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The purpose of this paper is to describe an empirical study of the advances and trends of e‐government in transparency, openness and hence accountability in European Union (EU) local governments to determine the extent to which the internet promotes the convergence towards more transparent and accountable government. The paper also tests the extent to which different factors related to the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the number of inhabitants and the type of public administration style have influenced e‐government developments in the cities studied.

A comprehensive content analysis of 75 local government web sites was conducted using a 73‐item evaluation questionnaire. The evaluations were performed in 2004 and 2007 and 15 EU countries were covered (five per country). To analyse the evolution of e‐government, several techniques were used: tests of difference of means, multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. The contribution of the different contextual factors to the development of government web sites was tested with OLS regression analysis.

The results show noticeable progress in the application of ICTs and increasing EU local government concern for bringing government closer to citizens and for giving an image of modernity and responsiveness, although few web sites show clear signs of real openness to encouraging citizen dialogue. The evolution of the e‐government initiatives analysed shows that, at present, they are still overlapped with the public administration style of each country as an extension of traditional front offices with potential benefits in speed and accessibility.

Although a growing number of e‐government studies are appearing, previous research has not analysed the evolution of EU local governments from a comparative perspective.

Despite the growing volume of European Union (EU) investments into reforms and public administration, how EU support contributes to administrative reform and capacity building at domestic level is still unclear. The article explains the EU's influence, domestic politicisation and previous administrative capacity on organisational change whilst implementing European Social Fund-financed projects during the programming period 2014–2020.

By going beyond the EU-centred approach and based on different strands of the new institutionalism, the authors offer three explanations on the influence of EU support. The authors performed the qualitative content analysis of 29 case studies and matched the implementation of the projects with the authors' explanations.

The authors' research results indicate that progress in the implementation of the projects was determined by domestic factors rather than EU conditionalities. The influence of domestic politicisation was found to be mixed, but higher levels of initial administrative capacity proved to be most important to achieving organisational change.

The authors' judgement of the project implementation and their success was based on the information provided in the case studies at the time of implementation.

The authors' research points to the essential need for the initial and gradual development of administrative capacity to achieve good reform results.

Based on the different logics of the new institutionalism, we developed specific mechanisms for organisational change. The authors' research results deepen the understanding of how politicisation positively or negatively shapes reform implementation, as well as how pre-existing administrative capacity and further development of pre-existing administrative capacity dynamically occurs through a process of socialisation and learning.

The aim of this paper is to explore the possible varieties of convergence in the public administrations of members of the European Union, as well as the framework for analysing aspects of convergence. It assists students of comparative public administration who attempt to understand “puzzles” triggered by NPM and EU pressures. These pressures seem to push national systems in opposite directions, and not to be united as a single force for a particular model. At the same time, however, both involve assertive action by government to achieve reform in the face of inertia or hostility of public bureaucracies anxious to preserve their traditional arrangements. The paper suggests that the answer to the question “Are West European administrative systems becoming more alike?” cannot be simply “yes” or “no”. With the impact of NPM the answer must be “more than they used to”, but as a trend toward a common destination, “no”. With the impact of the EU the answer must be “yes” and “no” depending on which aspect of an administrative system is being examined.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The paper seeks to bridge the gap by reporting on the research and consulting work of the authors in the Romanian civil service.

The urgency to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of public administrations has led to the adoption in the public sector – in Italy as well as in other countries – of tools and models inspired by the total quality management (TQM) approach, such as the common assessment framework (CAF). A parallel need was felt within public structures to train people, the “peers”, who aside from being able to implement the self‐evaluation activities of their own administration, also needed to be equipped with the necessary skills to complete external evaluation activities, namely “peer evaluations”, with the ultimate aim of spreading quality management culture and best practices in the field through an approach based on benchmarking. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a survey designed to determine the training requirements that a “peer” should acquire in order to perform “evaluation” activities.

The paper has strong empirical connotations and is essentially based on, first, a questionnaire given to evaluators/self‐evaluators to identify the problems emerging with the application of the CAF model in administrations that have adopted it. In this sphere a great deal of attention has been paid to – in addition to the preparation of the questionnaire – the delicate task of codifying the answers to open questions proposed to interviewees; and second, the investigation inherent in the current educational choices in Italy in the TQM arena, specifically addressing the public sector.

Apart from the analysis of data obtained from the investigation, presented with descriptive statistics, the paper identifies the training content necessary: first, to place “peers” in a position to be able to autonomously and fully carry out their evaluation work on the basis of the CAF model; and second, to render the evaluation activities systematically comparable among the various administrations.

At the present time the research deals with the Italian context. However, future investigations involving different European countries could be carried out, taking the present results as a starting point for a benchmarking activity.

The paper puts forward the creation of a “network” of actors who manage all the “peer evaluation” activities, from the provision of the training pack and monitoring the “peer” exchange process, up to benchmarking initiatives and the dissemination of best practices.

The paper presents original data and information in order to identify the training needs of individuals that actually use CAF, starting from the assumption that the training of evaluators is the primary condition for promoting the adoption and diffusion of CAF in Italian public administrations and thus maximizing its benefits.

Reviews conference proceedings on public management in the EC after Maastricht. Held in Dublin, financial issues, “international, supranational and transnational” overviews, and structures policies, inter alia, were discussed. Observes that, unfortunately, although possible future problems of public management were highlighted, answers were not always forthcoming.

This paper aims to discuss the effectiveness of the European Union (EU) at World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) by comparing EU objectives prior to and outcomes of recent WRCs.

A thematic analysis of qualitative data extracted from documents is conducted. The effectiveness of the EU is discussed by using the concepts of agenda-setting and coalition-building, borrowed from international relations literature.

A clear conclusion on EU effectiveness could not be drawn based on the degree of match between EU objectives and WRC outcomes. Other factors need to be included in the analysis, such as relevance of the EU’s participation at WRCs to the EU member states and availability and allocation of EU resources to the various stages of the WRC process.

Further research is encouraged to investigate the role of the EU at WRCs. In particular, interviews with experts involved in the WRC process may help gather relevant information on EU relevance and EU resource availability and allocation.

This paper contributes to existing research on international radio spectrum regulation by drawing attention to the role of the EU as an international actor.

Compares the evaluation methods of vocational training public programs. Studies the US case, the other national cases (mostly OECD countries), and the European Union case. Suggests that OECD countries, and especially the EU, should follow the US trend, and make impact microeconometric studies, in order to assess the training effects of those programs; thus, it will be possible to conduct better policies, and to spend public money in better ways. Additionally tries to explain why the USA is much more advanced in those studies than the EU and other countries; links the reasons to scientific history and to the administrative actions. Finally, presents some ideas about the Portuguese case, which is a fine example of the problem.

European companies are facing new challenges in the next millennium. Seven trends in international logistics are outlined. These are supply chain management, globalisation of the supply chain, virtual enterprises, e‐business, green logistics, strategic partnerships and new management principles. The implications for European companies are discussed and illustrated by examples from advanced companies. Asserts that it is employees and not the systems and processes that will ensure solutions to the logitstics tasks and provide companies with the necessary competitiveness.

Public entrepreneurs are an under-researched group in local government. The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual complexities of public entrepreneurs who pursue more creative ways of “doing more with less” to cope with dynamic financial and societal anxieties of Greek local government fiscal austerity policy reforms. Precisely, this study aims to the understanding of how specific contextual influences impact, first, on the nature of public entrepreneurship and, second, on manifested outcomes. A systematic approach marks the authors attempt to assess the broader impact pointing out the implications for research, policy and practice.

A case study of Greek local government draws on 26 in-depth semi-structured interviews with public entrepreneurs across top, middle and front-line levels of management, field notes, documentary and archival evidence.

The findings demonstrate unique Greek contextual complexities such as contradictory tensions between triggered decentralisation of control and responsibilities of the local government and attempts of external reinvention rather than internal renewal. These complexities influence public entrepreneurs’ systemic entrepreneurship behaviours in Greek local government since the implementation of fiscal austerity policy reforms in 2010. Their representation is manifest in policy, administrative and technological outcomes with public value consequences.

This research contributes to a deeper understanding of public entrepreneurship in context. Greek local government public entrepreneurs bring original insights on the contextual influences of their systemic enactment and manifested outcomes, with implications for research, policy and practice.