International Public Management Review
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Social Impact Bonds as a financial innovation – an evolutionary approach
Full text linkBy the end of July, 2017, final reviews of the Peterborough SIB, issued by several persons and institutions involved, declared this pilot SIB project a success which should spur future SIB activities. Against this backdrop, we examine Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) with respect to typical structures of this financial innovation, its delimitation from comparable financial products, and early market development. Furthermore, an evolutionary economic analysis of SIBs is conducted in order to explain the different market stages, conditions and patterns of SIBs in various countries. Analyzing the respective institutional change, we identify various drivers of SIBs’ evolution so far
Choosing State Owned Enterprises over Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Governance: Explaining Institutional Change with Evidence from Denmark’s Transport Sector
Full text linkThis paper shows how State Owned Enterprises are sometimes preferred over the more known Public-Private Partnership model in building new infrastructure. Debate on Infrastructure governance in the transport sector has been dominated by the Public-Private Partnership model. Transport infrastructure was the largest sector for Public-Private Partnership projects in value terms in Europe in 2015. Research questions are: How do modes of infrastructure delivery change between State Owned Enterprises and Public-Private Partnerships in the transport sector? Why has Danish transport infrastructure governance preferred the State Owned Enterprise model over the Public-Private Partnership model?The case of Denmark is examined where the State Owned Enterprise model is used for key transport infrastructure mega-projects. This paper uses theories of institutional change and focuses on gradual change mechanisms via the processes of displacement, layering, and conversion. The method is to map all Danish transport infrastructures; road network, bridges and tunnels, rail network, airports and harbors in order to focus on differences in the development in the use of modes of infrastructure delivery and see institutional changes over time. The renewed Danish model for state owned enterprises in the transport sector was chosen at a critical point in time when the Public-Private Partnership model was starting to grow in other countries. This State Owned Enterprise model combines a professional board, state guaranteed-loans and user charges. The State Owned Enterprise model was layered on the existing public provision of transport infrastructure and became locked-in for new transport infrastructure mega-projects. The results are relevant to other countries coping with choice between modes of infrastructure delivery and for a re-oriented academic focus on State Owned Enterprises as a research field worth exploring again
Co-creation as a new form of citizen engagement: Comparing Danish and Dutch experiences at the local government level
Full text linkCitizen engagement is a key component of modern liberal democracy, especially at the local level, it is an important tool for generating political input, securing political support, mobilizing societal resources and finding creative solutions to the problems and challenges that governments face. Currently, we are witnessing an interesting shift in citizen engagement towards viewing citizens as co-creators of local governance, thus recognizing that citizens have both knowledge and resources that may help tackling wicked and unruly problems. Local governments increasingly focus on the design of co-creation processes and search for ways to support and enhance this new form of citizen engagement. To explore how processes of co-creation unfold at the level of local government, this article analyzes and compares a Danish and Dutch case of co-creation with local citizens. The comparative case study identifies the different reasons for initiating co-creation. It analyses the processes and outcomes of co-creation and reflects on the role of institutional design and leadership. The conclusion is that co-creation can be a viable strategy in very different situations if supported by the right design and leadership
From Bureaucracy to New Public Management: The Case Of The United Arab Emirates Federal Government
No full textAbstractThe objective of this paper is to analyze and critically assess the evolution of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) federal administrative system from a traditional public administration system to a new public management one (or Reinventing Government). Therefore, the paper discusses the arrival of bureaucracy to the area and its coexistence with the historical tribal legacy. The UAE move to new public management (NPM) is made imperative by economic factors and international developments. The NPM is defined in this paper to consist of two levels: the macro and micro levels. The macro level consists of policies of privatization, the private-public partnership, and outsourcing. The macro level is composed of the use of business management tools in the public sector. The paper discusses the efforts of the UAE to utilize both levels in its attempts to reform its federal government administrative system
Editorial - IPMR AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: THE NEXT 18 YEARS?
No full textWelcome to the first issue of IPMR under our editorship
Can Parliamentary Oversight of Security and Intelligence be Considered More Open Government than Accountability?
Full text linkThe nature of openness in government continues to be explored by academics and public managers alike while accountability is a fact of life for all public services. One of the last bastions of ‘closed government’ relates to the ‘secret’ security and intelligence services. But even here there have been significant steps towards openness over more than two decades. In Britain the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament is the statutory body charged with scrutinising the agencies and since 2013 is more accountable itself to Westminster. This was highlighted by the first open evidence sessions involving the heads of the agencies which coincided with the unofficial disclosure of secret information by way of the so-called ‘WikiLeaks world’. This article examines scrutiny as a route to openness. It makes the distinction between accountability and open government and argues that the ‘trusted’ status of the ISC in comparison to the more independent Parliamentary Select Committees weakens its ability to hold government to account but, combined with the claim to privileged information and the acquiescence of the agencies, makes its existence much more aligned to the idea of open government.
Does Gender Diversity in the Workplace Affect Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions?
Full text linkIn the present study, we explore the contextual meanings and consequences of workplace diversity. We focus on gender diversity in the workplace and explore its relationship with job satisfaction and turnover intentions among male and female employees. We perform our analyses in a survey data set containing replies from 2,818 employees from 13 different occupations in the Danish public sector. The sample is stratified according to gender and contains equal shares of women and men in each occupation, thus providing good opportunities to estimate the importance of gender diversity for both women and men in widely differing occupational contexts.We define gender diversity as gender heterogeneity in the workplace, which means that workplaces with equal shares of female and male employees have the highest degree of gender diversity, while gender homogenous workplaces have low gender diversity.We choose job satisfaction and turnover intentions as our dependent variables because these variables represent key indicators for the well-being of employees in the workplace. Furthermore, empirical research is unsettled as to the positive or negative relationship between diversity and these variables.We suggest that turnover intentions may not be an unambiguous indicator of organizational dissatisfaction or lack of well-being (as it is often tacitly taken to be). In some contexts, turnover intentions may be an expression of positive career orientations. Intentions to find another job may express an urge to move on, develop, obtain better pay, and so on. An occupational variable may be decisive in capturing the relevant context for determining the meaning of turnover intentions
Supreme Audit Institutions: A Vanishing Mediator for Democracy?
Full text linkAs unique and sui generis organizations Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) are one of the most important key actors of modern democratic-political system. They must not be regarded simply as administrative or regularity-oriented extensions of the public management framework. If we don’t want “the democratic representativeness” to be reduced to “a dead point of an institutionalism”, we have to let “the political” reveal in all its robustness. The sheer “democratic modus vivendi” only goes with this sort of de-constructivist and emancipatory state philosophy. Our claim is that without considering the spirit of “the political”, it is almost impossible to appreciate the sheer role and function of the SAIs in the modern democratic state system. An SAI appears just like a “vanishing mediator” in the political system. It institutionally serves for the figuration of the political and then it functionally vanishes away to give birth to the political. So what makes an SAI vital for the democracy is closely associated with the role of “vanishing mediator”. If an SAI is enabled to take part in the setup of political system without any barrier and if its legislative reporting function is carried out through a deliberative and open agenda, the critical role of the SAIs in remaking process of the political will eventually emerge
Strategy discourses in public sector organizations. A qualitative focus group study.
Full text linkStrategic concerns have spread into public management and fueled the growth of strategic practices. The purpose of this study is to examine strategy discourses in public sector organizations. It describes how strategy is articulated and conceptualized with reference to dominant strategy discourses and identifies the structural tension between these discourses.Based on a deconstructive analysis of focus group interviews, the article identifies four strategy discourses: “rationalist” discourse, “structuralist” discourse, “idealist” discourse and “constructivist” discourse. Strategy makers draw on several or all of the discourses in public sector organizations and the body of literature on strategic management related to them. The discourses are different but not incompatible in practice. Rather, they complement each other in strategic practices. Thus, the article suggests a more nuanced way of strategic discourses in public sector organizations and provides inspiration to other sectors as well. The article concludes by suggesting directions for further research
Quality in Statistical Systems: The Challenge for Puerto Rico
Full text linkIn Puerto Rico, confidence in public data has been deeply compromised. Examination of extant island data demonstrates shortcomings in measuring basic variables that are now crucial in the international context. Demands from researchers, and from governmental and private constituents resulted in Law 209 of August 28, 2003 (The Law). The Law created the Statistics Institute of Puerto Rico (The Institute) to induce significant changes in statistical production processes and to coordinate the creation of a reliable statistical system for public data on the island. As part of its mandate, The Institute is implementing a quality assurance process that aims to guarantee rights of all constituents to opportune and reliable information. This article summarizes and interprets ongoing initiatives taken by The Institute to meet quality assurance objectives of The Law. It also intends to contribute to broader international conversations on statistical quality and its central role in regaining people’s trust in decision making processes.