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1 – 10 of over 2000Municipalities have the potential to become models of the circular economy (CE). This paper aims to examine the impact of the municipal council’s characteristics on municipal CE…
Abstract
Purpose
Municipalities have the potential to become models of the circular economy (CE). This paper aims to examine the impact of the municipal council’s characteristics on municipal CE disclosure and promotion.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on the resource dependence and upper echelons theories. For a sample of the 100 largest cities in Canada, a mixed methodology is used to code and analyze data and test the hypotheses.
Findings
Municipal councillors’ education and experience related to the environment or sustainability are both likely to affect CE disclosure, and their sector membership (public or private) moderates the relationship between CE disclosure and councillors’ experience. This experience may be reinforced by membership in the private sector, which has applied CE principles more extensively than the public sector has. Municipal councils with a greater number of councillors from the private sector appear to perform better in matters of transparency and to disclose more CE information on their public websites.
Practical implications
Municipalities could use the findings to foster their transition to CE by implementing a CE-related training plan for their councillors. A CE-dedicated section on their websites could improve transparency and inform and educate residents about CE.
Social implications
The public sector could learn from the private sector’s best practices regarding CE.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the transparency and engagement of municipalities toward CE. The authors extend the resource dependence and upper echelons theories to a new context, that of public organizations.
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Margit Malmmose and Mai Skjøtt Linneberg
The objective of this study is to examine developments in the discursive practice of non-financial reporting in the public healthcare sector. In doing so, the authors investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to examine developments in the discursive practice of non-financial reporting in the public healthcare sector. In doing so, the authors investigate how the main reform foci of productivity and quality are represented, with a specific focus on the patient.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA), the authors conduct a longitudinal study (2007–2018) of healthcare reporting foci across the five administrative regions responsible for public hospitals in Denmark. The study analyses sixty annual reports and draws on contemporary reform documents over this period. CDA enables a micro-textual analysis, combined with macro-insights and discussions on social practice.
Findings
The findings show complex webs of presentation strategies, but in particular two changes occur during the period. First, the patient is centred throughout but the framing changes from productivity and waiting lists to quality and dialogue. Second, in the first years, the regions present themselves as actively highlighting financial and quality concerns, which changes to a passive and indirect form of presentation steered by indicators and patient legislation enforced by central government. This enhances passivity and distance in healthcare regional non-financial reporting where the regions seek to conform to such demands. Simultaneously, however, the authors find a tendency to highlight very different local initiatives, which shows an attempt to go beyond a pure automatic mode of reporting found in earlier studies.
Originality/value
Responding to the literature on both healthcare and financial reporting, this study identifies novel links between micro-level texts and macro-level social practices, enabling insights into the potentially intertwined impacts of public-sector reporting. The authors offer insights into the complexity of the construction of non-financial reporting in the public sector, which has a wider impact and different intentions than private-sector reporting.
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Timo Meynhardt, Pepe Strathoff, Jessica Bardeli and Steven Brieger
In public management research, the focus in the public value debate has been on public administration organizations’ broader societal outcomes. Public value describes how public…
Abstract
Purpose
In public management research, the focus in the public value debate has been on public administration organizations’ broader societal outcomes. Public value describes how public administrations form a vital part of the social context in which people develop and grow. However, there has not yet been an analysis of how public administration contributes to happiness in society.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, we empirically analyze the relationship between people’s happiness and the public value of public administration. Our approach is based on a unique Swiss survey dataset comprising 870 individuals.
Findings
We find a positive relationship between public administration’s public value and happiness. We also find preliminary evidence with a moderation analysis that the relationship between a value-creating public administration sector and self-reported happiness is stronger for public administration employees.
Research limitations/implications
While correlation studies cannot claim causal explanations and common method bias may additionally limit any research in social science, we took a number of measures to mitigate related problem. We tested our model in two samples and took both several procedural techniques and a survey design minimizing common method bias.
Practical implications
The paper discusses implications for public sector performance measurement for public management and practitioners.
Social implications
This study calls for a more positive view on the multiple functions public administration performs for society. After an era of critical voices, our study helps reclaim public administration as a positive force for society at large in times of grand challenges, such as climate crisis, demographics and digitization.
Originality/value
This study has highlighted the importance between public administration’s public value and happiness in Swiss public service organizations. The study also showed that an employment in the public administration contributes to the happiness of individuals and beyond to society.
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Ohoud AlMunthiri, Shaker Bani Melhem, Faridahwati Mohd Shamsudin and Shaikha Ali Al-Naqbi
Although the development of public organisations and the continual enhancement of public services depend on the creative behaviour of public employees, it is uncertain from…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the development of public organisations and the continual enhancement of public services depend on the creative behaviour of public employees, it is uncertain from earlier studies how and when inclusive leadership (IL) affects innovative behaviours (IB). This study aims to resolve the inconsistency in the literature by applying social exchange theory to examine the effect of inclusive leadership on employees’ innovative behaviour, while also examining the mediating role of work engagement and the moderating effect of psychological safety within this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model’s analysis draws from a data set of 200 employee–supervisor dyads. Data was collected from employees across diverse public sector organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Findings
The results demonstrate that IL indirectly (via WE) and directly has a positive influence on employees’ IBs. This influence is enhanced when employees feel safe and do not have to be concerned about negative consequences.
Originality/value
Our study highlights a less-explored sector, unveiling the motivations behind IB among public sector employees. Moreover, this study provides valuable insights within a non-Western context, offering a unique perspective on the intricate relationship between IL, PS, employee engagement and IBs in the UAE public sector.
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Carolyn J. Cordery and David Hay
New public management (NPM) has transformed the public sector auditing context, although in quite different ways. Further, investigations into NPM’s impact on public sector…
Abstract
Purpose
New public management (NPM) has transformed the public sector auditing context, although in quite different ways. Further, investigations into NPM’s impact on public sector auditors and audit institutions have been largely unconnected, with the exception of the critical examination of performance audits. We investigate the question of how public sector auditors’ roles and activities have changed as a result of NPM and later reforms.
Design/methodology/approach
We examine and synthesise public sector audit research examining reforms since the year 2000. The research presented considers changes to external and internal public sector audits as well as the development of public sector audit institutions – known as supreme audit institutions (SAIs).
Findings
Considerable changes have occurred. Many were influenced by NPM, but others have evolved from the eco-system of accounting, auditing and public sector management. External auditors have responded to an increase in demand for accountability. Additional management and governance techniques have been introduced from the private sector, such as internal auditing and audit committees. NPM has also led to conflicting trends, particularly when governments introduced competition to public sector auditing by contracting out but then chose to centralise to improve accountability. There is also greater international influence now through bodies like the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and similar regional bodies.
Originality/value
NPM reforms and the eco-system have impacted public sector auditing. Sustainability reporting is emerging as an area requiring more auditing attention; auditors also need to continue to develop better ways to communicate with citizens. Further, research into auditing in non-Western nations and emerging technologies is also required, especially where it provides learnings around more valuable audit practices. Empirical evidence is required of the strengths and weaknesses of SAIs’ structural variety.
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Safeya Almazrouei, Shaker Bani-Melhem and Faridah Mohd-Shamsudin
Job characteristics can potentially influence employees’ attitudes and behaviors. However, their impact on employees’ innovative behaviors, particularly in public sector…
Abstract
Purpose
Job characteristics can potentially influence employees’ attitudes and behaviors. However, their impact on employees’ innovative behaviors, particularly in public sector organizations, has received little scholarly attention. Based on relational job design theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study aims to examine the effect of job contact on public sector employees’ innovative work behavior through the mediator of happiness at work. It also assesses whether prosocial motivation strengthens the influence of job contact on innovative work behavior (via happiness at work).
Design/methodology/approach
The model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates.
Findings
The findings support the proposed moderated mediation model in which job contact positively and significantly impacts innovative work behavior. The association between job contact and innovative behavior via happiness at work is found to be stronger for employees who are highly prosocially motivated.
Originality/value
The findings offer prescriptive insights into public sector employee happiness and prosocial motivation by illustrating when and how job contact influences innovative work behavior. The authors also present relevant managerial recommendations for promoting public sector employees’ innovative behavior.
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Javier Andrades, Domingo Martinez-Martinez and Manuel Larrán
Relying on institutional theory and Oliver’s (1991) strategic responses framework, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the different strategies adopted by Spanish public…
Abstract
Purpose
Relying on institutional theory and Oliver’s (1991) strategic responses framework, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the different strategies adopted by Spanish public universities to respond to institutional pressures for sustainability reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a variety of sources, such as a series of email-structured interviews with key personnel from universities, a qualitative analysis of sustainability reports and a consultation of the website of each Spanish public university.
Findings
The findings reveal that Spanish public universities have responded to institutional pressures for sustainability reporting by adopting acquiescence, compromise, avoidance and defiance strategies. The variety of strategic responses adopted by Spanish public universities suggests that these organizations have not fully adhered to institutional pressures.
Practical implications
The results of this paper would be useful for practitioners since it tries to demonstrate whether universities, which are facing increasing institutional pressures and demands from stakeholders, have been developing sustainability reporting practices.
Social implications
Universities have a remarkable social impact that could be used to promote sustainability practices. This paper investigates how these organizations can contribute to sustainability reporting as they should reproduce social norms.
Originality/value
The sustainability reporting context is in a phase of change. This paper tries to contribute to the accounting research by analyzing the extent to which universities are engaged in sustainability reporting. Relying on these premises, Oliver’s (1991) framework might be an insightful theoretical perspective to examine the responses provided by universities to institutional pressures.
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Kasmad 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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Federica Bosco, Chiara Di Gerio, Gloria Fiorani and Giulia Stola
This paper aims to identify the key issues that healthcare knowledge-intensive organizations (KIPOs) should focus on to define themselves as socioenvironmentally and governance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the key issues that healthcare knowledge-intensive organizations (KIPOs) should focus on to define themselves as socioenvironmentally and governance responsible for integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) logic into their business strategy. At the same time, this provides an understanding of how healthcare KIPOs contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a cue from the model developed by the World Economic Forum, an “ESG Processing Map” was constructed to identify qualitative disclosures that a healthcare company should consider when implementing sustainability logic. The aspects investigated were processed, considering national and international standards, frameworks and disclosures. The social network analysis technique was used to systemize and combine the outcomes of these processes and analyze their consistency with sustainable development.
Findings
Through the “ESG Processing Map,” 13 areas of action and 27 topics specific to the health sector were defined on which to intervene in sustainability in order to concretely help HCOs to place specific corrective and improvement actions over time concerning socioenvironmental and governance aspects.
Originality/value
The paper provides contribute, on the one hand, to enriching and updating the academic literature on ESG logic in a still underexplored field and, on the other hand, to provide these types of organizations with a “compass” to guide and orient their business strategies towards sustainability.
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This paper provides insights into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Accounting and Reporting for the Other Sector, defined as organisations that are not corporations and do not…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides insights into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Accounting and Reporting for the Other Sector, defined as organisations that are not corporations and do not have profitability as their overriding success criterion.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that addresses the impact of SDGs on the Other Sector and the accounting and reporting of them by these organisations.
Research limitations/implications
There are a number of implications for research in relation to theories, research approaches and the crossing over of disciplines in relation to the Other Sector’s SDGs accounting and reporting.
Practical implications
The research insights from this paper can be applied to inform the SDGs accounting and reporting practice of the Other Sector.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the impact of the recent sustainability development, the SDGs, on a sector that is very different from the corporate sector and highlights the benefit of accounting and reporting of these goals for the Other Sector.
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