公用事业规制改革路径：从新公共服务到新规制治理

通过梳理中国公用事业30年的改革历程,本文发现中国公用事业仍存在区域内垄断经营、生产成本高、服务意识淡漠、规制目标偏离等问题。结合新公共服务理论“重视公民权、强调公共利益、以人为本”的核心观念,中国公用事业规制应从新公共服务演进为新规制治理：引入第三方形成金字塔形规制框架,鼓励公用事业提升服务意识实现自我规制为主、合约规制为辅、命令控制规制为最后手段的规制治理新格局;通过公私合作的方式实行上级政府为PPP合约背书以提高公用事业合约履约规范性,保证作为履约方的地方政府履行合约;以市场多样化思维转变传统政府地位,政府不再负责提供服务,应转为提供高质量的平台以促进公用事业发展。     

When employee performance management affects individual innovation in public organizations: the role of consistency and LMX

Abstract

Public sector challenges translate in more complex job demands that require individual innovation. In order to deal with these demands, many public organizations have implemented employee performance management. In a multilevel study, we examine when employee performance management affects individual innovation. We contribute by focusing on consistent employee performance management and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX). Based on goal-setting theory, we first argue that employee performance management fosters individual innovation when it entails consistent subpractices. Subsequently, LMX is theorized to function as a moderator in this linkage. We use multilevel data from 68 elderly homes and 1095 caregivers in Flanders to test our hypotheses. The study reveals that individual innovation is related to consistent employee performance management, and that LMX functions as a moderator in this relationship. Our findings contribute to scholars’ understanding of effects from employee performance management in public organizations.     

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.     

Government and governance: The value of project management in the public sector

Governance is an emerging theme that has been associated in the public sector with a real political need to satisfy stakeholders by demonstrating accountability and transparency while effectively implementing policy. Many initiatives relating to governance are generated by a need for improvement of organizational performance and ability to implement and adapt to change. These generally take the form of projects and programs encouraging a variety of project management implementations in the public sector. This article reports on examination of the expectations and realization of value from investment in project management in four Australian public‐sector organizations with particular reference to the government context, the perspective of public value management (PVM), and the support that project management provides in meeting the demands of public‐sector governance.     

Environmental Determinants of Public Sector Innovation: A study of innovation awards in Canada

Abstract

In this article, we conduct an empirical study of administrative innovation in the Canadian public sector by examining applications to the Innovative Management Award of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). After a review of the literature on innovation in the public sector and of the history of this award, we come to the conclusion that the relationship between innovation and environment has been studied only sparingly, which explains the focus of our research and our hypotheses. Through an analysis of award applications over 21 years, and of award finalists and winners, we demonstrate that such environmental variables as strength of the economy, size of the civil service, deficits, unemployment rate, investment in R&D, and type of government have important consequences for administrative innovation in the public sector. We also suggest some implications of our findings for future research on this subject.     

Branding without Unique Brands: Managing similarity and difference in a public sector context

Abstract

Corporate branding requires organizations to focus on uniqueness and differentiation. At the same time, public institutions must provide equal services in order to gain legitimacy. Hence, corporate branding in the public sector organizations has to handle two concerns simultaneously – securing legitimacy and building reputation. We examine this tension through interviews with communication managers in Norwegian hospitals. Despite large investments in techniques borrowed from corporate branding, the informants were reluctant to talk about branding. Instead, they were more oriented towards the universal character of their hospitals. Four explanations are put forward for why branding has an ambiguous position in Norwegian hospitals.     

The effectiveness of internal audit in Malaysian public sector

Internal audit in Malaysian public and private sector organizations underwent a steady organic growth since gaining a foothold in the management process in the 1970s. The management of the Malaysian public sector is continuously maturing in facilitating foreign input in national development, echoing similar advances expounded by the internal audit units of private sector organizations. The main difference being the public sector addresses the interest of a much wider group of stakeholders. Rapid development in infrastructures and industries positioned Malaysia on the fringes of globalization and the world market. This enlarges the crucial role of internal auditing to ensure transparency, integrity, quality and improved service delivery; among myriad positive aims, remain the end point of any process area. This study explored the significance of internal auditing in the Malaysian public sector, and its subsequent extent and influence in public sector hierarchy and decision making. Data was collected from responses to a questionnaire distributed to head of internal auditors, internal auditors and other staff of internal audit departments from various categories of public sector departments and agencies in Malaysia. The study concluded that the internal audit function in the public sector in Malaysia is curtailed by understaffing and hampered by inadequate support from top management while, the auditors seldom extend their full cooperation. The auditors themselves lack appropriate knowledge and training on effective auditing approaches. The negative perception accorded to internal audit led to inaction by management on recommended remedies which only serve to nullify the positive contribution internal audit potentially holds to elevate the service delivery quality of the public sector.     

The disclosure of key performance indicators in the public sector

This article investigates the disclosure of key performance indicators in the annual reports of Irish public sector organizations. It begins by discussing the two main driving forces behind public sector bodies disclosing performance information in their annual reports for the first time as well as looking at other contributing factors. The present situation with regard to the disclosure of key performance indicators in the whole of Ireland is then analysed. A number of annual reports from central government departments or agencies, local government bodies, other public sector entities and, in the case of the Republic of Ireland, semi-state organizations are examined to see whether such information is being disclosed and, more importantly, whether performance indicators are being linked to predetermined objectives and targets.     

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.     

Barriers to innovation through public procurement: A supplier perspective

Public procurement is increasingly viewed as having important potential to drive innovation. Despite this interest, numerous barriers prevent the public sector from acting as an intelligent and informed customer. This paper seeks to understand how barriers related to processes, competences, procedures and relationships in public procurement influence suppliers? ability to innovate and to reap the benefits of innovation. We address this by exploiting a dedicated survey of public sector suppliers in the UK, using a probit model to investigate the influence of structural, market and innovation determinants on suppliers? perception of these barriers.     

Demystifying the folklore of the accidental project manager in the public sector

Many individuals are called upon to undertake project management responsibilities with little or no preparation. Such project managers have been referred to as accidental project managers. This article examines the experiences of 46 accidental project managers within the Western Australian public sector through a questionnaire survey. Findings reveal that most project managers were selected based on their technical or managerial expertise and thus lacked the required competencies to deliver a project. There was a greater propensity for accidental project managers to act in a part‐time mode, undertake nontechnical projects, and be provided with limited training and education.     

Exploring the structure and meaning of public service motivation in the Turkish public sector: a test of the mediating effects of job characteristics

Using a data set consisting of 315 middle-managers at the district level in the Turkish public sector, we develop a structural equation model (SEM) for assessing the impact of empowerment and stewardship on public service motivation (PSM) through job characteristics. The results demonstrate that stewardship and empowerment are distinct ‘levers’ that managers can use in novel ways to influence PSM; and cultural context may factor into the manipulation of these levers. We find that job-based mediators may not compliment leadership styles and self-generating rewards, but, rather work separately in their appeal to PSM.     

Further education and training in the french public sector

Since 1989, the French public sector has imitated the private sector's further education and training mechanisms. But today, it seems that just as in the private sector, the training policies in the public sector have severe limitations. Based on a case study of a large public research institute and on a national survey making it possible to compare the private and public sectors, the paper studies the further education and training policies and their links with the organizational needs. In the public sector, the difficult balance between individual's choices and strategic management comes on the one hand from the specificities of the administrative rules of human resource management, and on the other hand from the unions' power and strategies. Faced with new challenges (demographic evolutions, decentralisation, new demands from the users of public services), the French public sector must develop new training policies.     

The ethics of corporate governance in public sector organizations

The current climate of increased accountability in public sector organizations has brought to public attention the ethical dimension of corporate governance. This article presents a conceptually informed method for undertaking of an ethically focused audit corporate governance. The conceptual-theoretical terrain is set out in three dimensions: ethics as applied moral philosophy; equity as social justice; and corporate governance as the moral health of an organization. At an operational level, the conceptual model proposed provides a framework to evaluate the overall integrity of an organization and embraces the inter-related themes of individual responsibility, social equity and political responsibility. A method for ethical audits is also set out. It emphasizes the significance of key personnel in (re)producing and challenging the organizational ethos, while recognizing the necessary limitations placed on researchers' commitment to anonymity and confidentiality in the collection, interpretation and analysis of data, and in the eventual sharing of such data.     

Public sector innovation in a context of radical populism

This article discusses the effect of radical populism on public sector innovation. It begins by considering the origins and components of radical populism and of public sector innovation. It is shown that the Trump Administration has been undercutting each of the factors research suggests facilitate public sector innovation. While radical populists have gained ground in Europe, they are constrained by being part of governing coalitions, and have a more limited policy agenda, primarily focused on reducing immigration. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on the effect of populism on public sector innovation, both in the US and Europe.     

The effect of extrinsic rewards on public and private sector employees' psychological empowerment: a comparative approach

This paper examines the impact of five extrinsic rewards (financial incentives, promotion opportunities, organisational prestige, relations with supervisor and relations with peers) on employees' psychological empowerment. Further, the present study compares these effects and the level of psychological empowerment between public and private employees. The results demonstrated that extrinsic rewards differentially affected both samples. Financial incentives, promotion opportunities and organisational prestige had a stronger effect on private employees' psychological empowerment, whereas relations with supervisor and peers were significant predictors of public employees' psychological empowerment. The results also indicated that private employees experience greater psychological empowerment, meaning and impact than public counterparts.     

A systematic review of barriers to public sector innovation process

ABSTRACT

This article provides a systematic review of the empirical literature on barriers within public sector innovation processes, based on data from 63 articles. We investigate the nature of barriers using four dimensions: (i) classification; (ii) interrelations; (iii) innovation process and (iv) types of innovations. A new classification is developed to show that interaction-specific barriers emerge during collaborative innovation. Significantly, we identify that the nature of barriers are more complex than has previously been recognized, where there has been an emphasis on organizational barriers. We identify that the nature of barriers differ in process and innovation types. Moreover, they show interrelations across the process.     

Calibrating Public Sector Accountability: Translating experimental findings to public sector accountability

Accountability mechanisms are among the most important means with which governments guard and improve the performance of public sector organizations. However, research documents a plethora of accountability-failures. A key issue is: how can public sector accountability become more effective? This paper seeks to answer this question by connecting two largely separated strands of research: public administration research on real-world organizations and experimental research on the effects of different forms of accountability on decision-making. The paper develops the Calibrated Public Accountability-model (CPA-model) from experimental research findings which can be used to investigate how accountability can be calibrated to task requirements of organizations.     

The role of the psychological contract in shaping graduate experiences: a study of public sector talent management programmes in the UK and Australia

Abstract

Although talent management is acknowledged for its role in building competitive advantage, very little research has examined the factors that influence the success of talent management programmes at an individual level. In this paper we explore participant experiences (n = 68) from two public sector ‘fast track’ graduate development programmes, one in the UK and one in Australia. Drawing on psychological contract theory we examine how talent management programmes shape individual expectations and how these expectations influence participant experiences and evaluations of the programme. Our findings highlight the role of both talent management strategy and talent management implementation as well as factors external to the organisation, (such as employer brand and the influence of family and friends), in shaping expectations. Our analysis highlights the impact of multiple agents, particularly line managers, in the ongoing development and fulfilment of the ‘graduate psychological contract’. At a practical level, we argue that organisations need to manage expectations by more explicitly communicating what will, or will not, be offered in a graduate fast-track programme. We also suggest that organisations need to consider the importance of line managers in the implementation of talent management.