Provision Of Public Services Research Articles

Application of Agency Theory in Administrative Accountability and Public Service Delivery in Local Government Councils in Delta State

The Agency Theory was extensively covered in this study. The investigation used secondary data from books and articles that had already been published. Despite objections, changes in the government, and reservations from some sections of the public, the agency theory has proven to be a useful paradigm in enhancing public accountability and improving the delivery of public services. Local government councils in Delta State may benefit from applying agency theory, which can enhance the provision of public services, employee performance, administrative accountability in the public sector, and public confidence in elected officials. The majority of public administration research reflects agent theory-related presumptions that support public administrators' capacity for learning and effectiveness. As a result of the aforementioned, it is crucial for Delta State's local government council leaders to strictly adhere to accountability in the management of local government affairs in order to encourage quality service delivery. The study comes to the conclusion that in Nigerian public administration, administrative accountability is a crucial but underdeveloped concept. The phrase is freely used by academics and professionals to refer to accountability for one's actions or behavior. Administrators and organizations are responsible in the sense that they must account for their actions. Beyond this fundamental idea of answerability, the term has not undergone much development in Delta State's local government councils.

The practice of using information technology in the social sphere

In our country, as well as all over the world, there is an intensification of increasing use of information technologies in all spheres of human life. These processes entail the inability of many citizens to quickly adapt to changing conditions. This, in turn, causes many people to refuse to recognize and implement information technologies in their lives, thereby exacerbating social tensions. The present article contains the results of the empirical research conducted by the author aimed at studying the issues of practical use of information technologies in social work and the possibilities of their improvement. The article also presents conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of using the provision of public services in electronic form.

Hubungan Etika Birokrat dengan Pelayanan Pajak Kendaraan Bermotor di Kantor Samsat Palembang

Law Number 25 of 2009 concerning Public Services is defined as an activity or series of activities in an effort to meet service needs in accordance with laws and regulations for every citizen for goods and services, as well as administrative services provided by public service providers. a government effort to meet the needs of society. The smooth functioning of the general administration and national development is greatly influenced by the perfection of the bureaucrats. To guarantee the achievement of national development goals, bureaucrats who practice ethics, have a good attitude, are neutral, are able to maintain national unity, are professional and responsible in carrying out their duties, ethics in public service are needed as a form of responsiveness from bureaucrats to the interests of society. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between bureaucrat ethics and motor vehicle tax services at the Palembang Samsat Office. The research model used is quantitative research with data collection methods using questionnaires and documentation which is carried out systematically based on the research objectives. The sample in this study was 10% of the total population, namely 137 of the 1,370 people/users who pay taxes at the Aceh Besar Samsat office using the incidental method. The analytical method used is validity test, reliability test, normality test, homogeneity test, residual normality test, heterosexuality```` test, simple correlation analysis, analysis of the coefficient of determination and significance test (t test), using the SPSS version 22 application. The results showed that Bureaucratic ethics have a relationship with motor vehicle tax services at the Palembang Samsat office. Evidenced by the large value of the correlation/relationship (R) which is equal to 0.587. Which is then translated through the equation Kd = rxy2 x 100%, so that a coefficient of determination of 34.5% is obtained. Which means, there is a value of 34.5% which has a low closeness relationship, changes in the service variable which are explained through the relationship between bureaucrat ethics. It can be concluded that bureaucratic ethics have a positive relationship with motor vehicle tax services at the Palembang Samsat Office.

Research on Digital Rural Construction and Public Service Supply: Taking the Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu as an Example

Digital rural construction is an important means to achieve the rural revitalization strategy and an effective way to improve the supply level of rural public services. This article takes the Anhui Zhejiang Jiangsu region as an example to analyze the current situation, operational mechanisms, development difficulties, and advantages of public service supply under the background of digital rural construction. It proposes the path selection of public service supply under digital rural construction, including formulating quality implementation standards for digitalization of rural public services, constructing a rural public service data sharing mechanism, strengthening the construction of digital infrastructure for rural public services Promoting the deep integration of digital technology and rural public service elements, and improving the quality evaluation mechanism for digitizing rural public services, aiming to provide some suggestions for the construction of digital rural areas and the supply of rural public services.

Public Provision in Democratic Societies

If we hope to see values of equality and democracy embodied in our societies’ institutions, then we have a range of good reasons to favor expansive public provision of goods and services, and to oppose many forms of privatization. While Joseph Heath is right to argue that there are at least some forms of ‘anodyne privatization’, and while he is also right to argue for a more nuanced philosophical debate about the different dimensions of choice between forms of public and private provision, Heath fails to register various regards in which private provision can undermine these central public values. We often have strong egalitarian and democratic reasons to protect zones of decommodification; to resist the imposition of user-charges; and to favor insourcing and direct public procurement over various forms of outsourcing of public services. Public libraries provide a totemic illustration of some of the deep virtues of collective public provision in democratic societies. Overall, our reasons to reject privatization are stronger and more diverse than theorists such as Heath might have supposed.

Shifts in local governments’ corporatization intensity: evidence from German cities

Abstract Why do local governments create and reform public service companies, given their uncertain economic benefits and potential damage to accountability and service transparency? Taking an extended transaction cost perspective, we argue that corporatization—the provision of public services by publicly owned companies—is a function of fiscal hardship, the decision maker’s economic orientation and the level of operator transparency. Using a two-way fixed effects regression, we test this expectation on 680 investment reports of 34 German cities from 1998 to 2017, representing 11,062 year-corporatized entity combinations. We show that the drivers of corporatization are sensitive to the depth of local ownership analyzed. In doing so, we highlight the theoretical need and potential for conceptual differentiation between ownership levels along a corporation’s lineage. Exploiting the data’s panel structure, we also find that the intensity of corporatization has heightened since the late 1990s, largely due to increasingly complex corporate structures of indirect ownership.

Preconditions for efficiency and affordability in mixed health systems: are they fulfilled in the Australian public-private mix?

The Australian health system is characterised by high quality care by international standards, produced by a mix of public and private provision and funding of healthcare services. Despite good overall results, three issues are of concern. The first issue relates to the public procurement of healthcare, whose flaws have impacted individuals' access to care, and the high out-of-pocket spending. The second issue concerns the sustainability of the private health insurance market, given the government's goal of relieving cost and capacity from the public scheme, incentivising participation. Third, there are existing inefficiencies and inequities related to the duplication resulting from the interaction between public and private schemes. To ensure a sustainable, efficient and equitable health system, structural reforms are necessary to achieve long-term performance improvements. Using a framework for mixed public-private health systems, we assess the extent to which the Australian healthcare system achieves preconditions for efficiency and affordability in competitive healthcare markets.

Transparency and Digitalization in Water Services: Reality or Still a Dream?

The provision of public services, mostly by local governments, has been widely analyzed in the scientific literature. The relevance of these services has generated an incipient demand for information on the part of citizens, which makes it necessary for the bodies responsible for their provision to present adequate levels of transparency. In this context, digitalization is a crucial tool for providing information to citizens and, therefore, contributing to improving the levels of transparency of those organizations that provide public services. Among these, the drinking water supply service stands out, which is crucial for well-being and sustainable progress, and whose analysis is of vital importance, especially in countries such as Spain affected by factors such as climate change and urbanization. In this way, the aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of transparency of the companies providing water supply services in Spain, as well as their degree of digitalization. To this end, a relationship will be established between the Transparency Index of Public Enterprises (INDEP) and the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), which measure the degree of transparency and digitalization, respectively. This relationship will be established for a sample of 59 companies responsible for water supply. The main results derived from this study show a wide margin for improvement on the part of the companies analyzed, both in terms of transparency and digitalization, as the vast majority of these companies show a medium–low degree of compliance in both aspects.

Assessing Regional Public Service Facility Accessibility Using Multisource Geospatial Data: A Case Study of Underdeveloped Areas in China

Promoting the accessibility of basic public service facilities is key to safeguarding and improving people’s lives. Effective public service provision is especially important for the sustainable development of less developed regions. Lincang in Yunnan Province is a typical underdeveloped region in China. In parallel, multisource remote sensing data with higher spatial resolution provide more precise results for small-scale regional accessibility assessment. Thus, we use an assessment method to measure and evaluate the accessibility of three types of infrastructure in Lincang based on multisource geospatial data. We further analyze the matching between public service facility accessibility and the socioeconomic attributes of inhabitant clusters and different poverty groups. The results show that the accessibility of educational facilities is currently better than that of health facilities in Lincang and that of sanitation facilities is relatively poor. Public service facility accessibility varies significantly among different types of inhabitant clusters, with better accessibility in inhabitant clusters with high levels of population density, aging, and income. Accessibility to healthcare, education, and sanitation is negatively correlated to varying degrees of poverty levels of poor groups, and the mean values of accessibility to various types of public facilities vary significantly across poor groups. Our findings can help inform policy formulation and provide theoretical support for planning and optimizing the layout of public facilities.

The effects of China’s poverty eradication program on sustainability and inequality

Poverty eradication is the first goal on the United Nations’ list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the relationships between poverty eradication and the other SDGs remain unclear, and thus current knowledge is insufficient to support the synergized achievement of the SDGs. China eliminated extreme poverty in 2021, and thus in this study, we analyzed the variations in sustainability and equality related to the environment and the provision of public services in China during the poverty eradication program from 2010 to 2020. We combined statistical data, point of interest data, and environmental monitoring and remote sensing data to evaluate progress in China’s 832 poverty-stricken counties. The results showed that the mean values of environmental and public service sustainability indicators improved from 2010 to 2020. In addition, the mean Theil index value decreased from 0.46 to 0.35 during this period, implying a reduction in inequality. Inequality between poverty-stricken and non-poverty-stricken areas accounted for 9.3% of overall inequality among the counties in 2010, and this had decreased to 7.7% in 2020. However, unbalanced regional investment resulted in increased gaps between poverty-stricken and non-poverty-stricken counties in relation to education and health care. Overall, 15% of the population and 54.8% of the land area in poverty-stricken counties experienced both a loss of their advantage in terms of environmental quality compared with non-poverty-stricken counties and greater lags in the provision of public services. Linear estimation showed that investment in poverty-stricken counties should be increased by 226.2 and 72.0% in relation to education and health care, respectively, to eliminate these inequalities.

A new perspective on the performance comparison of pure electric buses versus converted electric buses in public transportation systems

Abstract The utilization of electric buses presents a viable solution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the concomitant decrease in fossil fuel consumption. Furthermore, their low-noise operation has the additional benefit of reducing noise pollution, which is a particular issue in large urban areas. This constitutes a significant advantage for public transport systems. Additionally, they provide cost savings in operations and maintenance, which represent a substantial proportion of expenditure for public transport operators. However, the initial purchase cost of electric buses is higher than that of conventional buses (diesel and CNG). This discrepancy can be attributed primarily to the absence of economies of scale in the manufacturing of electric bus subsystems and the substantial expenses associated with non-standardized, disparate technologies, most notably the high-voltage traction battery. The considerable disparity in the upfront cost of electric buses (in comparison to their internal combustion counterparts of equivalent specifications) has prompted a novel strategy among local authorities responsible for the provision of public transportation services: Retrofit! This paper presents, for the first time, a comparison between all-electric buses constructed from the ground up and retrofitted diesel-electric buses in actual public transportation operations. The results obtained will facilitate an evaluation of the retrofit approach within the context of sustainable transport policies, with the ultimate objective of raising awareness among relevant audiences and decision-making mechanisms.

Analysis of Value Implications, Realistic Dilemmas and Breakthrough Paths of China's Public Cultural Service Construction in the Context of Digitization

In the context of digitalization, the construction of public cultural services in China is of great significance. It is an inevitable choice to promote the development of an information-based society and an important force to meet the cultural needs of the masses. In recent years, the digitization construction of China's public cultural services has made remarkable progress. However, in this process, there are still some constraints: a low level of legal protection services, a low level of platform co-construction and sharing, an obvious singularity of the main body of resource supply, and a need to improve governance capacity. In order to promote the high-quality development of the digitalization of public cultural services, we should focus on overall awareness and strengthen the construction of the digital legal system, platforms, resources and governance capacity, so as to give full play to its role in the provision of public cultural services and the satisfaction of people's spiritual and cultural needs.

Indonesian Ombudsman: Strengthening Role in Improving the Quality of Public Services

<em><span lang="EN-US">When residents have issues with a government agency, they may resort to the impartial Ombudsman. This research looks at how the Indonesian Ombudsman has affected service quality there. This research aims to clarify the need for an Ombudsman in the fight against bad administration and to propose reforms to the legislation that would give them more authority. This research blends a normative judicial approach with a descriptive analytic technique. This research shows that the Indonesian Ombudsman has the potential to become a powerful advocate for improving the quality of government services and protecting people' rights against infringement by the state. The Ombudsman in Indonesia can do a better job of sustaining good governance and guaranteeing justice in the provision of public services if given the sufficient resources and support from the government and society, as well as the required legal framework.</span></em>

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Predicting and Managing Pandemics: Lessons Learnt and Future Implications in the Healthcare Sector

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a game changer in the healthcare, educational, and other sectors. The use of AI in the healthcare sector has shown that AI and machine learning should be promoted in the improvement of service provision, including in predicting and managing pandemics. This study assessed the roles of AI in predicting and managing pandemics with lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. A narrative review was conducted from December 2023 to January 2024 on the role of AI and machine learning in predicting and managing pandemics. A literature search was done using PubMed and Google Scholar. This study found that AI is useful in the healthcare sector and can be used to predict and manage pandemics. Additionally, AI can be used in disease modelling and improve public health service provision. There is a need to promote and strengthen the use of AI and machine learning in the healthcare sector.

Conceptual Framework – Sustainability Actions, Global Crises and Justice in the Future of Tourism and Hospitality

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed a big obstacle for nations as it affected the anticipated cash flows from the tourism and hospitality industry. Many tourist destinations have suffered as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. Tourism and hospitality have been major source of revenue, and nations depend on them to augment their budgetary issues and support the provision of basic public services. Ethical tourism, responsible tourism, social justice, and sustainable tourism promise to be effective tools to execute this reputation agenda, which scholars have ignored. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that shows the effect of sustainability actions and justice on stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industries, presently and for future generations. An in-depth literature review was employed using papers on sustainability actions. Using Scopus-indexed journals, 88 articles from several databases were sourced using key words. The conceptual framework provides insights into how global crises such as coronavirus disease in 2019 can be used as a gate to launch social justice in the tourism and hospitality space for employees, local tourism communities, tourists, and stakeholders globally. It provides academics and practitioners in the tourism and hospitality sectors with a fairer perspective on the development of strategies to attract tourists and better investment initiatives.

Shape-shifting and Strategic In/visibility: Comparing Sex Work Activism in Singapore and the Philippines

AbstractResearch on public health, crime, and policing regularly discusses sex workers in Southeast Asia but rarely recognises them as agents of social and political activism. This paper shows that sex workers and their allies in Singapore and the Philippines have long and rich histories of challenging their criminalisation and stigmatisation through cultural activism, political advocacy, consciousness-raising, and the provision of direct services to fellow sex workers. Using feminist ethnography, including interviews and participant observation with Project X in Singapore and the Philippine Sex Workers Collective, this paper explores how sex work activists have strategically adapted to their political environments. In Singapore, they maintain resistance through ‘shape-shifting,’ working within state-sanctioned mechanisms, positioning themselves as public health service providers, and creating spaces for radical political advocacy. In the Philippines, where an anti-sex work position is more deeply entrenched within dominant social blocs, sex work activists aggressively criticise state policies on social media and in carefully vetted forums but remain strategically invisible to avoid exposure, harassment, misrepresentation, and prosecution. This paper looks at how sex work activists engage in claims-making — underscoring the differences in the political resonance of human rights in both countries — and interrogates how sex work activism challenges social hierarchies, especially concerning migrants and trans individuals. Overall, it contributes to a richer understanding of non-traditional forms of political activism in Southeast Asia and makes visible sex workers’ contributions to feminism and labour movements in the global south and non-Western contexts.

Topic modeling three decades of climate change news in Denmark

Climate change is a dynamic and rapidly evolving media agenda. First associated with scientific notions of the greenhouse effect, it was later presented as global warming before reaching the current and broader picture of climate change. Over its development, climate change reporting has touched on a broad range of topics reflecting shifting scientific understandings, political interventions, and public anxieties, all of which condition the public's view and actions on climate change. To better understand which issues the Danish public has been exposed to, this study uses topic modeling to analyse 32 years of climate change communication in Denmark (1990–2021, n = 63,743). It identifies 85 topics grouped into 14 themes dealing with climate change in Danish national media outlets. Topics differ in prevalence and longitudinal stability while reflecting outlet bias in political leaning and communicative modalities. The most pronounced differences in climate change reporting are between public service media and traditional newspapers. This indicates that media users relying mainly on online news from public service providers, without additional access to print media, will receive information on climate change that is more topical and less politicized, more thematic and less structural, more about high-level politics than everyday interventions and more concerned with consequences than solutions.

Dynamic evolution and spatial difference of public health service supply in economically developed provinces of China: typical evidence from Guangdong Province

ObjectiveThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention from all sectors of society to the level of public health services. This study aims to investigate the level of public health service supply in the four major regions of Guangdong Province, providing a basis for optimizing health resource allocation.MethodsThis article uses the entropy method and panel data of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province from 2005 to 2021 to construct the evaluation index system of public health service supply and calculate its supply index. On this basis, the standard deviation ellipse method, kernel density estimation, and Markov chain are used to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution trend of the public health service supply level in Guangdong Province. The Dagum Gini coefficient and panel regression model are further used to analyze the relative differences and the key influencing factors of difference formation. Finally, the threshold effect model is used to explore the action mechanism of the key factors.ResultsOverall, the level of public health service supply in Guangdong Province is on an upward trend. Among them, polarization and gradient effects are observed in the Pearl River Delta and Eastern Guangdong regions; the balance of public health service supply in Western Guangdong and Northern Mountainous areas has improved. During the observation period, the level of public health services in Guangdong Province shifted towards a higher level with a smaller probability of leapfrogging transition, and regions with a high level of supply demonstrated a positive spillover effect. The overall difference, intra-regional difference and inter-regional difference in the level of public health service supply in Guangdong Province during the observation period showed different evolutionary trends, and spatial differences still exist. These differences are more significantly positively affected by factors such as the level of regional economic development, the degree of fiscal decentralization, and the urbanization rate. Under different economic development threshold values, the degree of fiscal decentralization and urbanization rate both have a double threshold effect on the role of public health service supply level.ConclusionThe overall level of public health service supply in Guangdong Province has improved, but spatial differences still exist. Key factors influencing these differences include the level of regional economic development, the degree of fiscal decentralization, and the urbanization rate, all of which exhibit threshold effects. It is suggested that, in view of the actual situation of each region, efforts should be made to build and maintain their own advantages, enhance the spatial linkage of public health service supply, and consider the threshold effects of key factors in order to optimize the allocation of health resources.

Level of Civil Servant Legal Awareness in Providing Public Services

This research aims to find out; (1) the level of legal awareness of Parepare municipal civil servants; (2) the level of quality of public service for Civil Servants of Parepare municipality; and (3) the significance of the influence of the level of legal awareness on the quality of public services for civil servants in Parepare City. This research is a survey. The population consists of two groups, namely, (1) all civil government officials working at the Parepare City secretariat who are registered in 2022, which has 134 people. A total sample of 35 people was taken using stratified random sampling, and a total sample of 35 people was taken using accidental sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires, observation, documentation, and interviews, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple regression. The research results show that; (1) the level of legal awareness of civil servants at the regional secretariat office of Parepare City in providing public services seen from the aspects of legal knowledge, understanding of the law, legal attitudes, and patterns of legal behavior, is included in the low category; (2) the level of quality of public services in the field of civil servant administration at the regional secretariat office of Parepare City is seen from the aspects of friendliness, simplicity, clarity and certainty, openness (transparency), efficiency, economy, equitable justice, and timeliness of service, including in medium category; (3) there is a significant influence of the quality level of legal awareness on the quality of public services in the field of administration of civil servants at the regional secretariat office of Parepare City.
 Keywords: legal awareness, civil servant, public service

A policy design perspective on electricity rates

Electricity rates affect citizens’ energy-related behaviors. In the past and present, studies of the behavioral influences of the designs of these rates have heavily focused on the structure and effects of pricing mechanisms. This price-centric perspective has, this paper demonstrates, led other crucial aspects of rate designs to be overlooked despite their potential implication for more efficient and equitable citizen energy access and climate change mitigation. To explore the composition of rate designs beyond the oft-examined pricing component, this study develops and utilizes a novel application of policy design scholarship to more comprehensively examine the rate designs that facilitate residential electricity provision and shape energy consumption behaviors. Through this approach, multiple design elements and more granular sub-elements are identified in contemporary rate designs. Furthermore, emergent properties of rate design diversity and complexity are discerned as design features occur individually and combinatorically. Ultimately, this study not only tractably expands the concept of rate designs, but also advances a method for examining the policy instruments through which public service provision occurs.