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One of the central tenets of “new public management” is that it is universally applicable. Indeed the European Union advocates the adoption of such management approaches for countries seeking entry to the EU. This paper questions this position with reference to the introduction of change in public services in Turkey. From this study it is argued that management change in public services may be more to do with cultural factors which are embedded in the form of public administration of that country. One of the central factors of Turkish life is the state dominance over civil society, including the private sector. In the UK private sector values enter the public sector, whereas in Turkey public service values enter the private sector. The paper concludes that changes in public sector management have to consider the cultural factors of public services and management models cannot be imposed unchanged.

This paper seeks to review multidimensional aspects of local sustainable development policy in the context of governance. It aims to focus on the general conditions in Poland and to base its analysis on empirical research in selected Polish communities.

In the first theoretical part the paper presents multidimensional aspects of governance for local sustainability. Identified barriers are the analyzed, based on case studies of local communities.

The paper shows that even if sustainable development and governance are integrated in theoretical discourses, in the practice of local policy making they are rarely considered in conjunction with each other. A lack of understanding of the importance of governance for sustainability and for local development has been identified on the practical level of local policy making. The Polish case studies show that the responsibility for governance barriers to local sustainable development is shared by local decision‐makers and local societies.

Creation of partnership and dialogue between the local community and government is believed to be of critical importance for local sustainable development. The relationship between local government and society can greatly enhance or obstruct sustainable development initiatives. The change towards local sustainable development requires more open and transparent decision‐making procedures that promote participation by a wide range of stakeholders.

The paper is another voice in the debate on governance for local sustainable development. Based on empirical examination it shows the issue of governance barriers for local sustainable development from a Polish local perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived value-relevance of open data published by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the parents’ choice of Dutch primary schools.

Empirical data were collected through a mixed method strategy including quantitative and qualitative methods: quantitative surveys among parents of pupils in 25 primary schools; and semi-structured in-depth interviews using a topic list.

Parents make little use of the Inspectorate’s website compared to other information sources. The perceived usefulness of this website to parents choosing a primary school is also relatively low. Personal information gathered by school visits, written information from schools and information from other parents are more important sources.

Subjective considerations, such as the atmosphere and ambience of a school, play an important role in parents’ choice behavior. Pragmatic considerations also play a role, such as a school’s nearness. This study shows that it is necessary to rethink the rational assumptions behind publishing performance data.

This study observed a mismatch between the demand and supply of open data about primary schools. The Inspectorate’s publication strategy is based on “hard” and “written” data presented on a website, but parents also appreciate “soft” and personal “oral” data. Parents state that the Inspectorate should not only focus on negative school results for censuring (“naming and shaming”), but also give attention to schools that perform well (“naming and faming”).

Research about parents’ and citizens’ use of quality information in general is scarce. These findings show that parents’ choice behavior is less rational than assumed. Relativistic notions about decision-making processes are recognized in other studies also, but they suggest that highly educated parents are over-represented in the group of parents who actively make school choices, whereas this study found no indications that parents’ educational level affects their choices.

In an age of growing skepticism about the development industry and about the appropriateness of the predominant paradigms of modernisation and immutable technology transfer, many scholars and practitioners are now attempting to re‐define approaches to development (e.g. Taylor, 1979; Galtung et al., 1980; Chambers, 1986; World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Out of this general effort to re‐consider the ways in which social and economic development should be conducted has emerged the notion of participation. In conceptual terms it is now widely agreed that development plans and policies must not only account for the perceptions and opinions of local populations, but that community groups should participate in the underlying processes of consultation and decision‐making. What is much less understood, however, are the mechanisms by which participation is operationalised and institutionalised, and the stresses as well as the advantages which accrue from participatory practices. This is particularly the case in the realm of scientific inquiry where participatory research (PR),(1) has emerged as part of the search to render science more germane to the needs and opinions of local people.

The aim of this paper is to examine development failure in Myanmar and explore alternative ways forward.

This research uses a variety of quantitative and qualitative data drawn from sources including newspaper and media accounts from inside and outside Myanmar, reports from NGOs and field observations. The data are analysed using a framework developed by combining the theoretical perspectives of the resource curse and governmentality.

Evidence of developmental failure in Myanmar is found. The nation is in an economic, social and political mess due to the actions of an incompetent and corrupt robber regime that has misused and misappropriated much of the wealth being produced from the nation's large mineral and energy reserves. Action by the international community has so far proved ineffective in improving the situation.

The main limitation of this paper is the difficulty in obtaining accurate and reliable official economic and social indicators. However, it does illustrate the value of combining the resource curse thesis and governmentality for understanding development failure.

This research has practical implications in that by illustrating the unsustainable nature of the “grabber governmentality” and providing an alternative “producer governmentality” it is clear that even the most authoritarian regimes are susceptible to change.

The resource curse thesis and governmentality have so far not been used together in the analysis of development. In this paper these concepts provide a way to critically examine the association between resource richness, poor governance and development failure.

The paper aims to contribute to the stream of research on empowerment by investigating the construct of psychological empowerment among Greek public employees. The primary objective is to further the limited amount of empirical research on the concept of empowerment as “experienced” by those working in public administration. Specifically, the study aims to extend the empowerment literature by determining the transferability of Menon's instrument in a Greek public service context; and by examining the relationship between psychological empowerment and internal service climate, defined here as employee quality perceptions of internal service encounters.

The paper is based on 330 surveys from tax officers in a mid‐sized town in Northern Greece.

Factor, reliability, correlation, and regression analyses were performed providing satisfactory results. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses faithfully reproduced the three dimensions suggested by Menon – namely perceived control, perceived competence and goal internalization – in a culturally diverse environment compared to the original study. Also, support was provided for the usefulness of the measure in the Greek tax administration. In addition, internal service climate was positively associated with psychological empowerment according to expectations.

It may be relevant for future research to replicate the present study in other types of Greek public organizations utilizing probabilistic sampling techniques. Longitudinal and/or quasi‐experimental research designs might be employed to address issues of causality. Ways of dealing with common method variance also need to be given consideration. Further, examining the predictive validity of individual and contextual antecedents and consequences of psychological empowerment identified in the private sector, investigating the nature of these relationships (causational, mediational, or moderational), and incorporating organizational effectiveness indices in the proposed model should enhance our understanding of the dynamic nature of the variables analyzed.

Results demonstrate the transferability of Menon's instrument in a culturally diverse work environment. In addition, the applicability of the scale in a Greek public service context is well illustrated. The link between an under‐researched facet of organizational climate, namely internal service climate, to psychological empowerment is highlighted and discussed. To the knowledge of the researchers, no prior study has attempted to investigate these issues in Greek public organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the careers of skilled migrants from Indian Punjab. This study complicates the normalization of skilled migration as a “win‐win” situation by examining the career trajectories of skilled migrants from the Indian Punjab who are trying to establish themselves in Britain.

The paper examines 20 life history interviews undertaken with skilled migrants from the Indian Punjab to Britain, in IT, media, law and hospitality industries, health and welfare professionals, and student migrants.

Skilled migrants were able to migrate on their own auspices through migration economies in Punjab. Once in Britain, however, they were directed to universities and labour markets in which they were not able to use their skills. They experienced under‐employment, devaluation of their qualifications and downward mobility, which forced them into ethnic and gendered markets within their home networks and created ambivalence about migrant success and issues of return.

The study emphasizes the need to take a transnational lens when looking at skilled migration, address how migrants’ career trajectories are limited by racism, anti‐immigration sentiment and gender inequality, and consider temporality and uncertainty.

The paper raises questions concerning the ways in which rapidly changing “managed migration” policies in Britain have burdened individual migrants.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of propositions for the Greek business sector concerning the value of strategically adopting a responsible business behaviour. The recent economic downturn of the Greek economy stresses the need for redefining current business models, attitudes and practices.

The authors draw from prior literature on strategic corporate responsibility and build their arguments on the value of social responsibility as an important component of an exit strategy from the domestic economic crisis.

Promoting the social responsibility of business could yield win–win opportunities for Greek firms and have a positive effect on the regeneration of the national economy’s dynamics. Connecting the well-established strategic CSR literature with the specific handicaps of an economy under pressure, we point out that the current deep crisis can be alleviated by regaining the trustworthiness, supporting the competitiveness potential and enhancing the extroversion of the Greek economy.

Strategic options from which policymakers and managers can endorse the development of a CSR agenda as an exit strategy component are set forth. Such practical implications pertain to the creation of an enabling environment for strategic CSR implementation, an emphasis on CSR-related amelioration of competitiveness parameters and a redefinition of market orientation of domestic firms under the scope of socially responsible business behaviour.

An economic–business environment under extreme pressure is discussed; problems relevant to the Greek case are outlined while a new approach in the way of doing business is proposed.

This paper analyses participatory budgeting (PB) in two Indonesian indigenous communities, illustrating how the World Bank sponsored neo-liberal model of “technical rational” PB is overshadowed by local values and wisdom, consisting of sophisticated, pre-existing rationalities for public participation.

Adopting a qualitative and interpretive case study approach, the study draws on data from semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and periods of participant observation. The paper utilises Weber's characterisations of rationality to analyse the PB process in indigenous communities.

The co-existence of both formal (technical) and substantive rationalities leads two Indonesian indigenous communities to execute participatory budgeting pragmatically. The formal budgetary mechanisms (Musrenbang), cascaded down from central and local governments, are melded with, and co-exist alongside, a tradition of public participation deriving from local cultural values and wisdom (Rembug warga). Reciprocal relationships and trust based on a pre-existing substantive rationality result in community members adapting budget practices while also preserving their local culture and resisting the encroachment of neo-liberal initiatives. The paper offers deeper analysis of the unintended consequences of attempting to implement technical rational accounting reforms and practices in indigenous settings.

The paper provides important insights into the way the interplay between formal and substantive rationality impacts on accounting and budgeting practices in indigenous communities. Our study also presents a unique case in emerging economy contexts in which neoliberal initiatives have been outmanoeuvred in the process of preserving indigenous values and wisdom. The informal participatory mechanism (Rembug warga) retained the community trust that neoliberalism systematically erodes.