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In 2010 a series of case studies were conducted in Prague, Czech Republic, examining the implementation and management of digital governance. These best practice case studies were chosen from among Prague's twenty-two administrative districts and through those findings this article discusses critical success factors and barriers to successful implementation of digital government initiatives. A qualitative review of both critical success factors and barriers is discussed at the individual, organizational, and strategic levels and the paper concludes by highlighting strategies managers can take to increase e-government performance. When considered together, the critical success factors, barriers to implementation, and key factors identified in the case studies further add to the growing literature of digital governance and performance management.

To adjust the fiscal relationship between the central government and the local government, especially to increase the two ratios of (1) central fiscal revenue over GDP and (2) central fiscal revenue over government revenue, China conducted a 1994 fiscal reform effort, the result of which is, at best, mixed. One of the failures to boost the first ratio is the existence of largescale extra budget funds (EBFs) and extra-extra budgetary funds (EEBFs). This paper explores the history, the problems and the causal relations associated with the EBFs under the broad background of China’s fiscal reform and administrative reform. This paper then proposes a comprehensive package for the solution of problems related to the EBFs.

Government accountability and responsiveness are foundational concerns of public managers, citizens, the media, and advocacy organizations. Technologies provide viable alternatives for increasing citizen access to government and improving governmentʼs responses to the issues of greatest concern to citizens, and the implementation of non-emergency 311 systems have shown tremendous potential in this regard. This paper, therefore, examines municipal 311 systems in terms of accountability and responsiveness functions, namely usability, services provided, internal operations, and measurable outputs. A survey of fourteen municipalities with 311 systems throughout the United States results in the identification of best practices in each of the four research categories.

Purpose – This paper seeks to present an overview of the state‐of‐the‐art of public performance measurement in the USA. The growing degree of sophistication of performance measurement tools is highlighted as well as some of the current challenges associated with implementing meaningful performance measurement systems. More importantly, models where citizens participate directly in the process of assessing and measuring the performance of government are introduced. Overall, this article aims to address the following questions: what is the state‐of‐the‐art of public performance measurement? How are citizens adding meaning to the performance measurement process? Design/methodology/approach – This paper offers a literature review that assesses the state of practice of performance measurement as a tool for management. In addition to highlighting the value of this management tool, models of citizen‐driven performance measurement are offered as strategies for measuring what matters to citizens. Findings – While there are challenges associated with implementing systems of performance measurement, evidence shows that including citizens in the process adds value to the overall process. Originality/value – This paper assesses the state‐of‐the‐art and utility of public performance measurement. Strategies and models are offered to bridge the interests of public managers and citizens in the process. These approaches, or modified versions, can be adopted and implemented in many contexts and may serve as useful tools for the international community.

The explanatory power of Multi-Level Governance (MLG) has been and is being questioned. Two main criticisms have been raised: first, that MLG is ultimately descriptive, not explanatory; second, that MLG is a case of concept stretching, that it is ultimately an umbrella notion rather than a theory. This chapter outlines what ripostes may be provided to such critiques and argues that the progress of the study of MLG and its usage in political science and public policy and management may lie to an important extent in fostering the dialogue with other streams of research (thus filling the gap of some ‘missing linkages’ in the extant MLG literature), like network governance; policy learning; the analysis of policy tools and the tools of government in complex systems; models in strategic management like stakeholder analysis and others.

This volume is a collective contribution by authors from different disciplinary backgrounds who all address, from different angles and by using a variety of research methods, the key question of how to bring into the MLG research agenda a range of disciplines and applied fields of inquiry that have so far only limitedly been used in the MLG stream of research and literature more systematically.

It arises from the volume that theoretical frames like network governance; policy learning; policy tools analysis; stakeholder analysis and others have important potential to further the MLG research agenda. A number of contributions address the transformation of MLG in the European Union (EU), the polity where MLG arrangements where first detected and labelled as such (Marks, 1993). Others apply MLG frames to other institutional settings, including non-democratic regimes.

This volume is a collective attempt to suggest ‘cross-fertilisations’ from other disciplines or applied fields that may lead to unleash more of the potential and promises of the MLG agenda. It is hoped that this work lays some of the foundations for building bridges between the MLG literature and disciplines and theoretical frames that may be effectively brought into the MLG research agenda.

MLG has long gone beyond the academic debate, to become an analytical lens employed by EU and other institutions across the globe. MLG informs the practice of policy-making. By addressing some key gaps in the extant literature and furnishing perspectives to link MLG to disciplines that may provide theories and models to further its analytical potential, this volume aims at contributing to improving the practice of MLG.

The volume is – to our knowledge – the first systematic attempt to bring into the MLG literature a whole range of theories and models that may provide ways forward to the understanding and usage of MLG.

The authors surveyed city administrators in the six-county Chicago region to test an innovation management capacity process model. Innovation management capacity is conceptualized as the function of council-staff functionality, managerial leadership capacity, and staff team management. The empirical results from 220 city administrators in 53 cities support the hypothesis that the number of municipal innovations is positively correlated with innovation management capacity, controlling for structural, socioeconomic, and demographic variables. However, this study does not find a statistical relationship between innovation effectiveness and innovation management capacity. The authors posit two possible explanations for these results and propose an alternative innovation management capacity process model for testing in future research.