scholarly journals Bounded Rationality of Individual Action in the Consumption of Public Goods

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-194
Author(s):  
Beáta Mikušová Meričková ◽  
Nikoleta Jakuš Muthová
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Warm Glow ◽  
Individual Action ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Neoclassical Economic Theory ◽  
Rational Individual ◽  
New Perspective

AbstractIn order to gain a better understanding of human behaviour, Economics seeks to work with other disciplines such as Psychology, Sociology, or Anthropology (Behavioural Economics). Unlike neoclassical economic theory, behavioural economics does not assume a rational individual. On the contrary, it focuses on an irrational (bounded rational) individual while revealing what really influences his decision and his actions in order to respond more adequately to public needs, increasing the efficiency of public-service provision. The aim of the paper is to investigate the factors of willingness to pay for public services. The willingness of individuals to pay depends on factors such as affection and sympathy, conviction, compassion, regret, respect, warm glow, commitment to society, appreciation, invitation to participation, fundraising method and tax policy. The significance of the research conclusions lies in initiating a new perspective on the possibilities of securing public services.

scholarly journals Fostering public accountability in South Africa: A reflection on challenges and successes

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pandelani H. Munzhedzi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Accountability ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

Accountability and oversight are constitutional requirements in all the spheres of government in the Republic of South Africa and their foundation is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. All spheres of government are charged with the constitutional mandate of providing public services. The level of responsibility and public services provision also goes with the level of capacity of a particular sphere. However, most of the direct and visible services that the public receives are at the local sphere of government. As such, enormous resources are channelled towards this sphere of government so that the said public services could be provided. It is imperative that the three spheres of government account for the huge expenditures during the public service provision processes. The parliaments of national and provincial governments exercise oversight and accountability over their executives and administrations through the Public Accounts Committees, while the local sphere of government relies on the Municipal Public Accounts Committees. This article is theoretical in nature, and it seeks to explore the current state of public accountability in South Africa and to evaluate possible measures so as to enhance public accountability. The article argues that the current public accountability mechanisms are not efficient and effective. It is recommended that these mechanisms ought to be enhanced by inter alia capacitating the legislative bodies at national, provincial and local spheres of the government.

scholarly journals Public Service Provision in China: Towards a More Equal Access System

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-179
Author(s):  
Jingjing Shan ◽  
Yanan Geng ◽  
Jin Fu ◽  
Binglei Yu
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Urban Neighbourhoods ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

AbstractThechallengefacingurban policymakersis how to tackle the long-standing differences in social welfareand basic public services provision for migrant and incumbent workers arising from the dual-household registration system. In this chapter, we quantify inequalities in access to basic public services between migrant workers and the local urban population across different regions of China. We consider both inequalities within urban areas, and inequalities that exist between urban and rural areas. For urban areas, we find large inequalities in access to basic public services between the indigenous urban population and migrant workers. There are also significant differences between urban and rural areas. The level of basic public services in the West of China lags behind other regions. Across China as a whole, the gap within regions is greater than the gap between regions. Internal variations within a region arise mainly from inequality in access to basic public services between urban and rural populations and across urban neighbourhoods. Chinese public services are characterised by ‘dualisation’ in urban–rural provision and ‘fragmentation’ across regions in terms of the level and quality of service. These two features constitute a formidable obstacle for the ‘citizenisation’ of migrant workers. We provide detailed examples from across China of countermeasures and strategies currently being implemented to reduce inequalities in public service provision.

scholarly journals The Consequences of the Austerity Policies for Public Services in the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-537
Author(s):  
Tania Arrieta Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Quality Of Services ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The Uk

This article examines the changing landscape of public service provision in the UK during austerity. Austerity is presented through the notions of retrenchment, decentralisation and shifts in governance. The analysis shows that retrenchment and decentralisation eroded the capacity of public institutions to protect the provision of vital public services. This is revealed through the reduced provision of non-statutory services and the reinforcement of inequalities in service provision. Shifts in governance have led to mixed outcomes in the quality of services. This article also addresses how austerity influenced many of the problems observed in service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vital public services in the UK faced the pandemic with a diminished resource base, heightened inequalities and significant fragmentation in service provision.

scholarly journals Holistic Governance for Sustainable Public Services: Reshaping Government–Enterprise Relationships in China’s Digital Government Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1778
Author(s):  
Xuesong Li ◽  
Yunlong Ding
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Economic Incentive ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Government Enterprise

The notion of holistic governance was originally proposed to make up for the fragmentation of public service provision. However, such a notion also has a great potential to be transferred and understood in the digital government context in China, where there is an increasing need to reshape the landscape of government–enterprise relationships that can enable enterprises to involvement effectively in holistic governance, or the planning and design of public services. However, previous empirical studies on holistic governance have neglected the question of how to make this happen. The aim of this article is to fill these gaps, building on holistic governance theory, this article offers a theoretical framework for government–enterprise relationships under the holistic governance paradigm. The framework identifies a comprehensive set of relationships that explain how these relationships affect enterprises’ participation in public service provision. The empirical analysis is based on case studies of four e-services cooperation programs in China. We report three main findings. First, economic incentive should be developed in combination with a holistic governance strategy in order to encourage policymakers to reshape government–enterprise relationships. Second, it seems that the implementation of holistic governance is more effective when complemented with a managerial strategy in relation to organizational transformation. Finally, trust-building between governments and enterprises plays a pivotal role in nurturing the holistic governance paradigm. These findings have important policy implications for efforts to promote enterprise participation and cross-sector solutions to fragmented public service provision.

scholarly journals METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION APPLIED TO PUBLIC SERVICES

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 174-191
Author(s):  
Oleg Burba ◽  
Yuriy Kopytin ◽  
Olga Pasichnyk ◽  
Andriy Piskun
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Data Exchange ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Electronic Information Resources ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Methodological Aspects

The article covers outputs of the research on development of methodological aspects applied under digital transformation of public services and based on the procedures suggested for formalizing the reengineering process used for related service provision administrative processes in accordance with the capacity delivered by advanced information technologies. The Introduction outlines the issue in general, which is mostly related to the fact that the most of the general population enjoy no public services at all despite the implementation of the e-governance concept. It also analyzes the reasons resulting in a problematic situation described above which, among others, include complicated procedures used to both provide and access public (administrative services); lack of related information; lengthy terms of service provision caused by unavailability of information systems capable of ensuring proper data exchange between state electronic information resources and administrative bodies or agencies; lack of state standardization efforts in public service provision, etc. The analysis used to study recent research and publications confirmed that only general aspects of administrative processes used prior to public service provision in the electronic format has been more or less fully processed so far. As for the formalization of public service digitalization implemented through methodological approaches deemed as compatible for use, the matter at hand remains open and requires further research. With the above in mind, the paper states the purpose of related research formulated as the development of methodological support to digital transformation of public services while objectives of the above are focused on the formalization of the reengineering process for public services and development of related procedures fit for practical use. The outputs of the research describe the general methodological approach to digital transformation of public services based on “as is” and “to be” models. The paper proposes to consider the Administrative Service Register as the information basis used to develop an “as is” model. A register as such contains unified service names, documents, standardized administrative process descriptions as well as results of an audit covering state electronic information resources. The developed “as is” model should be used as a frame to define service information links, to implement audit and streamlining (reengineering) of public service provision procedures (administrative processes) as well as to integrate real life services. As a result, there will be designed the vision of public service provision (a “to be” model) to be implemented further on. The vision is defined as a technical option used to provide public services as a synthesis of service provision administrative processes and information processing tools. At the same time, the objective implying the vision development for a set of public services involves the selection of a specific option used to implement a set of related administrative processes while ensuring ultimate performance in terms of provision of a public service set concerned. The idea of the formalized objective is to select a set of administrative processes used for public service provision at service providers and data exchange between them with the use of related technologies ensuring minimum costs for the whole service set. According to the objective defined and aggregative–decomposition method applied, a respective solution is brought down to two stages: building a graph-based structure for administrative process options used under a certain set of public services (the “as is” model) in accordance with their links; afterwards, the above graph-based structure allows tracking the shortest route to define the appropriate option for administrative processes to be applied under the whole set of public services with the use of respective information technologies (the “to be” model, vision). The Conclusion describes the major research outputs and further explorative prospects.

scholarly journals The Dangers of Fiscal Decentralization and Public Service Delivery: a Review of Arguments

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Arends
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fiscal Decentralization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Service Provision

Abstract The prevailing belief is that local governments, which are closer to their citizens, can deliver public goods much more efficiently than a central government can. Yet skeptics argue that fiscal decentralization can be dangerous. The underlying motivation of this article is to review the basic rationale behind decentralizing public services from the perspective of three main controversies emerging from the literature on decentralization: (in)efficient, (un)equal, and (un)accountable service provision at the local level. For illustrative purposes, this review focuses on two complex and socially important sectors, health and education. The overall conclusion is that the dangers of decentralization are highly relevant to local public service provision, although there is evidence supporting both the decentralization-enthusiastic and the decentralization-skeptical views. When decentralizing public services, reformers should know the specificities of the public service, the local context, and the effects of the design of fiscal relations like the backs of their hands. If things go wrong, recentralization should be an option.

Burgerinitiatieven in tijden van crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-460
Author(s):  
Neeltje Spit ◽  
Kors Visscher ◽  
Menno Hurenkamp ◽  
Evelien Tonkens ◽  
Margo Trappenburg
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Core Group ◽  
Public Service Provision

Abstract Citizens’ initiatives in times of crisis: An investigation into the factors that influence the durability of citizens’ initiatives In the Netherlands, citizens’ initiatives have received a lot of praise and are increasingly made responsible for providing public services. If they are to fulfil this role, they must be able to weather a crisis, as during a crisis public services should remain reliable. Literature on the durability of citizens’ initiatives suggests that large initiatives, with a close-knit core group and strong government support are the most durable. However, our research indicates that this was not the case during the COVID-19 crisis. Flexibility and freedom to function independently from the municipal government were found to be more decisive for durability. This suggests that despite public value of citizens’ initiatives, they cannot be expected to take much responsibility for durable public service provision.

Basic public services and the restructuring of the public finance system in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangjian Xu ◽  
Yan Wu
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Finance System ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Service Provision

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to achieve quality and fairness in the provision of basic public services. Design/methodology/approach Based on an historical analysis of the functional transformation of the public finance system in China and on an empirical analysis of the current public finance system and the public service provision system, a comprehensive understanding was gained about the relationship between the financing and provision of basic public services. Findings The paper argues that there is a close relationship between the provision of basic public services and the functional changes made to the public finance system. Based on a systematic retrospective study of the Chinese Government’s efforts to improve basic public services over the last three decades, this paper offers policy suggestions on further public finance restructuring that would support better service provision. Originality/value By analyzing issues in the public service provision system, this paper contributes to the debate about the efficiency improvement made to governmental functions in China.

scholarly journals Social enterprises, marketing, and sustainable public service provision

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Powell ◽  
Stephen P. Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
North East ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Service Oriented

This article explores whether social enterprises are capable of fulfilling the public policy rhetoric surrounding them, to become sustainable providers of public services. It does this by examining their marketing activity within North-East England and focuses on social enterprises delivering adult social care public services. It finds that social enterprises are employing a product-dominant approach to marketing rather than a service-oriented, relationship marketing, approach. This undermines their ability to build the enduring relationships with all their key stakeholders that are the key to effective service management and fatally weakens their potential as sustainable public service providers. The article subsequently uses service theory to build an alternative model of marketing and business practice predicated precisely upon the need to build such relationships. Points for practitioners This article points to the need for public service practitioners to embrace a service orientation to the management of public services, rather than a product-dominant one derived from manufacturing. It outlines the key elements of relationship marketing in particular and highlights how this approach can contribute substantially to sustainable public service provision.

scholarly journals Institutional Differentiation of Public Service Provision in Germany: Corporatisation, Privatisation and Re-Municipalisation

2021 ◽  
pp. 291-309
Author(s):  
Benjamin Friedländer ◽  
Manfred Röber ◽  
Christina Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The Core ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Institutional Differentiation ◽  
Institutional Landscape ◽  
Public Versus Private

AbstractIn recent decades, the provision of public services in Germany has increasingly been transferred to institutions outside the core administration. The process has resulted in a considerably changed institutional landscape with multiple effects on its steering, governance and management. The aim of this chapter is to highlight experiences with the four different institutional arrangements of corporatisation, outsourcing, privatisation and re-municipalisation in Germany. Against this background, we provide some lessons learnt for public administration and finally shift attention to the discussion on public versus private service provision.

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