Editorial: Preface

Citation

(2024), "Editorial: Preface", Public Administration and Policy: An Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 122-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/PAP-09-2024-150

This second issue of PAP in 2024 comprises of two parts. The first part contains articles of the special issue on the “Impacts of Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Anti-corruption in India”. We are delighted to have Anuj Kumar from Rushford Business School, Switzerland as Guest Editor. There are five articles focusing on various aspects of the latest development of IT and AI on anti-corruption in India. They are written by academics and specialists in the field. Please refer to Kumar’s Introduction to the special issue for brief descriptions of each article.

The second part includes three regular articles on E-governance in Georgia, Street-level bureaucracy (SLB) research, and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting in Hong Kong. A brief summary of these three articles is given below.

The first article “E-governance under the framework of open governance in Georgia: current situation, problems and opportunities” by Malvina Jibladze, Irakli Manvelidze, Ineza Zoidze and Giga Phartenadze explores how local authorities under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) respond to e-governance challenges in Georgia. A weighted scoring system is adopted to assess e-governance in six OGP local authorities (Akhaltsikhe, Khoni, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Rustavi, and Tbilisi) in four areas, including access to information, digital service delivery, data management, and citizen engagement. Such evaluation is further supplemented by a website analysis on transparency and citizen engagement. The findings illustrate that the six local authorities have made certain accomplishments in e-governance and taken steps towards open government; however, these efforts lack coordination and systematic planning. This research is novel in analyzing the level of e-government among OGP local members in Georgia by a scoring system. The analysis will empower the government to proactively modify and adjust the situation on a regional scale, aligning with the challenges inherent in the country’s unique experiences.

The second article on “A bibliometric analysis of thematic developments in street-level bureaucracy research” by Anang Dwi Santoso and Andries Lionardo analyzes the publications on street-level bureaucracy between 1971 and 2023 using various bibliometric methods, including trend analysis, network co-occurrence, and thematic evolution from 994 journal articles extracted from the Scopus database. The findings reveal that SLB research has shifted focus from specific issues like work efficiency in the early 2000s to broader themes such as governance methods, policy implementation, social policy, and public service delivery. This change reflects the adaptation of the field to global challenges and policy evolutions. International collaborations have contributed to the evolution, enriching SLB discourse with cross-cultural insights and comparative analyses. The partnerships have led to innovative strategies and models to address the challenges faced by SLB, enhancing public service delivery and policy implementation. In underrepresented regions, such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, research is suggested to enrich the global understanding of SLB.

The third article on “Motivating small and medium-sized listed companies for better Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting in Hong Kong” by Angus W.H. Yip, William Y.P. Yu and Queenelle W.T. Ip investigates a spectrum of the drivers and barriers faced by the small and medium-sized listed companies in Hong Kong for better ESG reporting. Through interviews with 22 persons responsible for ESG reporting in these companies, the results were analysed based on grounded theory with the assistance of concept mapping. The findings uncover that regulations and management support are the first two critical drivers, whereas lack of management support and lack of expertise are the first two significant barriers. To overcome the obstacles, various stakeholders including regulators, bankers, investors, customers, competitors, NGOs and employees have their roles to play. Stakeholder theory is most relevant in explaining the results as stakeholders can exert effective pulling forces by creating tangible benefits for these small and medium-sized listed companies, resulting in more substantial management support. This is one of the pioneering studies on ESG reporting.

I wish to thank Anuj Kumar, the Guest Editor, for inviting and editing papers for this special issue, as well as all the authors for contributing their papers to this issue and the reviewers for their critical but constructive comments in helping the authors to improve their papers. Finally, I thank Emerald and our editorial teams as well as the members of both the Asia Pacific Editorial Board and International Editorial Advisory Board for their contributions in making the successful publication of this issue possible. We hope these articles will enhance the understanding of the impacts of IT and AI on anti-corruption in India and other topics on public administration and policy in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific regions.

Peter K.W. Fong

Editor-in-Chief, PAP Journal

President, Hong Kong Public Administration Association

About the Editor-in-Chief

Professor Peter K.W. Fong, PhD (New York University), is President of Hong Kong Public Administration Association and Editor-in-Chief of PAP Journal. He teaches strategic management and supervises DBA students’ dissertations of the University of Wales TSD. He also serves as Principal Consultant of the International Chamber of Sustainable Development and holds memberships of HK Institute of Planners & Planning Institute Australia. He was a Teaching Fellow of Judge Business School, University of Cambridge; Visiting Scholar, MIT; Founding Director of EMBA programme, HKU Business School; Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Urban Design, HKU; Executive Vice President of City University of Macau; Honorary Professor, China Training Centre for Senior Civil Servants in Beijing; Studies Director, Civil Service Training & Development Institute, HKSAR Government. He was appointed as Advisory/Visiting Professors by Tongji, Tsinghua, Renmin, and Tianjin universities in Mainland China, Chinese University of HK and HK Polytechnic University, and Consultants, the World Bank and Delta Asia Bank. Peter K.W. Fong can be contacted at: fongpeter@netvigator.com