Central European Public Administration Review (E-Journal)
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Consolidating Back Office with a Shared-Services Center:
Full text linkPurpose: The paper points out a novel approach to e-Government back-office reengineering based on creating a Shared-Services Center at the sectorial level. Design/Methodology/Approach: To prove the Shared-Services Center as a proper solution for e-Government back-office reengineering, the authors used the case study of the Housing Facilities Sector in the Republic of North Macedonia. The research process follows Kettingers et al.'s framework of IT-enabled change with a holistic data-driven approach. Findings: The study indicates a complex information flow between stakeholders, an abundance of the same information and data collected from local stakeholders, and enormous citizen and institutional burden. The e-Government back-office reengineering solution for the specific case study based on creating a Shared-Services Center overcomes the problem of data redundancy, radically simplifies the information flow, and reduces citizen burden in line with the "Once-Only" principle. Practical Implications: The paper shows that by observing the network of all relevant stakeholders at the sectorial level, based on the information flow of core data, back-office problems can be identified, whereby the Shared-Services Center proves itself as a suitable solution. It may be a prerequisite for further studies on back-office process reengineering at the sectorial level. Originality/Value: Publications concerning back-office research at the sectorial level and, as in our case, within the House Facility Sector are almost non existing in scientific literature. Considering that there is a lack of analyses based on information flow and visualization of the information-flow network at the sectorial level (before and after the reforms), this paper will add original value to scientific literature.
 
Career Motivation in the Process of State Regulation of Youth Employment
Full text linkPurpose: The main objective of the study is to find new methods for the state promotion of career motivation in the process of providing youth employment.Design/Methodology/Approach: To accomplish the research objectives, a set of mutually reinforcing general scientific and special research methods was used.The basic statistical analyses of unemployment rate data according to the methodology of the International Labour Organization, while the level of registered unemployment (the national indicator of the unemployment rate in Ukraine) serves as an indicator of the State Employment Service performance.Findings: A detailed analysis of career motivation theories and the technology of servicing potentially unemployed people helped justify the feasibility of applying a communicative and psychological method in employment center specialists’ work with their clients, in particular the youth. Thus, a number of measures were identified and proposed in order to better encourage employment and increase the effectiveness of career motivation.Practical Implications: In the course of the research, the development trends in the youth labour market of Ukraine were estimated, the main causes for youth unemployment were determined, and the value orientations and characteristics of modern youth were analysed. The importance of employment services focusing on effective communication with their clients to motivate them for successful employment and self-development is substantiated. The issues of young people’s migration activity, which can have a negative effect on the economic development of the country and increase the socio-demographic risks to national security, need a detailed scientific study.Originality/Value: Currently, the science of public administration does not pay due attention to the role of public institutions in providing career motivation or to the legal consolidation of the measures that motivate productive work. A vast majority of research works on professional motivation and career development were conducted by scientists from the fields of pedagogy, psychology and social economy. These works reveal the essence of pedagogical education and the peculiarities of human psychological influence, yet fail to define the role of the state as the main social institution which should lay the basis for youth development and encouragement to employment. This renders the topic of the present study relevant
Transition to Circular Economy and Management of Public Services of General Economic Interest
Full text linkPurpose: The aim of this paper is to clarify the topic of the transition to circular economy, an expression of the European “Green New Deal”, which has several application consequences for the SGEI sector. Approach: The approach consists of examining the European policy framework, the most relevant consequences of the transposition of the 2018 waste directives for the domestic system, the new measures for local authorities and users, and the new “purpose” of the utilities industries based on sharing and environmentally friendly solutions. Findings: The study highlights the need for several practical adjustments in the implementation of circular economy: the necessary technological innovation requirements for industrial production, reforms of the national legal framework, and an inevitable wider cultural evolution. Publications concerning the transition to circular economy in relation to public services of the general economic interest sector are not numerous in law literature. Most of the existing documents and communications are provided by the European Commission and the analyses are based mainly on the guidelines of the new green policy and the specific EU legal framework. Academic contribution to the field and originality/significance/value: The paper adds to existing research focusing mainly on legal studies of the wider consequences for national utility policy and companies’ business plans, the role of local public authorities having direct powers that need reforms, and the position of consumers
The Psychosocial Impact of the Romanian Government Measures on the Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Full text linkThe Covid-19 pandemic generated a global crisis involving most countries in the world. State governments worldwide were forced to take appropriate measures impacting different fields. The Romanian government and other local public authorities developed special measures to curb the spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus in Romania in general and in Bucharest, the country’s capital. The purpose of our research was to identify the social and psychological impact of the governmental measures on the citizens of Bucharest. The research was conducted between 28 November and 25 December 2020, but refers to the measures taken by the government and local authorities from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemicto date. The sample, representative for Bucharest, included 421 citizens living in Bucharest, aged between 19 and 40 years. The data were collected using an online questionnaire. Other methods used to analyse the results and verify the hypothesis included the multiple regression model and some applications in Excel. The results confirmed that governmental measures had a strong social and psychological impact on citizens, changing their social behaviour and causing psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Our research results can help the Romanian authorities avoid problems among the population and adapt their measures to better meet the population’s psychosocial needs in time of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, which is far from over
Citizens' Attitudes Towards Local Services Accountability and Transparency:
Full text linkPurpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the perceived downward accountability and transparency of two public services – water supply and sewage and local road maintenance – in the Sarajevo Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).Design/Methodology/Approach: An opinion survey[1] on a sample of 250 respondents and four binomial regressions were conducted to measure the factors that affect the perceived downward accountability and transparency of the two public services.Findings: The results of binomial logit regressions indicate that in terms of perceived accountability and transparency of water supply and sewage, significant variables include gender, education, and satisfaction with the price the respondents pay for such service. Significant variables for perceived local road maintenance accountability include satisfaction with regular and winter local road maintenance, while for perceived transparency an additional significant variable is education.Academic contribution to the field: Although publications and literature dealing with the implementation of New Public Management in developed countries are plentiful, this is not the case in transition countries. The paper examines the case of the Sarajevo Canton and contributes to the research of perceived downward accountability and transparency. It may serve as a basis for further studies on public sector management in other local communities or small transition countries.Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the limited empirical literature regarding the perceived accountability and transparency and suggests ways to improve such.
 
Collaborative Governance Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemics: Czech Republic and Slovakia
Full text linkThe goal of this article is to evaluate what the Czech and Slovak governments have done to protect their countries and try to assess why they have achieved different results for the first and second waves of the Covid- 19 pandemic. The basis for such evaluation is the concept of collaborative governance, while qualitative research methods are used to achieve this goal. Based on comprehensive case studies and following analysis, the article suggests that in countries with limited quality of collaborative governance and no experience in similar pandemics, short-term “ultramobilisation” and positive results are indeed possible, but failures are non-avoidable in the long run. During the second wave of the pandemic, the weaknesses in governance resulted in massive governance failures. As a result, the governments’ responses delivered very limited results in terms of prevalence of Covid-19
Public Administration’s Adaptation to COVID-19 Pandemic – Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak Experience
Full text linkThe pandemic of the infectious disease Covid-19 affected everyday life including public administration. In order to proceed with its duties, public administration had to adapt to these new and unprecedented conditions. The main goal of the article is to assess how public administration bodies adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in terms of the principle of the speed of procedure in the sense of the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. In order to achieve this goal, the article focuses on public administration’s adaptation to the pandemic from the perspective of the Visegrad Group countries (V4). It analyses the digitalisation of public administration in relation to delivery, speed of procedure, usage of new technologies, as well as several other areas of public life affected by the pandemic. Specific examples from all V4 countries are analysed and compared in order to identify which approaches were taken by public administration, how they changed the way public administration carried out administrative procedures, and which values were decisive for these changes. Based on these examples, the article concludes that the approach taken by respective legislatures and public administrations in the V4 region complies with the law, but also presents several exceptions.
 
The Financial Aspect of Non_Governmental Organizations:
Full text linkAim: Non-governmental organizations as part of the third sector have become an important factor in the public life of modern countries. This emerging wave can be noticed especially in the South-East Europe in the transition period. In this context, the aim of the paper is to analyse the financial aspect of the NGOs' business model, exposing cumulative data for the last 11 years in Slovenia.Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on the financial data obtained, the paper reveals the structure of financial resources of Slovenian NGOs, delving into total amounts, as well as trends of changes for specific resources. Using descriptive methodology, it focuses mainly on dissection of resources provided from public finance.Findings: The results show that in 2019 NGOs in Slovenia achieved almost 1 billion euro of total revenues, after they were increasing rapidly in the hole observed period (2009-2019). As far as resources obtained from public finances are concerned, the amount is higher at governmental level provided by ministries then at the local level received from municipalities, what has not been the case before year 2019. Practical implications: The challenge for further research is the in-depth study of Slovenian NGOs’ financial strategy focusing on the challenge of bidirectional financing as well as analysis of public services provided by NGOs at the moment compared to services needed in the future.Originality/value: The paper is the pioneer attempt among scientific papers to analyse the financing of NGOs in Slovenia
Remarks on the Reasoning: The Morals of a Hungarian Expulsion Decision in Times of Pandemic
Full text linkSeveral Iranian university students were expelled from Hungary to Iran due to their (allegedly) unlawful behaviour during their quarantine period at the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic on grounds of being a threat to public policy and public security. The case reveals a worrisome practice in the reasoning of expulsion decisions, irrespective of the pandemic. By analysing a judgment on the review of an administrative decision on expulsion, the article explores the normative circumstances of the legal institutions appearing in the case. By comparing international, European Union, and Hungarian constitutional practice, the study reveals a controversial legal practice. It not only evaluates the case, but draws attention to the role, quality, and legal significance of reasoning of administrative acts which lately, with a quickly changing legislation, seems to be forgotten