Entrepreneurship in the public sector: a framework of analysis in European local governments

In this paper we explore the potential role of entrepreneurship in public sector organizations. At first, we present a review of the entrepreneurship theme in the political science and public management research streams, comparing these ideas with the mainstream business literature on entrepreneurship. Thereafter, we illustrate empirically how Stevenson's classical framework of entrepreneurship can be applied in a European local government context to explain the recent initiatives to compete for and utilize European Union structural funds. The empirical basis of the study is comprised of ten in-depth case studies of local government organizations, five in the UK and five in Italy. Finally, we propose five distinct types of entrepreneurial agents in the public sector: professional politician; spin-off creator; business entrepreneur in politics; career-driven public officer; and politically ambitious public officer.     

Efficient inequality: differential allocation in the local public sector

This paper examines the consequences for social efficiency if the locally provided public input can be differentially allocated among residents. We derive the distributional efficiency condition, which is the distribution of public inputs that maximizes within-city gains from trade. Differential allocation also causes modifications to the standard (Samuelsonian) allocative efficiency condition. Additionally, we explore the consequences of differential allocation for the median voter model. Standard empirical voter models are seriously flawed because they fail to distinguish final public output production from either individual demand or the distribution of publicly provided inputs. Finally, we derive the club sharing efficiency condition.     

Mind the gap: national and local partnership in the Irish public sector

This article uses case study data from a major Irish city council to investigate and explain public sector worker attitudes towards social partnership at local and national level. It is argued that the more sceptical attitudes to workplace partnership reflect structural differences between local and national arrangements, which have enabled public sector employers to use ‘social partnership’ as a constraint in the implementation process of a pre‐determined public sector reform agenda.     

Property values and pension underfunding in the local public sector

This paper reexamines the empirical implication of the C. Tiebout (J. Pol. Econ.64, 416–424 (1956)) hypothesis, taking account of the fact that many municipal pensions are grossly underfunded. OLS results show that underfunding has no impact on local property values. The motives for incomplete funding of pensions are also examined and are built into a simultaneous equation model. The OLS results are confirmed and some light is shed on factors leading to the underfunding of pensions.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems and the public sector: A bibliographic analysis

Entrepreneurial ecosystems represent an active and growing area of research. Recognized as a contributor to foster regional competitiveness by stimulating economic growth and promoting innovativeness, interest in the concept spans across disciplines. Despite evolving and inter-disciplinary discussions on entrepreneurial ecosystems, a comprehensive understanding of the research directions and latest developments in the field is elusive. At the same time, a clear understanding of the current lay of the land is necessary to assist in public sector decision-making and policy development. To address this gap, this bibliometric study presents a bibliographic analysis of extant literature in the field, as referenced as the focal topic of concern in academic journal articles spanning 1995–2019. The aim is to provide an overview of the origins of the entrepreneurial ecosystems concept in literature, to offer insight into key concepts that have emerged in research over the past twenty-five-years. The paper employs bibliographic techniques to track knowledge, identify trends, and highlight the primary emerging patterns and conceptual clusters. The analysis offers a map of the covered territory and facilitates the identification of gaps and under-researched areas in the field, with a particular focus on public sector interaction. Using the visualization of similarities, VOSviewer, software tool, citation, co-citation, co-authorship, as well as the co-occurrence of keywords are presented to offer a comparative overview of the diverse representation of entrepreneurial ecosystems developments across disciplines, countries, institutional clusters, networks and teams.     

Electronic mail,privacy, and the public sector: Guidelines for public employees and organizations

What privacy rights are public employees entitled to when using their electronic mail systems? Are they entitled to privacy rights in the messages they send or receive? The setting, public or private, is crucial to determine what privacy rights exist for the employee. Unfortunately, no public sector electronic mail privacy case has been considered by the courts. Nevertheless, E-mail privacy guidance does exist. This article investigates previous privacy considerations provided in other workplace situations—cases that involve technologies other than E-mail—in search for common rules established by the Supreme Court. With this foundation, the article then applies the same rules to an electronic mail environment and provides guidelines intended to assist public managers in the creation or reevaluation of their organization’s electronic mail privacy policy.     

Improving public trust in the voluntary sector: an empirical analysis

Public trust and confidence in the voluntary sector continues to be at the heart of the government's new policy agenda. A number of initiatives are currently under way to review how trust and confidence could be bolstered. In this study the authors review the findings of a major new study of how donors feel about voluntary organisations and the factors that drive trust therein. Managerial and public policy recommendations are offered in the light of the findings. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Unionism and the public sector

It is incorrect and misleading to speak of unionization as a ‘human right’. The only human right is ‘self-ownership’, i.e. to pursue goals with one's own abilities but with no force or fraud against others. Government cannot dispense rights, only privileges and protections to some at the expense of others. A minimal degree of coercion exercised by government is unavoidable. But labor unions are not governments. Government has granted significant privileges to unions in the private sector, but such are not appropriate for public sector unions.     

Partial fiscal decentralization and demand responsiveness of the local public sector: Theory and evidence from Norway

This paper provides an empirical test of a principal tenet of fiscal federalism: that spending discretion, when granted to localities, allows public-good levels to adjust to suit local demands. The test is based on a simple model of partial fiscal decentralization, under which earmarking of central transfers for particular uses is eliminated, allowing funds to be spent according to local tastes. The greater role of local demand determinants following partial decentralization is confirmed by the paper’s empirical results, which show the effects of the 1986 Norwegian reform.     

New public management and organisational commitment in the public sector: testing a mediation model

This paper focuses on the attitudes of learning professionals towards New Public Management (NPM). In a survey of the UK further education sector (n = 433), NPM beliefs were found to be positively associated with both affective and normative organisational commitment. However, as expected, NPM beliefs were not found to be related to continuance organisational commitment. The results also show that although perceived organisational support mediates the relationship between NPM beliefs and affective organisational comment, it is only a partial mediator of the relationship between NPM beliefs and normative organisational commitment. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and potential directions for future research, are discussed.     

Capitalization of local fiscal differentials: Inferences from a disequilibrium market model

This study analyzes tax capitalization within the framework of a disequilibrium market model. In particular, this study examines whether local fiscal differentials influence the rate of change in neighborhood house prices over time. Local fiscal differentials existing in 1970 are found to have no influence on the rate of change in neighborhood house prices over the period 1970–1972; therefore, the study concludes that, other things being equal, these local fiscal differentials have been completely capitalized in price levels.     

Are standardized EMSs useful in local authorities? A study of how a tool from the private sector is used in the public sector

Following the trend in the private sector, standardized environmental management systems (EMSs) have been introduced in several local authorities around the world. When the tool is transferred from the private sector to the public, one can ask how useful the tool is in the new environment, since the private and the public sectors are two different types of social sphere, with different institutional logics. Taking a closer look at the situation in Sweden, this paper aims to investigate the applicability of standardized EMSs in local authorities and the public sector in general. Based on qualitative interviews with public officers in two municipalities in Sweden, it is argued that EMSs are useful in municipalities. However, the study also reveals that an EMS seems to be more suitable for technical service administrations and municipally owned companies than social service administrations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

A change management perspective on public sector cutback management: towards a framework for analysis

The financial crisis forces public managers to implement cutbacks within their organization. We argue that adopting a change management perspective contributes to our understanding of cutback management by adding a focus on managerial behaviour regarding cutback-related organizational changes. Relying on change management literature, this paper develops a framework for the analysis of cutback management connecting the context, content, process, outcomes and leadership of cutback-related change. From this it follows that managers can be positioned at the intersection of various imperatives, both externally and internally, such as their political leaders and their own subordinates. A research agenda is proposed.     

The analysis of impasse procedures in public sector negotiations

Why is it that some school districts are able to reach settlement by themselves while others require outside help? Some differences may be ability to pay, union strength, identity as a leader or follower district, political climate, and the sophistication and experience of union and board in bargaining.     

Collaborative innovation in the public sector: the argument

There has been a growing interest in the question of how to spur innovation in the public sector, and recent research points to multi-actor collaboration as a superior innovation driver. This article explains why and how multi-actor collaboration may spur public innovation. It also discusses why we should expect different public and private actors to engage in demanding processes of collaborative interaction in order to produce risk-filled public innovations. Finally, it reflects on how it is possible to overcome the barriers to collaborative innovation through a combination of institutional design and the exercise of leadership and management.     

Efficiency wages,wage comparison,and public sector budgeting

We develop a government decision model where efficiency wage mechanisms affect the allocation of resources between different public services. We show how the introduction of interdepartment wage relativities modifies the standard Solow wage setting conditions. We compare the outcome under centralised and decentralised wage setting, and show that a decentralised wage setting system creates a distortion. Finally, we discuss the possibility of elimination this distortion using alternative financing systems.Final version: 08 April 2003JEL Classification: H23, J45We are grateful to Jan E. Askildsen, Daniel L. Rubinfeld, Agnar Sandmo, participants at conferences and seminars in Trondheim, Uppsala and Åsgårdstrand, and several anonymous referees for helpful comments. The second author is grateful to The Norwegian Research Council for financial support. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Local public goods, property values, and local public choice

This paper examines the relationship between the benefits and costs of local public good provision and local property values within the context of the Koopmans-Beckmann-Gale location-assignment model. Property values do not in general measure accurately the marginal net benefits of local public goods; special conditions sufficient for property values to measure or bound the marginal net benefits are stated, however. In addition, it is shown that under certain circumstances, households vote for property-value-enhancing levels of local expenditures. Under these conditions, a political equilibrium produces a Lindahl solution to the local public good problem.     

Complexity of Innovation in the public sector: A workgroup-level analysis of related factors and outcomes

Complex innovation incorporates more than one innovation type. Using the number of dimensions of the ‘most significant innovation’ implemented by each public employee’s workgroup as a proxy for innovation complexity, this study explores factors that are associated with complexity and examines how complexity affects innovation outcomes. Employing a sample of 4,369 Australian Government employees, we find that the more complex the innovation, the greater the number of barriers a workgroup has to face in its implementation. A broader (but selective) range of idea sources and a more decentralized workplace where both individual and team creativity is encouraged increase the likelihood of implementing complex innovations. Innovation complexity is positively correlated with the variety of beneficial outcomes, suggesting both policy and management interest in supporting complex innovation in the public sector.