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1 – 10 of over 5000Kasmad Ariansyah, Ahmad Budi Setiawan, Alfin Hikmaturokhman, Ardison Ardison and Djoko Walujo
This study aims to establish an assessment model to measure big data readiness in the public sector, specifically targeting local governments at the provincial and city/regency…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to establish an assessment model to measure big data readiness in the public sector, specifically targeting local governments at the provincial and city/regency levels. Additionally, the study aims to gain valuable insights into the readiness of selected local governments in Indonesia by using the established assessment model.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a mixed-method approach, using focus group discussions (FGDs), surveys and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to establish the assessment model. The FGDs involve gathering perspectives on readiness variables from experts in academia, government and practice, whereas the survey collects data from a sample of selected local governments using a questionnaire developed based on the variables obtained in FGDs. The EFA is used on survey data to condense the variables into a smaller set of dimensions or factors. Ultimately, the assessment model is applied to evaluate the level of big data readiness among the selected Indonesian local governments.
Findings
FGDs identify 32 essential variables for evaluating the readiness of local governments to adopt big data. Subsequently, EFA reduces this number by five and organizes the remaining variables into four factors: big data strategy, policy and collaboration, infrastructure and human resources and data collection and utilization. The application of the assessment model reveals that the overall readiness for big data in the selected local governments is primarily moderate, with those in the Java cluster displaying higher readiness. In addition, the data collection and utilization factor achieves the highest score among the four factors.
Originality/value
This study offers an assessment model for evaluating big data readiness within local governments by combining perspectives from big data experts in academia, government and practice.
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Gifty Kenetey and Boris Popesko
This study aimed to examine the adoption of consortium blockchain technology to ensure interoperability for the transparency of budgetary control in Ghanaian local government.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to examine the adoption of consortium blockchain technology to ensure interoperability for the transparency of budgetary control in Ghanaian local government.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on the design science research (DSR) observational technique for developing a consortium blockchain budgetary control system for Ghana's local government.
Findings
The study resulted in the design of a consortium blockchain monitoring and evaluation system to set up a mechanism to monitor various budget projects, processes and transactions for Ghana's local government. The findings also proved Ghana is ideally positioned to gain an advantage from designed artefacts such as ours, given its digital financial service (DFS) policy. In addition, the evaluation of the designed artefact proves there will be a positive impact on budgetary processes by addressing transparency concerns; however, the success of this concern depends on how the local government organisation embraces the artefact.
Research limitations/implications
The study sheds light on budget monitoring and evaluation tied to peer-to-peer (P2P) participation in the public sector via an advanced administrative digitalised networking and communication algorithm (A Distributed Ledger Technology - blockchain). The difference between the designed artefact and the traditional M&E system is argued. The study is limited by the paradoxes and inefficiencies of the integration of blockchain into the Ghanaian local government but, at the same time, presents a high level of certainty and possibility.
Practical implications
The proposed artefact has presented relevance because it is a new solution to existing concerns like trust, transparency, accountability and compliance, thereby improving local government budget administration.
Originality/value
The study has offered unique and new methods, guidelines and designs for tracking various budget projects and processes beyond the conventional technology-driven approach via DSR, exhibiting a unique solution for solving budget transparency, trust, accountability, compliance and data accessibility concerns.
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Thusitha Dissanayake and Steven Dellaportas
This study examines accounting reform in the Sri Lankan public sector using an actor–network perspective. The study is particularly concerned with the role of the Institute of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines accounting reform in the Sri Lankan public sector using an actor–network perspective. The study is particularly concerned with the role of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka (ICASL) in building networks of organisational actors in the diffusion of Sri Lankan Public Sector Accounting Standards (SLPSAS).
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data draws on interviews with key actors to understand the role of ICASL in the diffusion of SLPSAS. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of ICASL and senior public sector officers. The data were analysed based on the four stages underlying the translation process: problematisation, interessement, enrolment and mobilisation.
Findings
The data suggest that ICASL became a lead player in the diffusion of public sector accounting standards because of its superior technical capability. ICASL cultivated a way of thinking about accrual accounting by executing relational influence generated through professional knowledge, and connections with the government and public sector accountants.
Research limitations/implications
Findings should be interpreted with caution; data are limited by the subjective interpretation of data. By concentrating on the role of ICASL, the role and influence of other key actors may be overlooked.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on how innovations transform accounting practice through the lens of the ICASL. The result builds on evidence explaining why provincial governments and public sector governments were hesitant to adopt SLPSAS despite central government directives.
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This study aims to fill the research gap regarding the usability of group reporting information in the central government. It answers the question of how the consolidated…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to fill the research gap regarding the usability of group reporting information in the central government. It answers the question of how the consolidated information should be formed to benefit the real needs of governmental information users.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical research is based on a survey and interviews among key internal preparers and users in the central government sector in the case country, Finland.
Findings
Results show that the private sector approach regarding consolidation is not appropriately transferable to the central government sector. The key stakeholders identified several economic and financial reporting needs that exceed what formal Consolidated Financial Statement (CFS) can offer. Consolidation is needed but not according to the extensive full control approach, but rather following the budgetary approach consolidating units of the legal person of the government, and further using the partial control approach for consolidating by discretion essential special purpose SOEs.
Research limitations/implications
Respondents and interviewees represented governmental internal organisations, free experts, auditors and financial managers from the group entities. Politicians and citizens were not directly represented.
Practical implications
Research gives applicable insights into central governments planning and developing group reporting for information needs in a favourable cost-benefit ratio. Findings benefit the development of EU's EPSAS (European Public Sector Accounting Standards) project which is still incomplete.
Social implications
Research recommends governments to make a thorough analysis before deciding on a new financial reporting system. A critical analysis prevents governments to waste money and resources on a reporting system not fulfilling the real needs of information users.
Originality/value
The value of this research is that the private sector approach in consolidation was not taken as granted. This study investigated critically and empirically the real need for consolidated information serving steering and overseeing purposes of the government's group entities.
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Huimin Li, Boxin Dai, Yongchao Cao, Limin Su and Feng Li
Trust is the glue that holds cooperative relationships together and often exists in an asymmetric manner. The purpose of this study is to explore how to mitigate the issue of…
Abstract
Purpose
Trust is the glue that holds cooperative relationships together and often exists in an asymmetric manner. The purpose of this study is to explore how to mitigate the issue of losses or increased transaction costs caused by opportunistic behavior in a soft environment where trust asymmetry is quite common and difficult to avoid.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on examining asymmetric trust between the government and the private sector in public-private partnership (PPP) projects. Drawing upon both project realities and relevant literature, the primary conditional variables influencing asymmetric trust are identified. These variables encompass power perception asymmetry, information asymmetry, interaction behavior, risk perception differences and government-side control. Subsequently, through the use of a survey questionnaire, binary-matched data from both the government and the private sector are collected. The study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to conduct a configurational analysis, aiming to investigate the causal pathways that trigger asymmetric trust.
Findings
No single conditional variable is a necessary condition for the emergence of trust asymmetry. The pathways leading to a high degree of trust asymmetry can be categorized into two types: those dominated by power perception and those involving a combination of multiple factors. Differences in power perception play a crucial role in the occurrence of high trust asymmetry, yet the influence of other conditional variables in triggering trust asymmetry should not be overlooked.
Originality/value
The findings can contribute to advancing the study of trust relationships in the field of Chinese PPP projects. Furthermore, they hold practical value in facilitating the enhancement of trust relationships between the government and the private sector.
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Casper Hendrik Claassen, Eric Bidet, Junki Kim and Yeanhee Choi
Public sector institutional entrepreneurship efforts may contribute to addressing social challenges by creating an enabling regulatory environment that promotes social enterprise…
Abstract
Purpose
Public sector institutional entrepreneurship efforts may contribute to addressing social challenges by creating an enabling regulatory environment that promotes social enterprise formation and fosters complementarity between the public sector and social enterprises. The outcomes of such public sector institutional entrepreneurship are explored in this study. To assess the outcomes of such public sector initiatives in South Korea, the perspectives of executives (n = 40) of government-certified social enterprises are assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
Several research methodologies were combined, including purposive sampling with an 11-point Likert scale, hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis. The literature on government–nonprofit relations as well as public sector institutional entrepreneurship was leveraged.
Findings
This research results indicate that the enabling regulatory environment with entrenched funding and incubation mechanisms produces mixed-to-positive outcomes if framed with reference to public sector–social enterprise complementarity. The authors identified three perspective-based ideal types that have differential views of isomorphic regulatory pressures, the efficacy of incubation and scaling programs, participation in policymaking and other aspects of public sector patronage.
Originality/value
This study contributes to relating the literature on public sector institutional entrepreneurship and government–third sector relations by empirically assessing how social enterprises attracted by government demand-side signaling to become certified as social enterprises encounter and perceive an ostensibly enabling regulatory ecosystem, with its derivative policies and mechanisms, crafted by the public sector.
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Narsymbat Salimgereyev, Bulat Mukhamediyev and Aijaz A. Shaikh
This study developed new measures of the routine and non-routine task contents of managerial, professional, technical, and clerical occupations from a workload perspective. Here…
Abstract
Purpose
This study developed new measures of the routine and non-routine task contents of managerial, professional, technical, and clerical occupations from a workload perspective. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the workload structures of state and industrial sector employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Our method involves detailed descriptions of work processes and an element-wise time study. We collected and analysed data to obtain a workload structure that falls within three conceptual task categories: (i) non-routine analytic tasks, (ii) non-routine interactive tasks and (iii) routine cognitive tasks. A total of 2,312 state and industrial sector employees in Kazakhstan participated in the study. The data were collected using a proprietary web application that resembles a timesheet.
Findings
The study results are consistent with the general trend reported by previous studies: the higher the job level, the lower the occupation’s routine task content. In addition, the routine cognitive task contents of managerial, professional, technical, and clerical occupations in the industrial sector are higher than those in local governments. The work of women is also more routinary than that of men. Finally, vthe routine cognitive task contents of occupations in administrative units are higher than those of occupations in substantive units.
Originality/value
Our study sought to address the challenges of using the task-based approach associated with measuring tasks by introducing a new measurement framework. The main advantage of our task measures is a direct approach to assessing workloads consisting of routine tasks, which allows for an accurate estimation of potential staff reductions due to the automation of work processes.
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Inflation and federal monetary efforts to control it with interest rate hikes have very real and overwhelmingly negative consequences on US local governments following the onset…
Abstract
Purpose
Inflation and federal monetary efforts to control it with interest rate hikes have very real and overwhelmingly negative consequences on US local governments following the onset of COVID-19. This study explores the post-pandemic inflationary environment of US local governments; examines the impacts of inflation and high interest rates on local government revenue, operating costs, capital costs, and debt service; reviews local government inflation management strategies, including the use of intergovernmental revenue; and assesses ongoing threats to local government financial health and financial resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses trend and literature analysis to comment on current issues local governments face.
Findings
The study finds that the growth of property values and resulting stability of property tax revenue has been important to local government revenues; that local governments bear very real burdens as operating and capital costs increase; and that the combination of high inflation and interest rates affects local government debt issuance by negatively affecting credit quality and interest costs, leading to municipal market contraction. Local governments have benefitted tremendously from intergovernmental revenue, but would be ill-advised to rely on it.
Practical implications
Vulnerabilities owing from revenue mismatch with the economy; inadequate affordable housing, inequality, and social issues; a changing workforce and tight labor market; climate change; and federal fiscal contraction—all of which are exacerbated by high inflation and interest rates—require local governments to act strategically, boldly and collaboratively to achieve fiscal health and financial resilience, and to realize positive returns of investments in people and capital.
Originality/value
This work is unique in addressing the post-pandemic impact of inflation and interest rates on local governments.
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Sampa Chisumbe, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Erastus Mwanaumo and Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
Mika Luhtala, Olga Welinder and Elina Vikstedt
This study aims to investigate the adoption of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the new performance perspective in cities. It also aims to understand…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the adoption of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the new performance perspective in cities. It also aims to understand how accounting for SDGs begins in city administrations by following Power’s (2015) fourfold development schema composed of policy object formation, object elaboration, activity orchestration and practice stabilization.
Design/methodology/approach
Focusing on a network of cities coordinated by the Finnish local government association, we analyzed the six largest cities in Finland employing a holistic multiple case study strategy. Our data consisted of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), city strategies, budget plans, financial statements, as well as results of participant observations and semi-structured interviews with key individuals involved in accounting for SDGs.
Findings
We unveiled the SDG framework as an interpretive scheme through which cities glocalized sustainable development as a novel, simultaneously global and local, performance object. Integration of the new accounts in city management is necessary for these accounts to take life in steering the actions. By creating meaningful alignment and the ability to impact managerial practices, SDGs and VLRs have the potential to influence local actions. Our results indicate further institutionalization progress of sustainability as a performance object through SDG-focused work.
Originality/value
While prior research has focused mainly on general factors influencing the integration of the sustainability agenda, this study provides a novel perspective by capturing the process and demonstrating empirically how new accounts on SDGs are introduced and deployed in the strategic planning and management of local governments.
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