New development: Mutual solutions to shaping public service delivery

There have been a number of developments in approaches to public service delivery in the UK, partly as a response to austerity measures, as well as a shift to new models of public sector, private and third sector provision. This article considers the development of public service mutuals—those organizations that have spun out of the public sector, and where employees of the new providers play a key role in shaping and delivering public services at local and national levels. The authors identify areas where further work is needed to better understand these new models and to consider whether the perceived benefits associated with traditional mutual models are applicable when applied to public service provision.     

Local adaption and central confusion: decentralized strategies for public service Lean implementation

There are a number of arguments for implementing public service Lean in a decentralized fashion, characterized by employee participation and local adaptions of the concept. This paper reports on a longitudinal case study of decentralized Lean implementation in a large Norwegian public service provider. The analysis points to unintended consequence of communication and co-ordination difficulties. The authors suggest ways of striking a reasonable balance between centralized and decentralized strategies of Lean implementation.     

New development: COVID-19 as an accelerator of digital transformation in public service delivery

ABSTRACT

In an unexpected circumstance, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, public service delivery cannot be suspended, but must be delivered online, relying on the available digital technology. Social media, specifically, have been widely used to reach a broader portion of the population. This article discusses the digital acceleration that governments and organizations are now facing. The focus is on Italian state museums, which have been pushed for years to adopt digital tools to increase participation. This article highlights three main dilemmas in service delivery: user engagement; planning and control; and costs. The three dilemmas show the social and organizational challenges connected to digital transformation, underlining the issues that organizations will have to face in the future and not just in an emergency such as COVID-19.     

Informed trading in public debt markets

This study examines the occurrence of informed trading in public debt issued by companies in the United States. I find that earnings surprises are positively associated with bond price changes prior to the release of financial report data to the public, for firms with non‐investment‐grade ratings. Additionally, I find that the effect appears to be driven by firms with publicly traded equity. Evidence further indicates an increase in trading activity during the time window between report period end date and filing date, for firms with larger earnings surprises.     

New development: Determinants of financial performance in public organizations

In the slipstream of NPM, public organizations worldwide have had to increase their financial performance by adopting management practices. Nonetheless, financial performance (FP) might be mostly predicted by contingencies that are not within direct managerial control. Drawing on evidence from 308 Flemish municipalities, this article shows that organizational and environmental contingencies affect FP, but a significant amount of variation in FP is unexplained—indicating that management could well matter.     

New development: The conceptual underpinnings of international public sector accounting

The conceptual underpinnings of accounting standards are potentially very important for the future of public sector accounting internationally. The authors explain why and comment on the implications for public sector accounting.     

New development: Eight and a half propositions to stimulate frugal innovation

This article distills some key ideas and practices which research indicates can stimulate innovation in public services in thrifty ways. Some propositions may be surprising, given the conventional wisdom about innovation. The propositions are intended to provoke policy-makers, public managers and academics, challenging thinking and encouraging new approaches to innovation.     

Examining the process of performance measurement system design and implementation in two Italian public service organizations

In the last two decades, the adoption of new public management (NPM) practices in the public sector has increased as public sector organizations seek to improve efficiency, effectiveness and public accountability. We present case study findings of a NPM initiative to implement balanced scorecard (BSC) performance measurement systems in two Italian public sector organizations. This study considers the question of whether the BSC development process can be effectively translated into the public sector context. Our findings highlight the importance of aligning the development of performance management systems with a greater understanding of the internal and external environment of public sector organizations. Our results further emphasize the significant role of emergent stakeholders and management culture for the success of NPM performance management initiatives.     

New development: Running elections during a pandemic

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic posed a profound challenge for the delivery of elections worldwide. Elections are indispensable for democracy, but the high volume of human interactions within the electoral process risked spreading the virus. Electoral officials therefore found themselves planning or managing an election during an emergency situation, often for the first time. This article argues that there are several major organizational ‘elephant traps’ that polities will need to side-step during pandemics in order to safely protect the healthy running of elections.     

Bond market development and bank stability: Evidence from emerging markets

We investigate how bond market development shapes banks’ risk taking in terms of portfolio structure, liquidity risk, and overall bank risk. Exploiting a bank-level database of 26 emerging markets, we find that larger bond markets are associated with stronger bank liquidity positions, lower portfolio risk of banks, and higher overall stability of banks. The effect of bond market development on bank risk taking remains robust across different levels of bank size and capital sufficiency. Overall, we find new evidence of a complementary relationship between bond market development and bank soundness.     

New development: The protective role of conservatism in public sector accounting

This article picks up a discussion in international business accounting about the appropriate definition and use of conservatism (or prudence) and calls for a similar discussion in public sector accounting. If financial reports present an overly optimistic situation, politicians might use them to justify spending public money that is not there, risking the sustainability of services and ‘borrowing’ from future generations.     

Facilitating co-production in public services: management implications from a systematic literature review

Drawing on the results of a systematic literature review of empirical studies, this paper sheds light on six broad factors that facilitate the initiation and implementation of co-production in public services. The factors are classified into two overarching categories: organizational factors, including organizational arrangements, professional roles, and managerial tools; and procedural factors, including participant recruitment, participant preparation, and process design. For each set of factors, the paper provides a series of management implications. It concludes with additional observations for practice.     

Changing institutional logics: shifting to a new service model in the Finnish public sector

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the implementation of corporatized shared services (CSS) in Finnish municipalities and the shift of operating logics. The diffusion of the new logics gradually proceeded to two levels: the individual level and the collective level. At the individual level, identity and cognitive skills were important to the diffusion of the new logics. At the collective level, shared services encouraged managers and employees to share not only practical experiences, but also collective identity.     

The mistreatment of public service workers: identifying key risk and protective factors

This paper investigates the dynamics of worker mistreatment in a new public management (NPM) environment. It explores the combination of organizational and individual risk and protective factors. It reveals that the cumulative effects of organizational and individual factors radically increase the likelihood of mistreatment. Implications of these findings are outlined.     

Do accountabilities change when public organisations transform to service systems: A new conceptual approach

In this conceptual paper, we discuss from the service systems perspective how accountabilities differ from a hierarchic and organisational perspective within the domain of New Public Management, looking to shed new light upon accountability as a research topic. The concept of service systems and their accountabilities are scrutinised and the role of integrated social and health care services is discussed in particular. The main argument in the text is the changing nature of accountabilities as the public organisations are being transformed into service systems. To date, the understanding of accountability has remained structural by nature – such is the case also for productivity measurement – but the shift from organisations towards services systems means that accountability ought to be considered as processual by nature. By processual it is meant that accountability should be considered as flows within systems – that is: flows between agents the content of which we argue includes not only knowledge on the outputs of public services, but also values, empathy and thus multi‐layered understanding of accountability. The paper concludes with practical insights for managerial purposes on the basis for this accountability shift.     

Negotiating the Network: The Contracting Experiences of Community Mental Health Agencies in New Zealand

Structural options for reforming New Zealand'spublicly funded health services included a hierarchy, a market model, or hybrid arrangements such as quasi-markets and networks. A survey of 28 community mental health agencies, contracting with the four regional health authorities, found that three structures emerged: a quasi-market, a coercive network and a beneficent network. Further reforms to the publicly funded health services created a single purchaser and preferred a network structure. Performance assessment of these reformed health services requires assessment of the whole network and not just individual components. The accounting profession, although closely involved in the public sector reforms, appears to have overlooked this task.     

New development: Reintroducing the zone of indifference: disengaging the cogs of public service performance and citizen satisfaction

This article presents an overview of the legal issues pertaining to the possible secession of Scotland from the United Kingdom. International law and existing norms are few and far between. However, many issues, such as the right to secession, settlement of debt and membership of international organizations are relatively well established. The likely conclusions are that Scotland would have to apply for membership of international organizations. However, it is far from certain that Scotland would have to pay its share of the UK's national debt.     

Measuring public value: a conceptual and applied contribution to the debate

Countries facing austerity measures need to create public value. Academics and practitioners have been discussing the ways in which public value can be created, managed and measured. This paper contributes to this conversation by proposing a public value measurement model. An Italian case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the model and the organizational implications when public value measures are available to public sector managers, politicians and the public.     

Understanding before implementing: the context of Lean in public healthcare organizations

A three-year study of Lean implementation in public healthcare organizations in Québec identified poor understanding of the organizational context as a contributing factor to unsustainable Lean implementation. This paper presents a holistic perspective of the unique context of public healthcare organizations and discusses its implications with regards to Lean implementation.     

IPO waves, product market competition, and the going public decision: Theory and evidence

We develop a new rationale for initial public offering (IPO) waves based on product market considerations. Two firms, with differing productivity levels, compete in an industry with a significant probability of a positive productivity shock. Going public, though costly, not only allows a firm to raise external capital cheaply, but also enables it to grab market share from its private competitors. We solve for the decision of each firm to go public versus remain private, and the optimal timing of going public. In equilibrium, even firms with sufficient internal capital to fund their new investment may go public, driven by the possibility of their product market competitors going public. IPO waves may arise in equilibrium even in industries which do not experience a productivity shock. Our model predicts that firms going public during an IPO wave will have lower productivity and post-IPO profitability but larger cash holdings than those going public off the wave; it makes similar predictions for firms going public later versus earlier in an IPO wave. We empirically test and find support for these predictions.