and which journal favors certain research methods. Most research concentrates more on budgeting and performance-determinant analysis. The quantitative research method dominates the study, with the survey instrument serving to answer the research question. Most research is conducted in the public sector, making the public sector and management accounting research have a high intersection. This study's findings hold implications for management accounting scholars to provide insights into identifying research gaps and novelties for further research

A synthetic data strategy for Scotland: Using synthetic data to improve access to public sector data for research

ObjectivesResearch Data Scotland (RDS) is working to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing in Scotland by enabling access to, and linkage of, public-sector data for research in the public good. Our objective was to explore how synthetic data can be used to support this aim.
 MethodsWe investigated what other, similar, data organisations were doing around synthetic data, both in Scotland and beyond, and the issues to consider. We discussed use cases, tools, level of fidelity of synthesis, disclosure risk, information governance (IG) requirements, where the synthetic data might sit, who could access it, training and accreditation requirements, and barriers to synthesis. The findings were used to draft a synthetic data strategy, create a working group and plan future work. We also held a user workshop to discuss researcher requirements and asked our public panel about their understanding and concerns around synthetic data.
 ResultsThree workstreams have been set up around disclosure risk & IG, synthesis, and access, promotion & engagement. A test synthesis of education data is planned. From our user workshop one of the main themes that emerged was the usefulness of low fidelity, unlinked datasets for data discovery purposes at the early stages of a project. Other areas where synthetic data can improve data access are for training, where synthetic data can be used to upskill users in the use of administrative data, and in code development, to allow earlier access to data for code generation and to reduce the time needed in secure settings and with access to real data. Future work will bring together data controllers to discuss disclosure risk.
 ConclusionSynthetic data can potentially be used to improve and speed up data access. RDS will fund and support synthetic data projects to demonstrate value, and work with data controllers to produce synthetic datasets on an ongoing basis, for public sector research datasets in Scotland.

Talent, basic research and growth

Due to the public good nature of basic research, the mechanisms for rewarding talent are very different from those prevailing in the production of applied research by private actors. We develop a growth model in which such mechanisms are taken explicitly into account. This allows us to address the following fundamental questions: how do policies in the public research sector influence the effort and risk-taking decisions of researchers of different talent? How do these choices affect the aggregate production of basic research? What is the final impact on growth? The analysis shows that the design of research evaluation policies crucially affects both the long run rate of growth and the relationship between taxation and growth. A key and novel channel through which this occurs is the effect of basic research policy on the expected non-monetary benefits from being a researcher.

Financial Health of Local Governments: A Gender Approach

Abstract In recent years, public sector research has developed a line related to women’s participation in government and its effect on public finances. In this vein, this article attempts to empirically analyze the effect women’s presence in local governments has on municipal financial health. For that, we use a sample of the 140 Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants during the period 2008–2018 and we create four indicators that refer to cash, budgetary and service-level solvency, as well as a global index that represents the municipal financial health. Our empirical results show that municipalities with a female mayor and with higher percentages of women in the council tend to have higher levels of these ratios. This supports the view that the entrance of women into the traditionally male-dominated public sphere could benefit governments’ financial health.

Comparative Analysis Between Banking and Insurance Sector on Perception of Transformational Leadership Styles

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the differences in leadership styles prevalent in the public sector with those working in the banking and insurance industries. Cluster variables from both industries included in the analysis are as follows: Idealized influence, inspiring motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration are all components of leadership. Theoretical Framework: Due to its apparent efficacy, transformational leadership has received a lot of attention from public sector researchers over the past decade. Successful leaders alter their teams by enlisting their followers' help in effecting change. A transformational leader is one who "transforms" their followers by inspiring them to make positive personal and professional shifts. Design / Methodology / Approach:The study is exploratory research design using Quantitative data collected from the Banking and Insurance sector employees. The study uses a well-structured questionnaire using Likert scale items. The sample was chosen on Convenience basis from 5 select public sector Insurance companies and 5 select public sector Insurance companies. 100 Questionnaires each were distributed and 97 valid responses were selected for banking industry and 90 responses from Insurance Industry were selected for the study. Paired t test using SPSS software was utilised for analysing the data in the study. Findings:The findings of the study show that there is significant difference between the leadership styles practices in Banking and Insurance industry. The banking sector employees showed a greater inclination towards transformational leadership with higher mean scores and statistically significant outcomes. Research Implications: Banking and insurance each have their own distinct cultures and management philosophies; as a result, they cannot be studied as a single entity under the umbrella of the BFSI sector. Additional research on the various leadership styles currently in use within the banking and insurance sectors is necessary. Originality/Value: There are no studies related comparative analysis between Insurance and Banking industry on the leadership styles in Public sector.

Role of global public sector research in discovering new drugs and vaccines

Analysis of international public-sector contributions to Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs and vaccines allows for a more thorough examination of the global biomedical innovation ecosystem by institution of origin. Using new and existing methods, we have identified 364 FDA-approved drugs and vaccines approved from 1973 to 2016 discovered in whole or in part by Public Sector Research Institutions (PSRIs) worldwide. We identified product-specific intellectual property contributions to FDA-approved small molecule and biologic drugs and vaccines from the FDA Orange Book, our peer network, published studies, and three new sources: reports of medical product manufacturers’ payments to physicians and teaching hospitals under The Sunshine Act of 2010, a paper by Kneller and 64 royalty monetization transactions by academic institutions and/or their faculty that one of us (AS) maintains. We include a total of 293 drugs discovered either wholly by a US PSRI or jointly by a U.S. and a non-U.S. PSRI. 119 FDA-approved drugs and vaccines were discovered by PSRIs outside the U.S. Of these, 71 were solely discovered outside the US, while 48 also involved intellectual property contributions by US PSRIs. In the context of the global public sector landscape, the US dominates drug discovery, accounting for two-thirds of these drugs and many of the important, innovative vaccines introduced over the past 30 years. Contributions by Canada, UK, Germany, Belgium, Japan, and others each amount to 5.4% or less of the total.

Comparing the economic terms of biotechnology licenses from academic institutions with those between commercial firms.

Licenses of drug-related biotechnologies from academic institutions to commercial firms are intended to promote practical applications of public sector research and a return on government investments in biomedical science. This empirical study compares the economic terms of 239 biotechnology licenses from academic institutions to biotechnology companies with 916 comparable licenses between commercial firms. Academic licenses had lower effective royalty rates (median 3% versus 8%, p<0.001), deal size (median $0.9M versus $31.0M, p<0.001), and precommercial payments (median $1.1M versus $25.4M, p<0.001) than corporate licenses. Controlling for the clinical phase of the most advanced product included in the license reduced the median difference in effective royalty rate between academic and corporate licenses from 5% (95% CI 4.3-5.7) to 3% (95% C.I. 2.4-3.6) but did not change the difference in deal size or precommercial payments. Excluding licenses for co-commercialization did not change the effective royalty rate but reduced the median difference in deal size from $15.8M (95% CI 14.9-16.6) to $11.4M (95% CI 10.4-12.3) and precommercial payments from $9.0M (95% CI 8.0-10.0) to $7.6M (95% CI 6.8-8.4). Controlling for deal terms including exclusivity, equity, or R&D in multivariable regression had no substantive effect on the difference in economic terms. This analysis suggests the economic returns associated with biotechnology licenses from academic institutions are systematically lower than licenses between commercial firms and that this difference is only partially accounted for by differences in the intrinsic terms of the license agreements. These results are discussed in the context of a reasonable royalty rate, recognizing that factors extrinsic to the license agreement may reasonably impact the negotiated value of the license, as well as economic theories that view government as an early investor in innovation and technology licenses as a mechanism for achieving a return on investment.

Training Sources and Preferences for Agricultural Producers and Professionals in Middle-North Mato Grosso, Brazil

Brazil’s midwest has rapidly expanded large-scale commodity crops such as soybeans and maize. We surveyed both agricultural producers and agricultural professionals in the middle-north region of Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Agricultural professionals provide technical support to agricultural producers and both are served by Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (ATER) with nationally and internationally recognized extension outreach. Our objectives were to define and contrast agricultural producer and professional characteristics, especially source(s) relied upon for agricultural training. There were 94 agricultural producers and 89 agricultural professionals that responded to our surveys, which were summarized and contrasted using statistical software. There was a predominance of male farmers, married with a broad age range. Agricultural professionals who advise producers had a high educational level. Producers and professionals were most reliant on private sector agricultural companies and business support organizations for agricultural training, versus public institutions such as universities and state/federal agencies. In the state of Mato Grosso, extension outreach can involve joint efforts by public and private sector entities. However, more targeted efforts are needed to ensure that public sector research is more equally used by agricultural producers and professionals in the region, especially during field days and face-to-face technical lectures during the off-season.

How Neurotech Start-Ups Envision Ethical Futures: Demarcation, Deferral, Delegation

Like many ethics debates surrounding emerging technologies, neuroethics is increasingly concerned with the private sector. Here, entrepreneurial visions and claims of how neurotechnology innovation will revolutionize society—from brain-computer-interfaces to neural enhancement and cognitive phenotyping—are confronted with public and policy concerns about the risks and ethical challenges related to such innovations. But while neuroethics frameworks have a longer track record in public sector research such as the U.S. BRAIN Initiative, much less is known about how businesses—and especially start-ups—address ethics in tech development. In this paper, we investigate how actors in the field frame and enact ethics as part of their innovative R&D processes and business models. Drawing on an empirical case study on direct-to-consumer (DTC) neurotechnology start-ups, we find that actors engage in careful boundary-work to anticipate and address public critique of their technologies, which allows them to delineate a manageable scope of their ethics integration. In particular, boundaries are drawn around four areas: the technology’s actual capability, purpose, safety and evidence-base. By drawing such lines of demarcation, we suggest that start-ups make their visions of ethical neurotechnology in society more acceptable, plausible and desirable, favoring their innovations while at the same time assigning discrete responsibilities for ethics. These visions establish a link from the present into the future, mobilizing the latter as promissory place where a technology’s benefits will materialize and to which certain ethical issues can be deferred. In turn, the present is constructed as a moment in which ethical engagement could be delegated to permissive regulatory standards and scientific authority. Our empirical tracing of the construction of ‘ethical realities’ in and by start-ups offers new inroads for ethics research and governance in tech industries beyond neurotechnology.

Experimental Processes and Diffusion among Qat Farmers in Yemen

Production of qat in Yemen is not supported by any commercial or public sector research and advisory programs. Nonetheless, production continues to expand rapidly and farmers have developed technologies to solve production problems and to adapt traditional and nontraditional practices to new areas. These developments occur through systematic experimentation and observation. A study in monocrop and mixed cropping qat production areas of the Central Highlands identified twelve instances of technology developed by farmers. Using a grounded theory approach and a methodology adapted to the sensitive nature of the enquiry, the study elicits models of farmer experimentation. It also explores the rich network of informal communication channels through which new information is exchanged among qat producers, traders and consumers. The role of itinerant labourers in the information system is highlighted. While the study confirms the dynamism of farming systems in the absence of formal research and development programs, it also raises concerns about health and environmental issues.

The role of funding on research and science: The impact of glyphosate herbicides on health and the environment

The objective of this research is to determine the factors that influence the outcomes of previous scientific research on the potential adverse effects of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) on human and animal health and the environment. The emphasis is placed on answering the questions about the causal linkages between who funds and performs the research and the research outcomes. A lack of change in use of the GBHs in agriculture stems directly from public (Government) support of the position how the GBHs are safe for humans and the environment. The results of our meta-analysis clearly demonstrate how large and growing majority of influential research on the subject suggests otherwise. Early research on the subject, prior to 2010, done by private and public sector researchers was strongly indicating how GBHs are safe for humans, animals and the environment. It is possible that there is inertia in food safety policy leading to this large gap and disconnect between the results of hundreds of more recent studies and the (current) course of public policy. This study helps us better understand why science on this subject has not been conclusive and thus not the main driver of “science-based” policies about the GBH based production of genetically modified foods. The importance and the implications of this research are obvious: Evidence-based decisions and policies informed by rigorous research and unimpeded by other interested parties are necessary when it comes to developing public policy that affects food safety and in turn human and animal health, and the environment.

A Game-Theoretic Approach for Network Security Using Honeypots

Cybersecurity plays an increasing role in today’s digital space, and its methods must keep pace with the changes. Both public and private sector researchers have put efforts into strengthening the security of networks by proposing new approaches. This paper presents a method to solve a game theory model by defining the contents of the game payoff matrix and incorporating honeypots in the defense strategy. Using a probabilistic approach we propose the course-of-action Stackelberg game (CoASG), where every path of the graph leads to an undesirable state based on security issues found in every host. The reality of the system is represented by a cost function which helps us to define a payoff matrix and find the best possible combination of the strategies once the game is run. The results show the benefits of using this model in the early prevention stages for detecting cyberattack patterns.