Public Management Theory Research Articles

Proposal of a conceptual model of the performance of public organizations under the light of the theory of new public management

Proposal of a conceptual model of the performance of public organizations under the light of the theory of new public management

Battling COVID-19: Public Personnel Management, Trust, and Social Resilience During a Global Crisis

We present three studies that examine the relationship between perceptions about public personnel management and social resilience during a crisis among frontline public healthcare servants who battled the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on theories of public personnel management, crisis management, trust, and resilience, we suggest a model and hypotheses that may extend our knowledge about perceived social resilience, both internal (organizational) and external (communal and national). We tested our model with the results of an online survey conducted in early 2021 among 437 healthcare employees from the Ministry of Health ( n1 = 87), hospitals ( n2 = 200), and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs; n3 = 150) across Israel. The findings generally support direct and indirect relationships between perceptions of good public personnel management, defined as healthcare system resilience, participation in decision-making and information sharing, and group-level organizational citizenship behavior, and perceived national and community resilience, and trust. Implications, extensions, and recommendations for future theoretical and empirical studies are discussed along with practical proposals.

Managing industrial growth: The role of development funds

The effective public project management in the economy and industry significantly contributes to the achievement of the country’s strategic development goals. The article explores the role of the Industrial Development Fund (IDF), which is a key tool of industrial policy, in the development of manufacturing industries in the Russian regions. Portfolio management theory and provisions of public project management constitute the methodological basis of the research. The methods of logical-structural, comparative and econometric analysis are used. The study’s empirical base covers data on the volume of funding provided by the IDF to regional borrowers to implement 924 projects between 2015 and 2021, as well as data aggregated according to the RF constituent entities on the volume of goods and services shipped by manufacturing enterprises in the same period. We assess whether the IDF project portfolio profile qualitatively and quantitatively complies with the strategic objectives of the manufacturing industry development in the regional context. The research results show that the composition of the project portfolio is partially aligned with the objectives of import substitution, digitalization and increasing labour productivity. Quantitative criteria for project selection are not synchronized with the composite indicators of the Strategy for the Development of the Manufacturing Sector for the period up to 2035. We have found that the implications of the IDF activities for the regions with low and medium level of industrial development were positive, while the industrialized regions experienced no effect on the volume of shipped goods and services in the manufacturing sector. The study concludes that the portfolio management methodology will enhance the performance of the IDF as an industrial policy tool due to more accurate consideration of sectoral and structural priorities, as well as spatial peculiarities of the industrial development of the Russian Federation.

Social data governance: Towards a definition and model

With the surge in the number of data and datafied governance initiatives, arrangements, and practices across the globe, understanding various types of such initiatives, arrangements, and their structural causes has become a daunting task for scholars, policy makers, and the public. This complexity additionally generates substantial difficulties in considering different data(fied) governances commensurable with each other. To advance the discussion, this study argues that existing scholarship is inclined to embrace an organization-centric perspective that primarily concerns factors and dynamics regarding data and datafication at the organizational level at the expense of macro-level social, political, and cultural factors of both data and governance. To explicate the macro, societal dimension of data governance, this study then suggests the term “social data governance” to bring forth the consideration that data governance not only reflects the society from which it emerges but also (re)produces the policies and practices of the society in question. Drawing on theories of political science and public management, a model of social data governance is proposed to elucidate the ideological and conceptual groundings of various modes of governance from a comparative perspective. This preliminary model, consisting of a two-dimensional continuum, state intervention and societal autonomy for the one, and national cultures for the other, accounts for variations in social data governance across societies as a complementary way of conceptualizing and categorizing data governance beyond the European standpoint. Finally, we conduct an extreme case study of governing digital contact-tracing techniques during the pandemic to exemplify the explanatory power of the proposed model of social data governance.

Efficiency gains in public service delivery through information technology in municipalities

According to public management theory and existing research on information technology (IT) value creation in the public sector, governments should actively strive to generate greater public value with IT, and the capability of public service delivery is at the center of this public value. In this study, we focus on efficiency gains in public service delivery through IT in municipal governments. First, we answer the research question: How much euro efficiency is gained in public service delivery by €1 increase in share of IT costs relative to total municipal costs? Second, we focus on contextual effects of these efficiency gains, by analyzing the effects of workforce mean age, workforce age dispersion and training costs. We use data from Dutch municipalities and study these efficiency gains in the period 2014–2018. Our empirical strategy encompasses a two-step procedure combining a stochastic frontier model and ordinary least squares models. Our analysis suggests that share of IT costs relative to total municipal costs (in short: share of IT costs) can explain efficiency in public service delivery by municipalities. Our results indicate that an increase of €1 in favour of share of IT costs leads to a net cost efficiency gain of €1.08. We also show that this effect in efficiency gains diminishes with a higher share of IT costs. Our results also show that workforce mean age, workforce age dispersion and training costs do not influence the relation between share of IT costs and efficiency.

Disease Information Dissemination Prevention and Risk Management Methods in the Blockchain Environment

With the advancement of technology and the arrival of the era of integrated media, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and virtual reality are gradually changing the ecology of public opinion. This will bring new challenges to the technical discovery, data analysis, and response of network disease dissemination to public opinion. Internet data barriers are still widespread. The specific requirements are to explore the application mode of blockchain technology to bring a better service experience to the people. Therefore, this paper focuses on the dissemination of disease public opinion information and risk management research in the blockchain environment. Furthermore, the application of advanced blockchain technology is used to seek breakthroughs in the field of risk management of network disease transmission and public opinion in terms of technology and data. This paper systematically sorts out the research results of domestic and foreign disease transmission network public opinion, public opinion risk management, and blockchain through comprehensive use of literature analysis, grounded research, empirical research, simulation research, and other research methods. Based on theories of the disease transmission network, public opinion, risk management, blockchain, and system dynamics, we conduct research on network public opinion and risk management of disease transmission in the block chain environment. At the theoretical level, the research in this paper can promote the risk management of disease transmission network public opinion in the blockchain environment and carry out the construction of the theoretical system to deepen the application of blockchain technology in the field of disease public opinion risk management. At the practical level, the research in this paper can guide the improvement of the effect of public opinion risk management. Then, blockchain technology is applied to manage the risk of disease public opinion. In future research, the theory of public opinion risk management will be further enriched. We will apply blockchain technology to develop the evolution of the risk of disease public opinion transmission, carry out research on public opinion management and other aspects, and at the same time, try the design and development of a blockchain public opinion system. In this way, the innovation of blockchain in the development and application of disease network public opinion research will be promoted.

Project and Process Management of Public-Private Partnerships: Managerial Tensions and Coping Strategies

Western governments increasingly use public-private partnerships (PPPs) to solve complex social problems. This article examines how public managers handle conflicting demands for classical project management and collaborative process management in PPPs for preventing negative social control. Building on theories of public governance, PPP management, and paradox management, it develops an analytical framework for studying managerial tensions in PPPs. Applying the framework in a case study of three Danish PPPs, it shows how partnership managers handle managerial tensions through strategies of opposition, separation, and synthesis. The study demonstrates a promising path of integrating paradox management theory in public governance hybridity research.

Public Financial Management Practices and Financial Performance of Mandera County Government, Kenya

According to the auditor general’s report, despite the huge sums of money counties receive, Mandera county government has not been able to meet their recurrent expenditures and revenue collection targets from 2015 to 2020. Past studies indicate that where there are prudent public financial management practices, county governments have been able to meet their mandates. It was therefore vital to empirically test public finance management practices in the Mandera county to establish whether they have a significant role in financial performance. The general objective of the study was to examine the influence of public financial management practices on financial performance of Mandera County Government, Kenya. Specifically, the study assessed the influence of budgeting process, resource management, financial policies and internal audit on financial performance in Mandera County. The study was based on systems theory, new public management theory and allocative efficiency theory. Cross-sectional research survey was applied in this study. Target population was all the 145 county government officers working in the revenue department. Stratified sampling method was used to arrive at a sample size of 95. The study used both primary and secondary data. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data whereas data collection sheet was used to collect secondary data from audited financial reports. Drop and pick later method was applied to administer the questionnaire. The study applied descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analyses to analyze the data collected. SPSS was used to conduct the analysis. Quantitative data analysis entailed computing descriptive statistics including frequency and percentage; measures of central tendency including the mean and the mode; and inferential statistics is including coefficient of determination, analysis of variance and regression analysis. The findings indicate that budgeting process, resource management, financial policies and internal auditing had positive significant effect on revenue collection. The study recommended that the county governments should ensure full employment of public financial management practices through strict adherence to the laid down frameworks in budgetary processes, resources management, financial policies, and internal audit. This would lead to optimal use of the available funds.”

Analysis on Risk System Policy of Higher Education Marketization

Education, as a producer of new knowledge, new concepts and new professionals, is closely related to high technology. The higher the scientific and technological level of society, the greater the role of higher education. Nowadays, higher education around the world is experiencing "marketization" to varying degrees in the context of globalization. As the name implies, governments relax control, add market logic in higher education, and guide the development path of higher education institutions through different price mechanisms and competition, so as to enhance the development of higher education, market flexibility and efficiency. At the same time, on the basis of the evaluation mechanism, while providing rich information to consumers of higher education, it can also promote higher education to pay more attention to performance and quality of education. However, in the process of marketization, there are certain problems with the risk control of education policy. Based on the theoretical basis of the marketization of higher education in neoliberal economics and the new public management theory, this paper uses systematic dynamics to analyze the risk factors of the state of the education market, establishes a vector autoregressive model, and gives constructive opinions.

Unpacking value destruction at the intersection between public and private value

AbstractPublic services do not always create value. Rather, when poorly organized and/or delivered, they can destroy value and make service users' lives worse. However, such “value destruction” is presently weakly conceptualized in public management theory. Consequently, this paper is devoted to the empirical examination of value destruction and hence its conceptualization. At the heart of the paper, we recognize the multiplicity of public value and private value objectives in complex public service environments and the dyadic tension between these two value constellations. Drawing upon qualitative data derived from public carbon reduction projects, we establish a conceptual framework. This framework accounts both for the types of value destruction and for the tension between public and private value. Subsequently, the framework disentangles the value destruction concept into four categories: value ignorance, value disproportion, value backlash, and value exploitation. Finally, the implications of this new conceptual framework for public management theory and practice are explored.

Value Creation in the Public Service Ecosystem: An Integrative Framework

AbstractThis article develops the concept of the “public service ecosystem” across four levels—the institutional, service, individual, and beliefs levels. It does this by integrating service management and marketing theory with public administration and management theory. Consequently, it explores both the dimensions of value and value creation within the public service ecosystem at each level, and the interactions and inter‐relationships across these levels. It concludes with the key implications for public administration and management theory and pactice.

Influence of Public Health Services on the Goal of Ending Tuberculosis: Evidence From Panel Data in China.

BackgroundThe World Health Organization has proposed an initiative to “end tuberculosis (TB).” Unfortunately, TB continues to endanger the health of people worldwide. We investigated the impact of public health services (PHS) in China on TB incidence. In this way, we provided policy ideas for preventing the TB epidemic.MethodsWe used the “New Public Management Theory” to develop two indicators to quantify policy documents: multisector participation (MP) and the Assessable Public Health Service Coverage Rate (ASCR). The panel data from 31 provinces in Chinese mainland were collected from 2005 to 2019 based on 1,129 policy documents and the China Statistical Yearbook. A fixed-effect model was used to determine the impact of MP and the ASCR on TB incidence.ResultsFrom 2005 to 2019, the average MP increased from 89.25 to 97.70%, and the average ASCR increased from 53.97 to 78.40% in Chinese mainland. However, the development of ASCR between regions was not balanced, and the average level in the western region was lower than that in the eastern coastal provinces. With an increase in MP and the ASCR, the TB incidence had been decreasing gradually in recent years. The panel analysis results showed that MP (β = −0.76, p < 0.05). and ASCR (β = −0.40, p < 0.01) had a negative effect on TB incidence, respectively. Even if the control variables were added, the negative effects of MP (β = −0.86, p < 0.05) and ASCR (β = −0.35, p < 0.01) were still statistically significant.ConclusionsPromoting the participation of multiple departments, as well as emphasizing the quality of PHS delivery, are important ways to alleviate the TB epidemic. The settings of evaluation indices for PHS provision should be strengthened in the future.

Value processes and lifecycles in networks for public service innovation

ABSTRACT Public administrations, to innovate public services, seek strategies beyond market-like mechanisms and claim for clear paths such as lifecycles. This research bridges service management theory and theory of public management to further how networks for public service innovation mediate public value creation; the study, by integrating both theories and the public service logic approach, discusses the dynamic interactions throughout networks evolution (lifecycle). A theory is elaborated, advancing the relevant role of networks lifecycles in public service innovation lifecycles. The research, lastly, offers several propositions to improve (meta)governance of networks for innovation of public services.

Beyond Public Management Theories: The Creation of Public Value Through Co-Production

Purpose: This paper presents a review of the role of co-production in the public sector and discusses how co-production can help public administrations to create better public value for contemporary society. Approach/Methodology/Design: Employing a qualitative approach, this study builds on the strategic triangle which depicts public value generation in the public sector. This framework shows how and why co-production is more valuable than classical management theories when public value generation is concerned. Data for this study has been collected through databases searches. The study follows a disciplined process in conducting a literature review as suggested by Webster and Watson (2002)—using keyword searches in ProQuest and Google Scholar. Findings: The paper argues that co-production can help to overcome the many limitations linked to traditional administration theories regarding public value creation. The results from the review indicate that co-production aim at improving the performance of the existing public services by actively involving service users in co-designing and improvement of public services. It shows how service experience can be integrated with the overall life experience of citizens. Practical Implications: The study has both practical and theoretical implications. It contributes by identifying co-production as an alternative means for value creation in the public sector. This is significant for theory development and empirical research. For practitioners, co-production helps to evaluate the performance of their organizations effectively. Originality/Value: Despite the significance of public value, few scholars pay attention to co-production as a means to generate public value. Co-production accounts for the need of the citizen in the production process of public value.

The impact of internal control systems on the intensity of innovation and organizational performance of public sector organizations in Vietnam: the moderating role of transformational leadership

Drawing on the resource-based view, new public management theory, and innovation systems theory, this study examines the relationships between internal control systems (ICSs) and organizational performance in Vietnamese public sector organizations (PSOs), with particular emphasis on the mediating role of intensity of innovation and the moderating role of transformational leadership. Data from 319 PSOs in Vietnam corroborated our hypothesis that ICSs boost the intensity of innovation, which has a beneficial effect on organizational performance. Additionally, data demonstrated that intensity of innovation fully mediated the relationships between ICSs and organizational performance, and that transformational leadership reinforced the mediating relationships. The findings have implications for our understanding of the function of leadership and ICSs in managing innovation and promoting performance in PSOs in emerging markets.

The Thumbprint of a Hybrid Organization—A Multidimensional Model for Analysing Public/Private Hybrid Organizations

Hybridity has become a widely-used concept in public management theory and practice. Yet, there is limited insight in what constitutes a hybrid organization. This article argues that it is not enough to say an organization is hybrid; you need to say how an organization is hybrid, as organizations can mix the characteristics of state and market on several dimensions and with differing intensities. They all have, as it were, a distinctive hybrid thumbprint, which can influence an organization’s performance and hence the quality of its service provision. Therefore, a model is presented to visualize this unique thumbprint.

After the applause: understanding public management and public service ethos in the fight against Covid - 19

ABSTRACT Covid-19 has led to renewed public support for public services. Frontline workers symbolize a renewed ideal of public service ethos (PSE), though little attention has been paid to how the public managers delivering vital services interpret and mobilize PSE. We show how PSE is implemented by public managers reflecting their local contexts. We examine the theoretical roots of PSE and challenges by newer theories of public management before illustrating its contemporary manifestations through three case studies of local government responses to Covid-19 in England, showing how PSE has been adapted in current contexts and continues to inform public management practice.

Public Private Partnership in Tourism Development at Timor Tengah Selatan Regency

This study aims to describe the public private partnership model in tourism development in Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS) Regency. The research approach using qualitative methods, with documentation, observation, in-depth interviews, and literature review techniques. The research findings show that the tourism development policy of the Timor Tengah Sealatan Regency is realized in the form of the TTS Regency Regulation Number 3 of 2018 concerning the South Timor Regency Tourism Development Master Plan. Empirical facts show that there are external dynamics in the form of conflicts of interest and internal dynamics of the bureaucracy in tourism development in TTS Regency. Public private partnerships in tourism development in TTS Regency are mainly still dominated by the government, where partnerships with the private sector are based on an explicit written contractual mechanism, while partnerships with the community are more prominent using implicit contractual mechanisms on the basis of trust according to the context of the local community. It is necessary to develop a public private partnership pilot project in tourism development that refers to Regional Regulation No. 3 of 2018. The implication of this research is that public private partnership which refers to the concept of new public management theory on the basis of a combination of administration, management, law and economic theories, for example, must be based on also on social capital as local wisdom and value systems that develop in the community according to the context such as meup tabua and nekmese as they live and develop in the TTS community.

Research on human resource agile organization of public management department

From the perspective of the new public management theory, this paper studies the innovation of human resource management in public administration departments in combination with the innovation of the current social governance system. It mainly starts from the difference between human resource management in public administration departments and enterprise human resource management, combines organizational behavior and human characteristics, uses DISC, MBTI, OKR and other tools, and relies on the analysis of organizational effectiveness and human capital. This paper researches the establishment of human resource agile future organization of public management department, that is, people-oriented organization. These organizations are competitive organizational structures. It is hoped that this research will activate the power of every talent and encourage relevant departments to focus on how to create public management departments and flexible future human resources talent training mechanisms.

Driver Management and Service Delivery: Insights within State-Owned Enterprises in Zimbabwe

Driver management may be considered an organization’s most valuable asset, and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) must invest in it to secure their survival and growth. The study sought to establish the effect of driver management on service delivery in SOEs. Various empirical studies reveal that there is a lack of understanding of the impact of driver management on service delivery in public organizations, notably SOEs, resulting in sectorial and contextual research gaps that must be filled. The study used a mixed-method research strategy and a pragmatic research philosophy. In addition, 344 respondents from 86 SOEs were given standardized questionnaires to complete. The researchers employed stratified and purposive sampling. Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS) version 20 was used to generate descriptive statistics. All study items were subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and research hypotheses were assessed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in AMOS version 21. The study findings revealed that despite having clear driver recruiting procedures, there is bad driver conduct and a lack of driver recognition programs to reward good driving. The study concluded that driver management has a positive effect on service delivery. In light of these conclusions, the study suggests that SOEs should ensure that drivers understand their responsibilities when using company vehicles. Furthermore, drivers should be periodically trained in line with the tenets of the New Public Management Theory which advocates for quality service delivery, customer centrism and reduction in rigidity.