Search results
1 – 10 of over 9000Fernando Kleiman, Sylvia J.T. Jansen, Sebastiaan Meijer and Marijn Janssen
The opening of government data is high on the policy agenda of governments worldwide. However, data release faces barriers due to limited support of civil servants, whereas the…
Abstract
Purpose
The opening of government data is high on the policy agenda of governments worldwide. However, data release faces barriers due to limited support of civil servants, whereas the literature neglects civil servants' role in opening data. This paper aims at understanding why civil servants can be reluctant to support the disclosure of data. The authors developed a model to explain civil servants' behavioral intention to open data.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test a series of hypotheses by collecting and analyzing survey data from 387 civil servants and by applying multivariate hierarchical regression.
Findings
The results indicate the factors influencing the behavior of civil servants. Social influences, performance expectancy, data management knowledge and risks have a significant influence. Personal characteristics control these effects.
Research limitations/implications
Caution is needed to generalize the findings towards the support to open data provision by civil servants. Though the analyzed sample was limited to Brazil, other countries and cultures might yield different outcomes. Larger and more diversified samples might indicate significant effects on variables not found in this research.
Practical implications
The insights can be used to develop policies for increasing the support of civil servants towards governmental data disclosure.
Originality/value
This study suggests factors of influence to civil servants' behavior intentions to disclose governmental data. It results in a model of factors, specifically for their behavioral intention at the individual level.
Comprehensive basis to measure civil servants’ neutrality in the effectuation of concurrent regional head elections, valid basis to determine the most appropriate strategy to…
Abstract
Purpose
Comprehensive basis to measure civil servants’ neutrality in the effectuation of concurrent regional head elections, valid basis to determine the most appropriate strategy to enhance civil servants’ neutrality in the governance.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is a normative or doctrinal research. Secondary data are retrieved from the literature in the forms of legal documents and regulations concerning civil servants’ role in general elections. In this research, two products of law were analyzed as follows: first, the one related to the urgency of civil servants’ neutrality in regional head election and second, the one related to the synchronization of legal norms about civil servants’ neutrality during regional head elections. Data analysis was done using a juridical qualitative analysis model.
Findings
The urgency of neutrality is real in the implementation of concurrent regional head elections due to 3 reasons as follows: Historically, state civil apparatus neutrality and regulations. There is a synchronization of the neutrality of the civil state apparatus in the legislation concerning civil state apparatus with the laws and regulations concerning the implementation of concurrent regional head elections including the following: Act Number 5 of 2014, Act Number 10 of 2016 and Act Number 8 of 2012.
Originality/value
The study investigated the neutrality of civil servants during the concurrent regional head election in Indonesia. The objectives of this research were investigating, comprehending and analyzing the urgency of civil servants’ neutrality in regional head election, and describing and analyzing the synchronization of civil servants’ neutrality based on the laws related to civil servants and laws related to the effectuation of concurrent regional head election.
Details
Keywords
This paper analyzes the perceptions of Bangladeshi civil servants towards public procurement and contracting practices in Bangladesh. The interview method was used in the study to…
Abstract
This paper analyzes the perceptions of Bangladeshi civil servants towards public procurement and contracting practices in Bangladesh. The interview method was used in the study to analyze the perceptions of the Bangladeshi civil servants towards public procurement and contract-related issues in Bangladesh. The study reveals that civil servants of Bangladesh have diverse and varying perceptions towards public procurement and contracting practices in Bangladesh, even though they share some commonalities. The results of the survey demonstrate that a majority of the civil servants are in general familiar with public purchasing in Bangladesh. While earlier research depicted that almost all the civil servants in the US public agencies were found quite familiar with contracting and outsourcing, this study shows that less than a moderate percentage of the civil servants of Bangladesh is quite or pretty familiar with contracting and/or outsourcing.
This study seeks to provide further testing of access in the context of government – community relations within the political context of the Republic of North Macedonia. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to provide further testing of access in the context of government – community relations within the political context of the Republic of North Macedonia. The study analyses relationship cultivation strategy of access and explains how it contributes to achieving trust and relationship satisfaction in government–community relations. This paper also provides insights into the importance of access to achieving positive government–community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
For this research, a qualitative inquiry was conducted, and qualitative in-depth interviewing was used as the main research method. In total, 39 interviews were conducted: 12 interviews with Macedonian civil servants, eight interviews with Albanian civil servants and 19 interviews with Albanians.
Findings
The findings of this study showed citizens not to have enough access to government and its institutions. Besides, the results showed access to be crucial to building positive government–community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction. In particular, discrimination and social distance were crucial in building trust between government and citizens.
Originality/value
The study provided evidence on the importance and contribution of the cultivation strategy of access to government-community relationships in general and to the relational outcomes of trust and satisfaction in particular. The findings supported the initial assumptions that access constitutes an important factor in predicting the government–community relationship quality.
Details
Keywords
– The purpose of this paper is to analyze recent Japanese corruption prevention mechanisms and assess the efforts of the Japanese government in winning public trust.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze recent Japanese corruption prevention mechanisms and assess the efforts of the Japanese government in winning public trust.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses public sector corruption in Japan at an institutional level through a study of its features and current status. It then analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of corruption prevention measures and the public perceptions of these measures. The paper concludes with a discussion on whether such measures can be adopted by other countries.
Findings
Recent preventive measures in Japan are effective in decreasing corruption opportunities, but not in enhancing the public trust of the government. Major findings are: first, Japan is the only Asian country without a dedicated anti-corruption agency (ACA); second, there is more emphasis on corruption prevention in the anti-corruption measures; third, the government is concerned with initiating measures to prevent the further erosion of public trust when corruption occurs; fourth, while preventive measures such as public disclosure and whistle-blower protection acts are in place, public awareness of their existence is still lacking and the usage of these systems is limited; fifth, more efforts are placed on prevention through the promotion of government transparency and accountability and public sector ethics education rather than penalizing the corrupt offenders; and sixth, though efforts to minimize amakudari practices are made, lack of political will and its sustainability prevents further reform.
Originality/value
This paper will be useful for scholars, policy-makers, and anti-corruption practitioners interested in learning how Japanese government practices prevent corruption.
Details
Keywords
Jozsef Poor and George Plesoianu
The purpose of this paper is to present a number of initiatives which have been spearheaded by the Romanian government in the field of HRM in the civil service. A more specific…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a number of initiatives which have been spearheaded by the Romanian government in the field of HRM in the civil service. A more specific purpose is to determine the modelling strategy which best reflects the reform programme of HRM in the civil service, the topic of our study.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper attempts to supplement existing research into New Public Management (NPM) by outlining the modernisation of a range of public HR functions in the country, and it would like to explain how this special issue arose, to provide a historical perspective for the work undertaken by the Romanian National Civil Servant Agency (NACS) and to outline the context and significance of each of the attempts at modernisation in the HRM field.
Findings
Empirical evidence shows that the centralised Romanian civil service is in need of serious change if it is to deliver a more efficient and less politically driven level of practice. Many external and internal organisational forces such as the demographics of the labour‐force, technology and privatisation – as well as the erosion of confidence in government institutions have drastically altered the environment of the civil service in Romania. Consequently, traditional Human Resource Management (HRM) approaches no longer work.
Practical implications
At this point, in the authors' opinion, the time has come to devote more attention to decentralisation and to formulating the terms of so‐called best or good practice.
Originality/value
The paper seeks to bridge the gap by reporting on the research and consulting work of the authors in the Romanian civil service.
Details
Keywords
Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud, Thomas Carrington, Kim Klarskov Jeppesen and Külli Taro
Since the 1970s the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) have gradually expanded their role as external controllers of the public administration. Instead of merely controlling whether…
Abstract
Since the 1970s the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) have gradually expanded their role as external controllers of the public administration. Instead of merely controlling whether accounts are according to standards they have taken on a role as evaluators with a mandate to assess whether the public administration works economically, efficiently and effectively. With this new regime of external control, the question arises whether the SAIs’ control, in practice, contributes to a more efficient and effective public sector. Whether this external control will be effective depends, in the end, on the extent to which the organisations learn from the control they are subjected to and make actual changes. The chapter uses theories of cultural differences and theories on control within public administration to understand civil servant perceptions of SAI results. Data on civil servants’ reactions to the SAIs’ performance audit in four countries are analysed to see whether performance audits have any impact on the audited entities. The research is based on 696 responses to questionnaires sent out to civil servants in three different Nordic countries plus one new democracy in northern Europe, Estonia.
Details
Keywords
Codes of conduct have been adopted very broadly on both sides of the Atlantic in the last two decades. They have been introduced for both elected representatives and appointed…
Abstract
Codes of conduct have been adopted very broadly on both sides of the Atlantic in the last two decades. They have been introduced for both elected representatives and appointed officials. Though the accountability mechanisms vary, elected politicians prefer self-policing and enforcement. For appointed officials who carry out specialized functions with exposure to particular, clearly identifiable, ethical risks, where the need for public trust and confidence is great, it is important but also relatively straightforward to develop codes of practice. For generalist public servants, the situation is different. The range of ethical risk to which civil servants are exposed is broader. It is less easy to be specific about the risks involved.
This article provides a historical literature review and exploratory descriptive case study of one U.S. Federal agencyʼs efforts to design an appropriate government-wide…
Abstract
This article provides a historical literature review and exploratory descriptive case study of one U.S. Federal agencyʼs efforts to design an appropriate government-wide leadership development curriculum for incumbent top or senior civil servants. The U.S. Federal Executive Institute was founded in 1968, it spans the 20th and 21st centuries, it illustrates changes in the compact that exists between government and its top civil servants over time, and it illustrates challenges this agency confronts addressing the task of interagency leadership development. The main findings are three continuities and three discontinuities between curriculum development then and now. Conclusions outline issues for future interdisciplinary research to inform the intellectual roots for 21st century curricula aligned to emerging roles and the challenges top career executives actually confront.
The purpose of this monograph is to present the first English translation of a unique French colonial report on women living under colonial rule in West Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this monograph is to present the first English translation of a unique French colonial report on women living under colonial rule in West Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The issue begins with a discussion of the contribution this report makes to the history of social development policy in Africa, and how it serves the on‐going critique of colonisation. This is followed by the English translation of the original report held in the National Archives of Senegal. The translation is accompanied by explanatory notes, translator’s comments, a glossary of African and technical terms, and a bibliography.
Findings
The discussion highlights contemporary social development policies and practices which featured in identical or similar forms in French colonial social policy.
Practical implications
As the report demonstrates, access to basic education and improving maternal/infant health care have dominated the social development agenda for women in sub‐Saharan Africa for over a century, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future in the Millennium Development Goals which define the international community’s agenda for social development to 2015. The parallels between colonial and post‐colonial social policies in Africa raise questions about the philosophical and cultural foundations of contemporary social development policy in Africa and the direction policy is following in the 21st century.
Originality/value
Though the discussion adopts a consciously postcolonial perspective, the report that follows presents a consciously colonial view of the “Other”. Given the parallels identified here between contemporary and colonial policy‐making, this can only add to the value of the document in exploring the values that underpin contemporary social development practice.
Details