Private Action for Public Good?: The Public Role of Voluntary Sector Organizations

Voluntary sector organizations claim to be private institutions acting for the public good. However, if the concept of public is disengaged from the state and connected instead to citizenship, VSOs can be shown to have both private and public origins, as well as private and public impacts. As citizens, VSOs are public organizations serving the public good through their purported representation of the people and civic leadership. The legitimacy of their assumption of these public roles remains a continuing challenge.     

Public or Private? Public Corporations,Companies and the Decline of the Middle Ground

In the era of New Public Management in the Anglo-Saxon countries, governments have become infatuated with things private and disparaging of things public. This dramatic attitudinal shift has been reflected in the importation of private sector business method into so much of what government does, and in the championing of privatization in its various forms as a way of reducing the size and importance of public sectors. The change represents a retreat from the more traditional acceptance that a valuable social purpose was served by middle ground structures and activities located in the outer parts of these public sectors, i.e., between the highly politicised cores of government systems and the highly commercialised institutions of private enterprise. In particular, this article argues that the form of the public (or government, statutory or crown) corporation epitomised such social value, and that the state-owned company which is now so often replacing it represents an abandoning of social value.     

Testing Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation in the Public Sector: Is it Applicable to Public Managers?

Given the limitations in providing monetary rewards as an incentive in the public sector, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation can be promising if it is applicable to public employees. This study identifies the effects of motivators and hygiene factors on public managers’ job satisfaction, and finds out if there is difference, compared to how private-sector employees are motivated. According to the findings, a majority of identified motivators in the previous research showed positive effects on job satisfaction among public managers, and public managers’ job satisfaction was not affected by hygiene factor as predicted in Herzberg’s study. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Voter’s Perceptions on Candidate Choice for Director of Public Educational Institutions

Public Organization Review - This study aimed to verify whether the voters’ perceptions (trust, expertise, attractiveness, image and perceived quality) from the academic community influence...     

Democracy and Private Property: Governance of a Three-Party Public–Private Partnership

This paper contributes to the study of efficient governance of public–private partnerships (PPPs) through an inductive comparative case study of three riding schools in Sweden. Each school is a three-party PPP between a private firm, a democratic nonprofit association, and a municipality. The results indicate that efficient PPPs mixing private, collective, and communal interests can be established through an adaptive governance strategy. The private firm can shield the democratic association from market influence through adapting to market conditions; the municipality can create a governance strategy; and the democratic association can focus on providing riding services and fostering democratic governance.

Japan’s Innovation of Public Organizations in the Research and Development Field

The Japanese government implemented drastic restructuring of the central government in 2001. As a part of this reform, the incorporated administrative agency (IAA) system was newly introduced in view of carrying out certain public functions in a more flexible, business-like and autonomous way. Research and development activities in the public sector are now mostly conducted by the incorporated administrative agencies. In this article, the purpose of this reorganization is firstly described followed by the outline of this system and current accomplishments. In concluding, the Japanese undertaking of a new public organization is analyzed in comparison with the European and “Anglo-Saxon” countries.

Is it the Brazilian Way? Extending the Comparison of Public and Private Organizations

This study investigates the differences in select organizational characteristics, managerial practices and work attitudes among 670 public and private sector workers in Brazil. The results indicate that in some aspects there is a moderation effect by type of organization. For example,when public employees score high on autonomy and task significance, perceive organizational practices as favourable, and keep membership in the same organization, they tend to be more satisfied than private sector workers. Overall, the findings highlight the need for more international comparisons to gain a better understanding of the public-private distinction.     

Covid and Public Funds: More Opportunities for a Misuse? The Case of the Intermediate Governments of Galicia

Public Organization Review - Corruption and inefficiency of public funds pose a risk in public administrations. This paper analyses the corruption risk at the local level by analysing indicators of...     

The Public Sector’s Use of Agencies: A Dynamic Rather than Static Scene

It is an occupational hazard in the study of organizations that we tend to view them as static arrangements, as though what is observed and reported today tells us all we need to know about them. But organizations are dynamic rather than static phenomena, being constantly affected by adjustments to meet the effects of fading past arrangements or approaching new arrangements. Simple “snapshots” taken at a particular moment in history are never likely to reveal all the relevant nuances. This article comments on this problem as it affects non-departmental public bodies often described loosely as “agencies”, by (a) drawing attention to some relevant theoretical contributions to the political science and organization theory literature, and (b) giving some examples of changes in the style of agency formation and operation over the years, mostly drawn from the Australian public sector.

Looking for Public Administration Theories?

Since the sixties, a number of Western countries have conducted a lot of NPM type reforms in order to improve their public administration (PA). However, more than forty years of NPM type reforms raise questions about whether these reforms consist in an improvement of PA or if alternative theories could find their place in the field of PA reforms. In order to answer these questions, the five main public administration theories (New Public Administration, New Public Management, Public Value Management, New Public Service and New Public Governance) have been selected, and based on an original analysis of their incipits, some guidelines are proposed for practitioners and students in PA.     

Strategic Management in the Public Sector: Reflections on It’s Applicability to Iranian Public Organizations

Strategic management is a managerial story of private sector that has been transferred to the public sector. Many authors have challenged its applicability in public organizations. This paper discusses some important barriers to implementation of strategic management in the public sector empirically. After presenting a conceptual model, we examine several important factors that influence the failure or shortcomings of public sector strategic management. The last section of paper offers implications for theory and practice.     

An Examination of Public Private Academic Partnerships: Does Program Success Enhance University Performance Outcomes?

In response to a steady decline in State funding, universities have become heavily involved in a variety of public private academic partnerships (PPAPs) in such areas as medical research, business incubation, technological commercialization, continuing professional education, and intercollegiate athletics. Despite this trend, research which examines if such partnerships actually enhance university funding is rare within the public organization literature. Given this, we focus on university intercollegiate athletics programs, which represent one of the largest PPAPs ever undertaken by universities, to examine whether PPAP success can potentially enhance university performance outcomes leading to increased funding levels. Such programs represent a PPAP because public, private, and academic entities all come together to form an organization (division 1 football at the bowl subdivision level) which seeks to benefit all three entities through sharing resources and responsibilities. Study results showed that athletic success positively influenced a variety of university performance outcome variables such as enrollments and endowments. While results indicate that PPAP success can enhance university funding, we also suggest modifications that should enhance the chances that PPAPs will be successful.     

Determinants of Public Employee Job Satisfaction in Myanmar: Focus on Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Public Organization Review - This study examines job satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors of government employees in Myanmar. A sample of 226 public employees in the Ministry of Border Affairs...     

When do Public Managers Imitate Each Other? Mimetic Decision Making in Contracting Decisions of Danish Municipalities

Using organizational new institutional theory, this paper explores a core mechanism underlying contracting decisions in public organizations. A central proposition of this branch of institutional theory is that uncertainty leads to organizational isomorphism. The present study investigates this proposition by asking: When does perceived uncertainty lead public managers to imitative behavior in contracting out decisions? Contrary to most previous studies, we apply an individual level approach and relate different types of perceived uncertainty of decision makers to mimetic decision making. We define mimetic decision making as when decision makers deliberately obtain information about other organizations in order to possibly imitate them. In a survey of Danish municipal managers facing important and complex contracting decisions, we test our hypotheses about three types of perceived uncertainty and mimetic decision making. The results show that technological uncertainty is strongly related to mimetic decision making among public managers. However, we do not find significant results for either volume uncertainty or performance uncertainty. The paper illustrates how uncertainty, through mimetic decision making, is connected to organizational isomorphism. It further highlights that future studies should pay attention to the multidimensionality of uncertainty and its consequences.     

Risk Management in Public–Private Partnership Contracts

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) allow private companies to build, own and operate public projects such as schools and hospitals on behalf of the public sector. PPP contracts commonly require the private agent to take responsibilities for the performance of the asset over a long term, at least for a significant part of its useful life, so that efficiencies arising from long-term investment and asset management can be realized. However, the evidence is finely balanced on the effectiveness of such initiatives in obtaining the intended goals. This brings to the fore the challenge of designing and implementing innovative partnership plans to manage public services more effectively. More emphasis needs to be placed on strategies for the transfer of risk for the successful conclusion of PPP contracts.

Detrimental Effects of Performance-Related Pay in the Public Sector? On the Need for a Broader Theoretical Perspective

Performance-related pay has been a key ingredient in New Public Management reforms. Nevertheless, the research presented here indicates some adverse effects of such incentives. These incentives may impair an initial motivation to work and change the norms that guide behavior. An issue which in particular has been given insufficient attention is fairness. Findings drawn from experimental economics supported by field studies demonstrate that perceived unfairness may have important negative effects on performance. The implication of a broader perspective in the analysis of performance-related pay in the public sector is that such a pay system, contrary to its aim, may have detrimental effects on performance.     

Exploring Public Network’s Operation from a Cultural Approach: The Case of an Inter-Local Association in Chile

Public Organization Review - The study of collaborative networks in the public sector has been mostly approached from structural and managerial perspectives. Cultural dimensions, however, have not...     

Bridging the Gap? The Role of Regional Governance in Delivering Effective Local Public Services: Evidence from England

Between 2004 and 2010 local area agreements (LAAs) represented a key part of the New Labour Government's agenda for local government in England, which centred on increasing the level of involvement that local areas had in the issues affecting them. To deliver this agenda, New Labour deployed government offices for the regions (GOR) to negotiate with localities on behalf of central government. As part of a broader consideration of the role of regional governance structures in delivering local public services, this paper draws upon the results of a national survey of LAA practitioners in England, and findings from more detailed case study work, to consider the role of GOR in the LAA process. These findings examine the role GOR played in negotiating LAA targets and the extent to which these negotiations allowed local areas to respond to local issues and priorities. Then, by considering local enterprise partnerships and the recently established combined authorities, the paper will consider how localism policy under the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government, who came to power in 2010, has responded to the lessons of the LAA. In doing so, the paper seeks to fit into the wider discussion about how local public services can be delivered effectively and draw out the challenges faced by those trying to link local and central policy together.     

The Sidewalk as a Contested Space: Women’s Negotiation of Socio-Spatial Processes of Exclusion in Public Urban Space in Saudi Arabia; The Case of Al Tahlia Street

Riyadh is one of the most gender-segregated cities in the world. However, as gender segregation is less enforced on sidewalks, it provides an optimal case study for a space where women and men may be co-present. Thus, this paper aims to increase the understanding of the relationship between sociocultural norms and spatial programming regarding spatio-temporal inclusion or exclusion in public urban spaces. The results show that women’s use and access to sidewalks are influenced by gender norms, religious values, gendered regulations, and generic spatial programming. For instance, regulations limit the use of outdoor seating to men only, thus sidewalks adjacent to, e.g., cafes function as mono-gender spaces dominated by men. However, young women negotiate spatially bounded gender norms through their presence, behaviour, and dress. Although sidewalks are conceived as men’s space, women account for nearly half of the users, but their use often goes unnoticed as women self-regulate their spatio-temporal and visible presence. The study presents six types of women’s spatio-temporal behaviours with varying degrees of visible and invisible users. Ultimately, this paper argues that planning for inclusive sidewalks cannot be addressed solely through the ‘universal’ characterization of space; it should also be supplemented by context-specific knowledge regarding the socio-spatial needs.     

The Use of the Partnering Concept for Public–Private Collaboration: How Well Does it Really Work?

This paper critically scrutinizes the key success factors and tools described in the partnering literature by exploring how they are implemented in a public–private partnering collaboration. In addition to this the paper investigates to what extent these tools facilitate the relationship between the parties in a partnering process. The empirical data consist of two longitudinal case studies. Both cases are large and complex urban development projects in the Swedish water and sewage industry. The results from the cases were ambiguous and positive; as well, some negative outcomes were present. Further, the processes were in both cases far from easy and it required a lot of effort from the parties in the collaboration to make the collaboration work and establish a culture based on trust, especially higher up in the organization. As could be expected, the reality is thus far more complex and cumbersome than previous studies indicate.