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This paper aims to examine the role of local/provincial government in influencing corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER) in China, and more specifically, how the underlying economic and political factors associated with local government have influenced the quality of CSER.

The authors used 234 environmentally sensitive companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during 2013 and 2015 as the research sample to test the relationship between CSER and local government’s political connection and economic prioritisation and the potential mediating effect of local economic prioritisation.

The analysis provides evidence that local/provincial government’s political geographical connectedness with the central government has directly and positively influenced the level of CSER, while local prioritisation of economic development has a direct but negative effect on CSER in China. In addition, local/provincial prioritisation of economic development has mediated the relationship between local–central political geographical connectedness and CSER.

While local/provincial governments are heavily influenced by the coercive pressure from the central government, they also act in their own political and economic interests in overseeing CSER at the local level. This study raises the question about the effectiveness of the top-down approach to improving CSER in China and suggests that the central government may need to focus more on coordinating and harmonising different local/provincial governments’ interests to enable achieving a common sustainability goal.

The authors provide evidence revealing how the economic and political contexts of local government have played a significant role in shaping CSER in China. More specifically, this paper addresses a gap in the literature by highlighting the importance of local government oversight power for CSER development and how such oversight is determined by local prioritisation of economic development and political geographical connectedness of local and central governments.

This study aims to examine the effects of religiosity, ethical leadership and local wisdom on the relationship between fraud risk management and asset misappropriation in Indonesia.

Data were collected using a set of questionnaire surveys administered to the head office, local government internal auditors (inspectorate) and local government employees in Indonesia. Sample selection used purposive techniques and obtained 151 respondents who became research data. The dependent variable was asset misappropriation. The independent variable was fraud risk management. The moderating variables for this study were religiosity, leader ethics and local wisdom. The analysis technique applied the structural equation model-partial least square (SEM-PLS).

Fraud risk management has a significant negative effect on asset misappropriation. In addition, this study finds evidence that religiosity, ethical leadership and local wisdom increase fraud risk management against asset misappropriation.

This study proposes an integrative model that enables local governments to understand fraud risk management. By integrating religiosity, ethical leadership and local wisdom, managers can design strategies to prevent asset misappropriation.

This research has the advantage of proposing an integrative model for mitigating asset misappropriation. Research on asset misappropriation is limited. Therefore, this study provides insights into fraud risk management, particularly in Indonesia’s local governments. In addition, this study adds ethical aspects such as religiosity, leadership and local wisdom to complement the weaknesses of fraud risk management and reduce the potential for asset misappropriation.

This study aims to understand and explain factors that influence how, when and under which conditions local governments adopt digital technologies for citizen collaboration. It discusses what these findings mean for city digital twin adoption.

This research uses the systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) process to collect and evaluate evidence needed to answer the research questions. It uses the technology–organisation–environment (TOE) framework and proposes an additional dimension: “stakeholders” as the analytical framework.

Critical influential factors identified include the technology dimension: security and privacy; organisation dimension: top management support; environment dimension: political influence; and stakeholders’ dimension: technological experience.

This research extends the TOE framework and comprehensively analyses those factors which relate to citizens but significantly impact local government’s decision to adopt digital tools for collaboration purposes. This research posits that in the context of local government technology adoption for collaboration, both the organisation and stakeholders’ dimensions are critical.

This research contributes to the government-citizen discourse and provides a constructive understanding of technological transformation in collaborative planning. The findings are helpful for local governments, researchers and geospatial industries as they offer a critical understanding of digital technology adoption, particularly city digital twins, for collaborative planning.

This study extends the TOE framework to include aspects relating to citizens. It provides a nuanced understanding of the influential factors and intricacies of technology adoption by local governments for citizen collaboration. It also discusses relevant issues of city digital twins’ adoption by local governments for citizen participation.

Nowadays, there is a strong public interest in promoting transparency to be informed about the actions of the public sector. At the same time, there has been a significant change in society’s perceptions and concerns about sustainable development, with a marked increase in attention to this area. In this context, our main objective is to investigate the impact of transparency practices in local government on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Spanish municipalities.

We will analyse a sample of 84 municipalities, using the Dynamic Transparency Index published by Dyntra to measure transparency. For the level of implementation of the SDGs, we will use an index specifically created using data from the report “The SDGs in 100 Spanish Cities”, published by the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development in 2020.

Municipalities with a larger dependent population tend to achieve higher SDG levels. Municipalities with lower financial surpluses and more self-generated resources show better SDG implementation. Progressive political parties lean more towards sustainability, and coalition governments show higher SDG implementation than majority governments. Gender appears to play a minor role in SDG implementation, but male leadership is associated with higher levels. Factors such as population density and government transfers do not have a significant impact on SDG implementation levels.

This study seeks to address the lack of empirical research on the potential impact of transparency on the achievement of the SDGs, while also taking into account other socio-economic, financial and political aspects of the municipality. In doing so, it also contributes to the limited empirical literature on the determinants of the level of SDG implementation in local governments.

The paper explores how local authorities, particularly 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. Moreover, website analysis with a focus on transparency and citizen engagement supplements the evaluation.

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. Tbilisi embraces open governance principles with comprehensive action plans, strong transparency commitment, and engaging digital platforms. Kutaisi demonstrates notable progress with user-friendly digital platforms and a streamlined open data portal, emphasizing transparency. Rustavi shows significant development in digital service delivery and citizen engagement and a reputation as a transparent local government. Akhaltsikhe faces challenges in electronic service delivery and citizen engagement. Ozurgeti also encounters obstacles in information disclosure and electronic service delivery, while Khoni lags in information accessibility and citizen engagement.

This research is novel in studying 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 purpose of this study is to investigate the application of citizen satisfaction (CS) as a tool for measuring performance by arm's length bodies (ALBs) in local governments across eleven countries, addressing central questions about its functionality and influencing factors.

We employ a hybrid inductive-deductive explorative study design, characterized by an iterative interpretative approach guided by sensitizing concepts. Expert interviews are analyzed through template analysis and cover eleven countries where ALBs are present due to decentralization and outsourcing.

Our study uncovers limited real-world applications of CS in evaluating public service delivery by ALBs. Expert interviews reveal insights into factors potentially influencing CS use, such as the level of autonomy of local governments, state traditions and austerity measures. A research agenda is formulated for further investigation.

Contributing to the CS debate, our study focuses on its application in evaluating public service delivery by ALBs. The explorative design, expert opinions and theoretical foundations enhance understanding, offering insights into factors potentially shaping CS use in this context. The study proposes a research agenda, propelling further investigations into this underexplored, yet emerging, area.

This paper examines how firms respond to local government’s environment initiatives through textual analysis of government work reports (GWRs). This study aims to provide insights into how firms strategically respond to government’s environmental initiatives through their disclosure and investment practices.

This study uses a textual analysis of GWRs from China’s provinces. The frequency and change rate of environmental keywords in these reports are used as a measure of the government’s environmental initiatives.

This study finds that environmental disclosure scores in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports increase with the frequency or change rate of environmental keywords in provincial GWRs. This effect is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises, firms in highly marketized provinces or those listed in a single capital market. However, there is no significant relationship between firms’ environmental investments and government initiatives, except for cross-listed firms in provinces with consistently high frequency of environmental keywords in their GWRs.

The findings indicate that government environmental initiatives can shape firms’ disclosure behaviors, yet have limited influence on investment decisions, suggesting that environmental disclosure could potentially be opportunistic. This underscores the need for more effective strategies to stimulate firms’ environmental investments.

This study provides valuable insights into the differential impacts of government environmental initiatives on firms’ disclosure and investment behaviors, contributing to the understanding of corporate environmental responsibility in the context of government initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether and how intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs) affect technological innovation.

China’s provincial panel data from 2007 to 2019 are used in an empirical study to examine the effect of IFTs on technological innovation and the role of fiscal spending policy in the relationship between the two by using the spatial Durbin model.

Results show an evident spatial correlation for the effect of IFTs on technological innovation, indicating that IFTs have a significant negative influence on technological innovation in local and surrounding regions. IFTs also inhibit technological innovation by negatively affecting science and technology spending and education spending.

These findings can aid policymakers in advancing technological innovation by improving the system of fiscal transfers and optimizing the structure of fiscal spending.

Although the determinants of technological innovation have been analyzed, no studies have investigated the effect of IFTs on technological innovation. Thus, this paper aims to address this gap.

Waste classification plays an important role in reducing pollution, promoting waste recycling and resource utilization. This paper aims to explore the multiple reasons that affect the performance of waste classification governance.

Content analysis of the existing waste classification policies is conducted using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. Based on this analysis, influencing factors are identified through the technology-organization-environment (TOE) research framework. The condition configurations and action paths that cause differences in governance performance are derived using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA).

The results show that there are spatial and temporal disparities in waste classification policies among different provinces/cities. In most situations, the implementation effect of policy combinations is better than that of a single type of policy, with mandatory policies playing a key role. Additionally, a single influencing factor cannot constitute the bottleneck of high governance performance. Policy topics coordinate with environmental and technical factors to influence governance performance. Finally, in light of China's actual governance situation, several targeted implications are proposed for the practical optimization of local government waste classification governance.

This paper presents a novel approach by integrating multiple heterogeneous data sources from both online and offline channels, adopting a public-government perspective and applying the fsQCA method to investigate the combined effects of technical, organizational and environmental factors on waste classification governance performance across 31 provinces and cities in China.

By focusing on the perspective of politicians, this paper aims to question the change brought about by local government financial statements for accountability. It applies the Burns and Scapens’ (2000) framework of accounting change to explore politicians’ routines when using the accrual accounting information and which type of change was induced by financial statements on financial accountability to politicians and citizens.

Considering that accounting reforms take time to unfold their effects, this paper studies two countries that have 11 years of difference in the reform implementation and thus a different accounting maturity. A qualitative research approach was used based on 55 semistructured interviews in five Finnish and six German municipalities with 25 councilors from Finland and 30 from Germany.

Councilors with a longer period of time to adjust to the accounting reforms seem to have developed more routines in using financial statements to assess the financial situation and performance. The change induced in accountability to politicians is partly formal and more evolutionary than revolutionary. The complexity of financial statements can lead to regressive change, especially in financially distressed local governments. As for accountability to citizens, a real change is not observed, reflecting a regressive type of change.

The study contributes to the empirical studies on financial accountability in the public sector context by analyzing the use of financial statements in two-way accountability relations from the perspective of politicians. Thereby, the paper adopts a transnational comparative approach and draws on old institutional economics.