Search

This article combines two neglected elements within the history of online news: public service news sites and weather reporting, and it does so by utilising web archives, which – surprisingly – do not figure very prominently in journalism history. The two elements have – in isolation and in combination – at least in Denmark, become increasingly important as the online news sections of the two public service institutions Denmark's Radio (DR) and TV2 consistently are among the most visited news sites and since reporting on the weather has gained in prominence and more recently, at least on DR TV, has become increasingly educational in its linking to issues of climate change. This article focusses on online news and conducts a historical analysis of the weather reporting on DR.dk from 2005 to 2022. The analysis seeks to balance the coding of journalistic texts with considerations of the online form of journalism, which here broadly means reading the webpage as a text. A key focus in the analysis is how meteorological data have been woven into cultural and social narratives, some of which are linked to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks how the rise in use of SVOD in the United Kingdom during 2020 impacted people's expectations of public service television (PSTV). Drawing on 56 qualitative interviews with 28 UK participants conducted in 2019 and 2020, the article uses the COVID-19 lockdown to explore how disruption to the context of viewing might shape the cultural meanings people attach to PSTV. Challenging dominant approaches that measure audience assessments of public service media (PSM) against normative criteria, this article focuses instead on the processes through which people's cultural meanings about PSTV are formed. Examining the interplay of their encounters with, expectations and evaluations of television, it reveals the divergent meanings our participants brought to linear and on-demand television. The article concludes by examining the implications of these expectations for PSM policy and for the ways in which we research people's viewing experiences and choices amidst the rise of VOD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The covid-19 crisis has accelerated automation and digitalization in many aspects of social life. Social distancing and lockdowns, combined with the imperative to preserve economic activity, have seen much work and education move online, while the digitalization of government services has intensified. These developments slowed the spread of covid-19 but their broader effects, both positive and negative, have been unevenly distributed. One group for whom covid-driven digitalization has been especially ambivalent is people with a disability. While remote forms of communication and work have afforded physical health protections to many disabled people, these same forms have had exclusionary effects that magnify pre-existing disadvantages and diminish citizenship rights. This article analyses this ambivalent dialectic and the politics of neoliberal digital citizenship with which it is enmeshed. We argue that digital citizenship needs to be decoupled from a constraining neoliberal rationality prioritizing ableist individual competition, techno-entrepreneurship and government cost-cutting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the significance of On the Wire, a BBC local radio programme, that provides a unique lens through which to examine changes in local radio, music radio in general and public service broadcasting. The paper provides a concise history and an account of the On the Wire, along with an explanation of its impact. The paper offers reasons for the programme's enduring appeal, including its ability to change and adapt, its emphasis on the local in a global context and its innovative approach to audience participation. The paper concludes by positing that the history of On the Wire provides valuable insights for broadcasters in general, highlighting key aspects that radio programmes can learn from its approach. By showcasing the possibilities of what local radio, music radio and public service broadcasting can be, On the Wire sets a positive example for what radio can achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although librarians have not been traditionally recognized as professionals who provide care for persons with dementia, recent research indicates that libraries can contribute to the development of dementia-friendly communities. They can offer cognitive engagement and social inclusion events for people with dementia, provide information to their caregivers and educate the general public about dementia. In this article, the authors present the findings from a study that attempted to answer the following research questions: 'How much do library and information science students in Croatia know about dementia?' and 'How do they perceive the role of public libraries in developing dementia-friendly communities?' The study was conducted using a quantitative methodology among 183 library and information science students. Although the respondents had somewhat poor knowledge about dementia, they believed people with dementia have an inherent right to library materials and programmes suited to their specific needs, and that libraries can raise the quality of their life in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, policymakers have become increasingly intrigued by public procurement's potential to serve as a policy tool. In line with an increased prevalence of attempts to leverage public procurement for promoting employment-related goals, a growing body of research explores the linkages between public procurement and employment. Yet, while different aspects of the procurement process influence labour market outcomes and the linkages are multiple, current research focuses on individual aspects only. As a result, current understandings of the linkage between public procurement and its labour market effects remain fragmented. Considering choices between the initial identification of an object of purchase and the award and delivery of the contract, this article conceptualises the multi-faceted linkages between public procurement and labour market inequalities understood as issues of access to and (in)equality in employment. It argues that three key aspects (the design of the object, requirements set in the process of buying, and the type of provider) make distinct contributions to the overall impact that procurement processes have on labour market inequality and outlines a framework for analysing the implications of choices at these three core decision points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in many nations, New Zealand's (NZ) government has sought to implement workplace policies in public service agencies, including equity initiatives to accelerate diversity and inclusion. However, these processes have been disrupted by the labour market and wider effects of Covid-19 and austerity policies. This is significant for NZ-based Pacific women workers, who often face pronounced workplace inequities though scant knowledge exists about the role of Pacific employee networks in progressing equity. This study examined such networks in three NZ public service agencies, focussing on the 'ambition' of, and influences on progress with, their equity pursuits. Seventy-two semi-structured interviews with sector experts, agency managers and staff, including Pacific women and men whose voices are often muted in the formulation of workplace responses (Maiava-Zajkowski, 2021) were conducted throughout 2020 and early 2021. Thematic content analysis revealed that agency networks vary in size, whom they support, their activities, and environmental dynamics. Using an equity approach typology, less ambitious equity goals were found to prevail, reflecting the networks' fledgling status. Yet, despite facing austerity policies and pandemic challenges, the networks mitigated curbs on workplace equity activity by harnessing the agency of members, with the potential to push for intersectional and culturally informed equity initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article constructs a theoretical model of digital intermediation: a process of three key, and unseen, components for cultural production in our contemporary media environment. Digital intermediation is a content production and consumption process that incorporates the cultural characteristics of technologies, agencies and automation. First, the article describes the key components of digital intermediation that bring about the production and distribution of cultural artefacts. Second, the article describes digital intermediation as a process of production and consumption amid these three components. Third, the article articulates the problems digital intermediation creates by examining the loss of user agency over the production of and access to cultural artefacts. Finally, the article highlights how digital intermediation problems can be addressed by cultural institutions, specifically public service media, to shore up user agency within automated media environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a public space, the environment of public transportation services is maintained by an ordered set of rules and conditions. Such rules and conditions are prescribed by law as they are in generally-accepted norms of social behaviour within public space. Through the examination of the Conditions of Carriage that govern bus transportation in Cape Town, South Africa, using Golden Arrow Bus Services, this paper seeks to highlight the myriad ways that urban public space on the move is mediated, negotiated and controlled through rules of conduct that differentiate mobile public space from its counterpart in the environment outside the bus. Understood as a mundane part of the social life of the city and its inhabitants, mobility in the form of public transportation is constituted by micro-communities whose publics are in a constant state of flux and negotiation. Using analysis of the Conditions of Carriage and an ethnographic case study of bus passengering, this paper demonstrates how the Conditions mediate the situated and lived assemblage of actors in mobile public space that is a liminal zone between inclusion and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the issue of digital exclusion resulting from the digitisation of government and council services within the United Kingdom. An initial analysis of customer support log data from a council in a large UK city helped identify the most commonly queried services and modes of support. The main findings are based on qualitative analysis of 10 interviews, structured around the results from the log analysis, conducted with front-line staff members at the central library of the same council. The study identifies a range of issues associated with the provision of e-government services and the subsequent under-utilisation by the public, including poor design, issues with effective access and the level of digital literacy among end users. The study also proposes the concept of the 'digital carer', a friend or family member who is relied upon by users unable to interact with e-government services themselves. The findings of this study have implications for the way in which these services are designed and delivered and point to the need for further work that can contribute to the UK digital economy by facilitating better access to e-government services and reduce digital exclusion, especially for elderly and marginalised users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how British Asians negotiated the politics of race in the formative years of British broadcasting from the 1960s to the 1980s. Marked by significant changes within the BBC and British society at large, this period saw the first institutional initiatives oriented towards Caribbean and Asian communities. Drawing on primary research materials from the BBC Written Archives, we analyse the Immigrant Programmes Unit and the Immigrant Programme Advisory Committees as sites where ideas of race, ethnicity and citizenship were continually debated and worked out. We argue that the BBC functioned as a profoundly asymmetrical contact zone in which British Asians' efforts to counter assimilationist ideas and programmes were stymied by senior managers working with deeply ingrained ideas of cultural, ethnic and racial differences. Immigrants would be accommodated, but in ways that would not challenge the viewing habits of the majority or imagine solidarities across racial, ethnic and national lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-production was vital to support public services provision during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the main challenges for service providers is to make co-production sustainable. There are few empirical studies on the sustainability of co-production from a long-term perspective. This study aims to contribute to this topic by exploring the micro-level foundations of co-production persistence through a longitudinal qualitative study in three public service organizations providing developmental services for youth with disabilities. Co-production is analyzed along the service provision process before, during and after the first COVID-19 lockdown, with specific attention on exploring how the conditions for sustainable co-production – mutual commitment, complementarities and institutional arrangements – occur and reinforce one another after an external shock. The findings suggest that the persistence of co-production is a result of a process in which experimentation with new complementarities can enhance previous co-production experiences and generate a context of mutual commitment that facilitates future co-production initiatives and their institutionalization. Points for practitioners: This article suggests how service providers can activate a potential virtuous cycle of co-production by increasing the opportunities that foster and sustain users and families' self-efficacy and reciprocal trust, and the contributions from wider social support networks of the most vulnerable people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting a grip on issues of administrative delegation is key to the performance of public organizations. The oversight game models delegation as a conflict of interest between an inspector and an inspectee to act in the interests of the former. This study tests alternative solutions to overcome 'shirking' in the oversight game. Specifically, we test the effect of external incentives, as implied by the game-theoretical solution, against the role of intrinsic factors, namely, public service motivation and job-related risk aversion. Evidence from a laboratory (N = 208) and survey experiment (N = 794) show that both the game-theoretical approach, which inspired new public management, and public service motivation, as its antithesis, fail to explain subjects' behaviour. Instead, job-related risk aversion makes oversight more and 'shirking' less likely. This finding hints towards a more differentiated view of public employees' risk attitudes to improve administrative delegation. Points for practitioners: The promise of new public management that oversight issues in administrative delegation disappear with setting appropriate extrinsic incentives is too simplistic. Public service motivation, on the other hand, which started as an antithesis of the self-interested bureaucrat, also fails to solve the issue of 'shirking' in administrative delegation. Instead, job-related risk aversion appears to improve administrative delegation, which presents a remarkable counterpoint to the popular opinion in public management that risk aversion is problematic for public organizations' performance. Rather than avoid selecting risk-averse public employees generally, more attention might be paid to the domains of administrative decision-making in which such traits can be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article disentangles the country-specific institutional system at the macro level from individual-level attraction and socialization in measuring public service-oriented work motives across European countries through public–private sector comparisons. We argue that country-specific institutions shape the level of public service-oriented work motives of each country and thereby generate level differences across countries. In contrast, public–private sector differences, (i.e. gaps), in public service-oriented work motives within a country reflect aspects of individual-level attraction and socialization. We use the 2005 and 2010 waves of the European Working Conditions Survey and demonstrate that the levels and gaps are empirically distinct phenomena, contrary to current treatment in the literature. We conclude that the distinction between levels and gaps can advance understanding of the antecedents of public service-oriented work motives and support the institutional theory of public service-oriented work motives. Points for practitioners: This article argues and provides evidence for the fact that levels of work motives oriented towards public service that are visible in a cross-country comparison should not be confused with the gap of such work motives inside one country. This distinction is important because in countries where gaps between the sectors are almost non-existent and levels are generally high, interventions geared towards public service-oriented work motives are less likely to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics, as the language and practice that organises the distribution of matter and value, not only scripts the infrastructural expansion of late capitalist urbanisations, it also informs the tactics of survivability and resistance that address the spatial and social disparities generated by the latter. Behind the arrangement of makeshift infrastructural set-ups for commercial exchange, food distribution and community support, there is a form of popular logistics, interventions put in place to articulate the circulation of resources, weave nodes of solidarity and navigate the bureaucratic and territorial distances that exist across institutional scales. The paper frames the integration of these forms of counter-logistical expressions as an emerging form of municipalism. Focussing on municipal responses to the pandemic, the essay describes the emergence of counter forms of logistics in Rosario, Argentina. It registers the material and virtual adaptations that social movements, neighbourhood organisations and public agencies put in place to configure different forms of producing and distributing goods and services in the city. In a context where privatised infrastructures of distribution mediate the expressions of urban life, the paper positions the articulation of common and popular forms of logistics as a strategic dimension of municipal politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a renewed interest in new forms of municipalism, this paper seeks to contribute by critically analysing two cases of the municipal experience in Chile: Valparaíso and Recoleta. By coining the notion of 'Peripheral Municipalisms', our aim is to give voice to a diversity of municipal endeavours in the Global South marked by highly precarious forms of local government. In both case studies, municipalist strategies are used as tools to challenge deep-rooted neoliberal structures. Through a qualitative methodology, based mainly on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, we analyse particular forms of municipalism based on the remunicipalisation of public services and broad-based citizen platforms. These institutional reforms and participatory practices have enabled more just futures by challenging dependency on central government and building a more egalitarian urban process. The article calls for more situated studies on municipalist forces in the Global South in order to continue building this translocal movement from comparative experiences, going beyond 'model cases'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of local state institutions by way of the paradigm of the common – the creation of commons–state institutions – has become one of the strategies of new municipalist practices. It is an attempt to overcome two crises: the crises of both the privatised and the bureaucratic state forms. It aims to take back the production and distribution of the 'public' by the state and to democratise this process. The article analyses the discursive use and material implementation of the paradigm of the common in the transformation of local state institutions, and how contested meanings attributed to it by different actors may influence the definition of commons–state institutions. It analyses two new municipalist contexts, Naples and Barcelona, and examines the common-inspired transformation of their local public services: water services and sociocultural facilities, respectively. It argues that commons–state institutions are negotiated institutional configurations that emerge from the synthesis of the situated and experimental interpretation of the paradigm of the common shared by (different segments of) state and civil society actors, and whose governance needs to be adequately and openly codified to make them robust and enduring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western governments have used regulation to progress gender equality for workforces in both the private and public sectors, yet gender equality has not yet been achieved. While governments have used various regulatory forms, Dickens (1999) argued that a tripod of collective bargaining, legislation and human resource policy would progress gender equality. Little consideration has been given to how these elements of the tripod fit together. We apply Dickens' tripod to examine the regulation of gender equality in one Australian public sector. We use institutional analysis, drawing on historical and current documents, legislation, collective bargaining frameworks and human resource policy to examine how the regulatory tripod interlocks, and whether renewed commitments to public sector gender equality can be achieved in the current regulatory environment. We identify regulatory incongruence within the Australian public service and argue for improved congruence to progress gender equality, although we also note that congruence on its own does not lead to better outcomes. We identify that the legs of the tripod are not mutually reinforcing and that all legs need to be supported by better implementation. We extend Dicken's tripod to provide a new path to progress public sector workplace gender equality, enriching both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common during a civil war that a government's counterinsurgency operations result in internally displaced persons seeking refuge from the violence by leaving their communities. However, many civilians alternatively choose to stay in their homes and seek accommodation from the rebels. It is, therefore, puzzling that in a civil war situation when rebel cadres often cannot protect civilians, civilians would remain in their communities. This article argues that the wartime provision of public services motivates civilians to stay with the rebel group because it demonstrates the group's capability for and commitment to developing civilians' welfare and livelihoods. This argument offers insight into an unanswered question in the literature regarding internal displacement in a civil war: Why do some civilians, when facing protection issues in rebel-held areas, choose to stay, while others opt to leave? Using novel survey data collected over two phases from the former Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in Pakistan, a two-step Bayesian propensity score analysis reveals that the civilians who received rebel services are less likely to leave their places of residence. Civilians would pursue long-term goals during the crossfire between the government and rebel forces; wartime provisions of public services allow civilians to seriously consider the possibility of improving their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In settler-colonial countries like Aotearoa New Zealand, television programmes about rurality are fundamentally entwined with the nation's colonial history, but how this context impacts on locally made, public service television content and production is seldom examined. Utilising data collected from interviews with programme makers and a novel bi-cultural friendship pair methodology, we examine how a high-rating mainstream programme, Country Calendar, conceptualises and delivers stories about Indigenous Māori and consider the extent to which these stories represent a decolonising of television narratives about rurality. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating Indigenous voices and values, the impact of structural limitations and staffing constraints on public service television's decolonising aspirations, and challenges reconciling settler-colonialism with the show's well-established 'rosy glow'. While rural media are often overlooked by communication scholars, our study demonstrates the contributions they might make to the larger task of decolonising storytelling about national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Administrative burdens can hinder people's social, political and economic participation. However, most empirical studies usually tackle the issue of how they affect access to citizenship merely indirectly. This article examines administrative exclusion from Argentina's National Identity Document and its effects on a key social policy: the Universal Child Allowance. Findings indicate that: (1) administrative exclusion from official identity documents 'feeds back' into the construction of a vulnerable target group that is systematically excluded from social benefits and public services; and (2) limitations in the administrative capacity for identity registration and documentation 'trickle down' to complications in the implementation of social policies as target groups remain 'off the radar'. Findings also demonstrate the importance of understanding administrative burdens as a systemic issue. Burdens manifest themselves at the level of citizen–state interactions but their causes and consequences are tied up with intractable institutional characteristics, administrative capacities and social inequalities. Points for practitioners: Efforts by developing countries to develop effective social protection systems are often thwarted by limitations in the state's capacity to identify and reach marginalized citizens. This suggests the need for a systemic perspective of the state's entire capacity instead of merely focusing on the design of social protection programmes. Specifically, we demonstrate that complete, accessible and up-to-date civil registries, identity documents and other forms of registration are a precondition for transforming formal rights into a tangible reality for citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments face the need to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services, and to do so, proper governance is essential. This work proposes a method to assess governance in local waste management systems based on a set of indicators that are flexible and robust enough to allow objective and reliable evaluation even where the information that is available is deficient. The proposal is based on a set of indicators divided into six categories that represent an increasing order of governance maturity: institutional framework; government effectiveness; transparency and accountability; network creation; participation; and corruption control. The article presents the proposal and a first test in two Mexican municipalities, which are an example of municipal solid waste management systems in an incipient stage of development, where there may be serious limitations in terms of access to information. The results show that the methodology can be replicated in different contexts and can be useful for making decisions about improvements in municipal solid waste management systems or for comparing them with others. In addition, sufficient information was obtained for a first diagnosis of the cases studied, which indicates the coherence of the proposed framework. Points for practitioners: Proper governance is essential to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services. The assessment of local governance must be robust enough to motivate changes and, at the same time, flexible enough to allow reliable evaluation where the quality of service and the availability of information may be scant. We propose a new framework for the assessment of governance in municipal solid waste management systems that meets these requirements, based on a set of indicators clustered according to governance maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the influence of public administration education on the development of college students' public service motivation over time. The data come from a four-wave panel survey of 868 Taiwanese undergraduate students who enrolled in college in 2015; 418 of them majored in public administration and 450 majored in business administration. Latent growth modeling was employed to capture a change of overall public service motivation and individual public service motivation dimensions. Our findings show that students' public service motivation tends to change during the college years, while public administration education may not significantly contribute to its development. Points for practitioners: Research findings offer some implications for practice. Given that public service motivation seems to be changeable, it becomes relevant for public managers to invest in developing employees' motivation to serve and make a positive difference in others' lives. However, any in-service training aiming to foster employee public service motivation should not focus too much on knowledge delivery, but rather accentuate the establishment and practice of service values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeless library customers often face barriers to equitable library use. This study examined homeless library customers' perspectives on general and targeted public library services, and social inclusion. Findings presented in the paper come from a qualitative phenomenological study comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven self-identified regular library users of a public library in Christchurch, New Zealand, who were experiencing homelessness at the time of the study. Findings report on a diverse range of information needs and motivations for visiting a public library. Participants viewed the public library as a safe, warm, and quiet place in which to relax and escape difficulties related to experiencing homelessness. The results reflect changes in the role of public libraries and in the expectations of customers, and discuss a need for targeted library services in the form of specialist gatekeeper roles such as that of a community liaison. This study evaluated the effectiveness of general and targeted library services from users' points of view, providing insights which could be used to inform the design of relevant information policies and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberal restructuring blurs the state/market boundary in introducing the position of 'private state workers': employees of for-profit providers who deliver publicly funded, state-prescribed services. Despite their prevalence, these workers have received scant scholarly attention. Addressing this gap, this article studies Employment Goal Planners (EGPs) employed at private for-profit providers of activation services in Israel. Drawing on extensive ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, it argues that far from detached 'mercenaries', private state workers are committed actors who advance a distinct vision of public service delivery suited to the neoliberal state. These workers navigate their liminal position along an ever-shifting state/market divide by intertwining contemporary market tropes onto outdated schemas of state work. While the literature commonly views the market as an imposition on public service workers, this study finds that the market can also serve as a resource for inspiring alternative public service ethics and work models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban India is characterised by a high degree of intra-city spatial inequality in the availability of public services like piped water and sewerage. We unpack the political channels that link residential segregation with access to public services. 'Micro-segregation', or neighbourhood residential sorting within a ward (the elementary administrative and political unit in urban India), enables segregated neighbourhoods to better organise and petition public services. Political competition further amplifies these demands from segregated neighbourhoods. The state's response to such demand is, however, modulated by both in-group favouritism and outgroup discrimination. States' ability to indulge in such favouritism and discrimination is in turn contingent on how the caste composition of a ward is different from that of the city as a whole –'macro-segregation'. We combine large-scale quantitative analysis using neighbourhood-level national census data for all towns in India with at least 0.3 million residents, and multi-year qualitative fieldwork in Bengaluru, a metropolis of over 10 million residents, to delineate the interactions between these demand-side and supply-side channels. While macro-segregation is negatively associated with piped water and sewerage, micro-segregation has a positive association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant approaches to researching cleaners' experiences of invisibility and recognition have tended to focus on either the structural determinants of invisibility, such as outsourcing or 'dirty work' status, or the ways in which workers seek recognition as a strategy for managing taint. This article uses Honneth's concept of intersubjective recognition as a basis for bringing together structure- and agency-oriented approaches through a focus on the ways in which cleaners' recognition experiences arise from historically specific contexts that are both found and made by cleaners. The article illustrates the usefulness of Honneth's theory through a comparison of the intersubjective recognition experiences of Australian school cleaners working in different work paradigms in two historical periods, public service cleaners in the 1910s–1990s and outsourced cleaners in the 2000s–2020s. The case studies contribute new empirical findings concerning patterns of cleaner recognition across all three dimensions theorised by Honneth – love, rights and solidarity – and the significance of shared horizons of purpose between cleaners and other workplace actors for enabling intersubjective recognition. Theoretically, the paper advances the concept of 'dense' and 'sparse' intersubjective recognition landscapes as a lens for understanding the changing nature and sources of cleaner invisibility and recognition over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of European Public Service Media (PSM) in the commissioning and scheduling of local series over the past three decades. With a comparative approach between the main European television markets (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain), the schedules of 30 seasons of 25 general-interest channels have been analysed to explore how the changes in the markets have altered the role of public channels as promoters of domestic fiction and local culture. The study shows a clear division along a Northern European axis with a large, uninterrupted commissioning of locally produced fiction, while Southern European public corporations have had a lower, more erratic approach. Despite this difference, all European PSM organisations analysed have maintained and increased the volume of local series titles during the last decade despite the appearance of portfolio DTT channels and transnational SVOD services, in contrast to commercial corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent can the public service bargain framework be applied to non-partisan ministerial advisors? Public service bargains are defined as 'explicit or implicit agreements between public servants - the civil or uniformed services of the state - and those they serve'. The public service bargain framework has increasingly been used as an analytical tool with which to examine the elements of the bargain as experienced by various actors in different jurisdictions. The elements of the public service bargain framework are explored through the experiences of a distinct subgroup of nonpartisan advisors - portfolio private secretaries - serving in the politicised environment of ministers' offices. The minister's office has been characterised as the 'purple zone' where politics (represented by the colour blue) and administration (represented by the colour red) converge to transform political will into administrative action. This qualitative research article: briefly reviews the public service bargain literature; describes the actors and setting; gives voice to their experience of the public service bargain; applies the public service bargain heuristic; and reveals new insights into how the public service bargain operates with dual principals. Points for practitioners The public service bargain framework allows for dual principal-single agent relationships within public administration settings. Applying the public service bargain heuristic to this group of non-partisan advisors: enables a view of how the public service bargain operates at different levels (macro, meso and micro); shows that the public service bargain for these advisors has changed over time in response to administrative reforms; and demonstrates that these advisors are professionally and personally affected through the misaligned expectations of dual principals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive impact of public service motivation on several individual work outcomes of public sector employees has been documented. Recent research into the 'dark side' of such an individual trait, however, has led some scholars to suggest that organizational conditions such as procedural constraints could affect one's motivation, thus leading to the resignation of other-oriented employees. This study explores the relationships between one of the dimensions of public service motivation - namely, self-sacrifice - procedural constraints and organizational commitment by expanding the job demands-resources model of organizational commitment to different institutional settings. The study employs a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative (structural equation modelling) and qualitative (focus groups and in-depth interviews) data from three industries in Italy (health, local public administration and non-profit organizations). Our findings show that self-sacrifice positively moderates the negative relationship between procedural constraints and organizational commitment. The findings also highlight some of the undesirable effects of self-sacrifice that organizations have to deal with. Points for practitioners Selflessly motivated employees tend to be more sensitive to burdensome procedures, and are hence likely to experience tougher effects of such conditions on their commitment. Given the evidence of the public sector being a highly bureaucratic working context, the sources and remedies for this issue deserve attention from both public administration scholars and practitioners. The findings of the study support the development of practices aimed at warding selflessly motivated employees from the risk of entering a loss cycle of psychological impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the relationships between public service motivation and work-related outcomes are contingent on an employee's psychological state, little empirical evidence exists on whether psychological empowerment conditions the relationship between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance in public organizations. This study addresses this gap by examining data from the 2010 US Merit Principles Survey on psychological empowerment's moderating role between public service motivation and the perceived achievement of organizational goals, as well as the perceived quality of work-unit products and services in the US federal government. First, the findings indicate that public service motivation and psychological empowerment improve both of these perceived organizational performance measures. Second, the findings indicate that the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance is slightly enhanced when public employees feel more psychologically empowered. Points for practitioners This article offers practical lessons for practitioners who are concerned about improving organizational performance. Emphasizing the importance of psychological empowerment in strengthening the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance, the article suggests a critical need to cultivate psychological empowerment in the public sector, which has been under heavy pressure to do more with less in a rapidly changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to observe and analyse cross-cultural examples of public libraries with strong teen services, to identify key elements of practice and approach that enable these libraries' successful and impactful interactions with teenagers. A particular focus is placed on factors that are a matter of mind-set rather than of specific facilities, to offer these as transferable lessons that can be applied widely, including by smaller libraries and those with fewer resources. A comparative case study was conducted at two locations selected as examples of strong teen services in their respective regions: Lava and TioTretton in Sweden and Tompkins County Public Library in the United States. Data were collected via interviews, observation and document analysis. Key factors identified as contributing to successful, teen-centred services include providing a space, no matter how small, that is solely for teens, where they can experience a sense of ownership and belonging; according teens the same respect as any other library visitor; creating a space that is comfortable and actively signals that everyone is welcome; letting teens take the lead, with staff following their interests and serving as facilitators for their projects; creating flexibility in spaces and programming; employing staff who have varied expertise and genuinely enjoy working with young people; mingling and interacting with visitors; and continually re-evaluating and improving practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities are responsible for a range of public services and represent critical experiential contexts for social interactions between residents. However, the role of local governance and public service provision for creating social trust has received limited attention so far. This study examines how quality, efficiency and fairness of local public service provision relates to social trust. Using multilevel models on repeated cross-sectional survey data from the Quality of Life in European Cities project, we test the relationship between time-varying city-level indicators of quality of local government and social trust. The empirical results show that an increase in the dimension of local public service quality is substantially associated with an increase in social trust. We find improvements in sport and leisure facilities as well as the state of public spaces, streets and buildings to be particularly relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, data journalism has received considerable attention among scholars, pointing to novel forms of investigative reporting as well as new daily practices of news production. This study contributes to existing scholarship by conceptualizing data journalism through distinctions between hard and soft news in relation to service journalism. We analyze news produced by specialized data desks in Swedish public service organizations over a 5-year period (2015–2019) and propose a model for how service journalism attributes can be used as a bridge between the binary categories of hard and soft in data journalism. With this model, we point to how data journalism in public service organizations challenges established notions of soft and hard news and how hybrid production practices open up new research trajectories concerning the societal significance of news in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a case study that aimed to understand the specific leadership styles that are valued by women and men lay representatives in the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and to determine the gendered implications for increasing women's leadership and representation in trade unions. Survey responses from PCS lay representatives (reps) show the majority of women and men agreed that the leadership style they value, and that makes a good union leader, is post-heroic (communal) leadership. This approach is associated with leadership characteristics such as being helpful, sensitive and kind and are generally practised by women. This contrasts with male union leaders who are associated with a traditional, heroic (agentic) leadership style characterised by confidence, self-reliance and decisiveness. Although some differences exist that highlight gender issues, both women and men lay reps have positive attitudes towards increasing women's representation and participation in union leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the need to find alternative ways to envision, develop and govern public service media's (PSM) online services and data-driven systems. By critically discussing both opportunities and shortcomings of how European PSM organisations developed their online services and personalisation systems, we argue that in their own platformisation processes, PSM have partially lost their distinctiveness and have not been able to provide viable alternatives to the dominant audiovisual media platforms. Thus, building on Mouffe's agonistic theory and Illich's conviviality theory, this article proposes a theoretical framework to radically rethink the guiding principles and rationales driving public service platforms, in order to develop viable alternatives to the currently dominant models. By doing so, we envision the development of such services as convivial tools that are based on three principles, namely, symmetry of power (intended as hackability, openness and algorithmic conviviality), independence and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses work and state relations at a Nepali electricity office as a staging ground for bringing the labour of repair squarely into focus in the ethnography of infrastructure. A trio of electricians at the office had a torrid time trying to address an ever-increasing number of complaints. Customers were under the impression that the electricians were both lazy and slow, despite even compromising safety regulations to get more work done. Although the electricians' jobs may be comparatively stable and privileged, they put their bodies on the line to service an often-unappreciative public. This shows that infrastructures are made of people, not simply constructed by them. This is often skirted over in the anthropology of infrastructure, which frames repair through its absence and insufficiency, in rare ethnographic engagements with those who do repair work. A suggested response to this deficiency is found in a social reproduction theory of infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature has not fully explored the spatial heterogeneity and dynamics of spillover effects of tourism-flow patterns, and this article makes contributions to addressing this issue. Using spatial autoregressive models and comparing the results for the non-high-speed train (HST) era (2002–2006) and those for the HST era (2011–2015) of China, this article finds that in the HST era, the spillover effect of tourism flows from neighboring regions has changed from positive to negative. Moreover, in the HST era, the cities with HST services have significantly positive effects on for a particular city, while those cities without HST have negative effects. These results reveal the spatial heterogeneity and dynamics of the tourism-flow spillover. After evaluating the variation of other factors which potentially contribute to the change of spillover patterns, this study identifies that the HST service plays an important role in such changes. Finally, this article uses geographically weighted regressions to explore the spatial heterogeneity in an elaborative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined decentralisation of many firms and services and the increasing concentration of traditional public transport services in the main corridors of urban centres have made it more difficult for people to access jobs, in particular when residing outside these prime accessibility areas. This is the first national study within the context of Great Britain to examine whether better public transport job accessibility, modelled at the micro level of individuals, improves employment probabilities for people living in Great Britain. While previous studies have typically concentrated on US metropolitan areas, our study uses British national employment micro datasets to assess which urban and rural areas and population groups would benefit from better public transport services. In an important departure from most standard accessibility methodologies, we computed a public transport job accessibility measure applied nationwide and combined this with individual-level employment probability models for Great Britain. The models were corrected for endogeneity by applying an instrumental variable approach. The study finds that better public transport job accessibility improves individual employment probabilities, in particular in metropolitan areas and smaller cities and towns with lower car ownership rates and in low-income neighbourhoods. It further shows that mainly lower educated groups and young people would benefit from better public transport job accessibility. The findings in this study are important for policymakers in that they imply that, in particular, job seekers who rely on public transport services may benefit from more targeted public policies to improve their accessibility to employment and thereby their social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent upsurge in healthcare labour disputes across Europe signals a shift in the attitude of public service professionals towards contentious politics. However, the analysis of these events so far has neglected the specific dilemmas of contention among professionals. To fill this gap, the article builds on social movements theory and claims that to achieve success, professional organizations need to adjust the protest tactics of the labour movement along the three dimensions of targeting, framing and coordination. As an alternative to mass strikes, the targeted use of the protest repertoire minimizes the costs and maximizes the visibility of collective action. Framing around service quality links wage demands to wider justification themes that resonate with the public. Coordination across groups with different skill levels strengthens the effect of both targeting and framing. A comparative study of four healthcare campaigns in four countries (Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland) confirms the key role that these dimensions play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on qualitative interviews conducted with local guilds, charities and community groups in England, this article highlights the public service older women provide for their communities by volunteering their labour to local textile craft groups. Driven by an ethics of care, they make up for a lack of services formerly provided by the welfare state, such as public transport and mental health support. We mobilise existing literature on 'quiet activism' to argue that their community work constitutes a form of political activism, albeit one that stops short of overtly challenging the political system. While highlighting the ways in which older women quietly go about helping their communities, we argue that by being 'louder' about the public service they provide, they could help disrupt the narrative of a system that has failed their communities and exploits their free labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nieto, Alejandra Trejo Amézquita, Jose L Niño Metropolitan Governance in Latin America, Abingdon: Routledge, 2021; 208 pp.: ISBN 97803676156972022, £120 (hbk) About 80% of Latin America's population now lives in cities. We learn that Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City and Santiago de Chile share common features in terms of metropolitan governance and public services but are also very different in some ways. Case studies of Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City and Santiago de Chile answer the following guiding questions: What governance structures exist in the city under investigation?. [Extracted from the article]

This article is part of a larger study which explored the integration of indigenous knowledge into public library services in South Africa in an endeavour to enhance their relevance. Four purposefully selected provincial library services comprised the sample for the study. Semi- structured interviews with heads of provincial library services were conducted to collect data. The data was analysed thematically. The results show that indigenous knowledge has not been integrated into public libraries, despite the expressed need identified by the participants. A framework that identifies stakeholders and their responsibilities, as well as envisaged outcomes for the integration of indigenous knowledge, is proposed. Similar studies are recommended for further research in order to customise the proposed framework, given the fact that the participants in the study from which the article is extracted were heads of library services who did not work directly with communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing literature demonstrates increasing remunicipalization of local public services. Yet, while this literature is becoming extensive, many debates still exist about remunicipalization's causes. This article reports the findings of a meta-analysis of the remunicipalization literature, focusing on the question: how do country, sector and method effects affect the findings of remunicipalization studies? I include articles on remunicipalization under different terms ('remunicipalization', 'reverse privatization', 'insourcing' and 'contracting in'), using a large range of methods (case studies, surveys and document analysis) and covering a large period (1995–2019). I find 30 causes of remunicipalization that are considered and found in the literature. Political and pragmatic factors appear to be most frequently considered and found as causes of remunicipalization in the literature; environmental factors are less often considered but seem highly relevant. Moreover, I uncover large differences between the qualitative and quantitative literatures. I offer a research agenda to allow greater future synthesis in the remunicipalization literature. Points for practitioners: The literature on remunicipalization is highly fragmented and remunicipalization can have many different causes. Remunicipalization appears to be both a political and a pragmatic trend, but the literature is still too fragmented to know for sure. Be aware of the potential biases and limitations in current research on (causes of) remunicipalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the disaster at Grenfell Tower there have been allegations that the local council failed to listen to warnings from residents about the potential fire risk in the building, along with other examples of attempts by the council to avoid dialogue. While these apparent failings of the council may be extreme examples, they are not isolated ones. The underlying culture and taken-for-granted assumptions of many public agencies mean that they struggle to engage and conduct dialogue with marginalised groups. Using the example of inequalities in the distribution of fire, I argue that the failure of community engagement itself serves to perpetuate the widespread inequalities found in British society. Although the incidence of fire is falling, the social gradient that exists in its distribution remains. This fact can be linked to the failure of services to engage with marginalised communities, those communities most affected by fire. Both access to services and the success of social policy interventions depend on effective dialogue between the state and citizens, but many are shut out from that dialogue. There is a pressing need to direct attention towards the ways in which public services relate to the communities that they serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates how environmental and organisational factors may affect union effectiveness in a developing country context. Based on a perceptions survey of union members in the Zambian public service sector, the article uses principal components analysis, correlation, multiple linear regression and mediation analyses to examine relationships between environmental and organisational factors and union effectiveness. Results suggest that labour and product markets and mass media are significant environmental factors influencing union effectiveness. At the organisational level, results suggest that organisational strategies, leadership accountability, innovations and administrative and democratic structuring are significant factors that positively influence union effectiveness. Results also suggest that organisational factors mediate the link between environmental factors and union effectiveness. In this sense, the article provides a striking demonstration of the importance of a strong internal state for the union organisation in mediating the influence of the external environment on the union's goal of advancing and defending workers' interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart urbanism has, over the last decade or so, grown to become a major research area within the social science of cities and digital technology. This critical commentary aims to outline a new framework for analysing the urban political economic dynamics currently unfolding through different combinations of power, technology and capital in cities. Rather than simply spreading via one static model of smart urbanism, the practices and purposes for rolling out digital technology in cities continue to evolve in important ways. I integrate the established research on smart urbanism with emerging work on 'platform urbanism', thus providing a coherent and forward-looking analysis of how various techno-political trends are connected yet distinct. In broad brushstrokes, over the last decade the urbanisation of technology capital has happened in concurrent phases, with each one seeking to take hold over a different aspect of the city: oversight of city governance, operation of city services and ownership of city space. I conclude by linking this political economic analysis to questions about fundamental shifts in urban sovereignty as technology companies move beyond treating the city merely as a place to extract value from and start thinking of it as also a space to exercise dominion over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on findings from a production study, this article explores and discusses the impact of streaming on television scheduling. Especially within public service television companies, scheduling for traditional linear television is currently transforming into what this article terms trans-programming. This development makes the work of the schedulers more important as well as more difficult than ever. The article argues that this development is a result of the integration of linear channels and non-linear services within the companies' portfolios, which is leading to a merger between linear and non-linear promotion and distribution strategies for the content. A trans-programme is being produced, and this is becoming the key competitive tool in the current transformation of the television industry. The focus on the trans-programme involve organisational changes, but in train with this it actualises new and familiar issues and dilemmas in the production culture involving commissioning. These issues call for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Netflix and other transnational online video streaming services are disrupting long-established arrangements in national television systems around the world. In this paper we analyse how public service media (PSM) organisations (key purveyors of societal goals in broadcasting) are responding to the fast-growing popularity of these new services. Drawing on Philip Napoli's framework for analysing strategic responses by established media to threats of competitive displacement by new media, we find that the three PSM organisations in our study exhibit commonalities. Their responses have tended to follow a particular evolution starting with different levels of complacency and resistance before settling into more coherent strategies revolving around efforts to differentiate PSM offerings, while also diversifying into activities, primarily across new platforms, that mimic SVoD approaches and probe production collaborations. Beyond these similarities, however, we also find that a range of contextual factors (including path-dependency, the role and status of PSM in each country, the degree of additional government support, cultural factors and market size) help explain nuances in strategic responses between our three cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online television services are changing the way television is funded, produced and experienced by its national and global audiences, with profound cultural implications. The case study presented here of Australian production company Ludo Studio and the animated series Bluey provides valuable insights into the increasingly complex interactions between the local and the global in television production, and the cultural counterflows they can engender. Television made for online distribution can encompass national policy settlements, funding bodies and public service media as well as globally oriented distribution arrangements on SVODs such as Disney +, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Drawing on interview material with Bluey's key creatives, this research identifies how globalising influences are both shaping and amplifying the local in children's television production cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]