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This study examines municipalities' challenges in digital transformation, focusing on an Icelandic municipality. It aims to determine whether these challenges align with those reported in academic literature, particularly in public service delivery and the sustainability of digital initiatives from an operational perspective. A mixed-methods approach, including interviews with municipal employees and a survey, was used to analyze the municipality's experiences. An evaluation framework introduced by Lafioune et al. guided the analysis. Key findings highlight the importance of senior management support, adequate funding, staff collaboration, and effective data management for making successful and digital transformation sustainable in the long run. Resistance to change, especially among staff, emerged as a significant obstacle to long-term sustainability. The study reveals that the challenges Icelandic municipalities face are consistent with broader research on digital transformation in public administration. The research emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach integrating technological, organizational, and cultural changes to ensure a sustainable result from these initiatives. It also underscores the potential of digitalization to enhance public service accessibility and efficiency, promoting social cohesion, equity, and long-term sustainability. Practical recommendations include fostering strong leadership, securing strategic funding, and promoting a collaborative culture to ensure the success of digital initiatives in public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a growing body of work suggests that women representatives are less likely to be involved in corruption scandals, we know less about if changes in representation patterns also have implications for citizens' first-hand experiences with corruption in public service delivery. This study suggests that women elected representatives reduce street level bribery, in particular when the share of women increases in contexts where relatively few women are elected or when the absolute increase in women's representation is relatively large. Using newly collected data on the share of women in 128 regional level parliaments in 10 European countries and four rounds of the European Quality of Government Index (EQI) survey (2010–2021), our two-way fixed effects models show that on average, the proportion of women in regional parliaments is strongly associated with citizens' self-reported experiences of bribery across all countries and years. Furthermore, our difference-in-difference design shows that the level of bribery in public service provision dropped more sharply in regions that experienced a greater absolute or greater marginal increase in women's representation. Our results may be understood in light of women candidates placing priority on well-functioning and low corrupt public service provision and the important signals of inclusiveness, non-discrimination and decreased tolerance towards corruption that women's representation conveys to civil servants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how Quezon City’s e-governance programs—QC e-services, QCitizen ID, and QC Biz Easy—have improved public service delivery by making services more efficient, transparent, and accessible. These initiatives offer practical benefits, including easy-touse interfaces and broad device accessibility, making them adaptable for other Local Government Units (LGUs) interested in digital transformation. The research also addresses challenges, such as limited technology access, funding constraints, and the need for strategies to manage resistance to change. Findings show that Quezon City’s approach not only enhances local services but also sets a benchmark for other municipalities seeking to innovate and improve public service delivery through e-governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of social media and e-governance on public service delivery and citizen engagement in the Philippines. It is based on the idea that digital technology can enhance the efficiency, transparency, and trustworthiness of government, thus using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) to identify key factors driving adoption among citizens and government bodies. E-governance decreases the costs, errors, and delay in service delivery among Laguna residents, according to data from a survey. Public participation is enhanced by social media with more satisfaction and trust than other traditional media. Together, these tools improve the responsiveness of public policy and effectiveness to the public. Challenges such as infrastructural limitation, digital resistance, and privacy concerns have however been facing full adoption. Policymakers should remove the above barriers to ensure a totally realized benefit of digital governance for a more transparent, efficient, and participatory government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Professional Business Review (JPBReview) is the property of Open Access Publications LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines citizens' attribution of blame for a failure of public-private partnerships (PPPs) using a survey experiment with a sample of more than 1500 Americans. We find that when service delivery fails, citizens tend to attribute less blame to public actors if the service is delivered by a PPP rather than solely by the government. Additionally, introducing citizen participation in service delivery design reduces the blame assigned to the government in direct service provision, but this effect does not extend to services provided via PPPs. These findings deepen our understanding of how emerging service delivery models affect citizens' attitudes toward the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the adoption process of e-office systems in Indonesian government agencies, driven by the ZI WBK/WBBM competition aimed at promoting corruption-free bureaucratic areas. The research reveals that during the confirmation stage of e-office implementation, the focus shifted from assessing true innovation to merely obtaining the WBK/WBBM designation. This emphasis on the title undermines the core goal of e-office—improving public service delivery through e-governance. The study identifies five key stages in the adoption process: knowledge acquisition, persuasion, decision-making, implementation, and confirmation. It suggests that stakeholders may prioritize the incentive of the ZI title over a deeper understanding of the technology’s benefits. Additionally, conflicting regulations present challenges that hinder successful implementation. The study concludes that a revised approach is needed, one that prioritizes user experience, public service improvement, and the core functionalities of the e-office. By focusing on these elements, stakeholders can ensure the system enhances government transparency and efficiency. This qualitative research uses case-based analysis, drawing on interviews with government employees and IT personnel involved in the ZI WBK/WBBM implementation.

Although co-production between the government and society can improve service outcomes, the two parties may lack the willingness and the capacity to cooperate. Can nonprofit organizations play an active role in facilitating government–citizen co-production? If so, how? The role of nonprofits in social services co-production has received increasing attention, but studies on developing countries are limited. Therefore, this study conducts an in-depth case study of a rural social work institute in Z village, Beijing, China. Using on-site observations, semi-structured interviews, and secondhand materials, we found that social workers adopted four strategies to engage community officials and rural residents in service co-production. They established trustworthy relationships, facilitated effective communication, fostered shared motivation, and built co-productive capacity. The results showed that nonprofit organizations use third-party roles and professional skills to shape government-citizen interactions through service co-production. These findings can improve rural service provision in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public–private partnership (PPP) has delivered expected results on a number of significant projects. Yet, despite the growing appeal, problems have been encountered which have either resulted in slow progress or the total failure of such arrangements. This study offers a comparison between Nigeria and South Africa focusing on several identified critical success factors (CSFs) for PPPs. We rely on secondary data to compare Nigeria and South Africa based on the top ten ranking CSFs identified in the literature. Findings reveal that both countries account for the highest number of PPP projects in Africa but have not recorded huge successes as a result of their shortcomings in important CSFs responsible for the success of PPPs. Nigeria, for instance, is still being challenged with poor energy supply, bad road networks, and ineffective waste management practices, among others. South Africa appears to have had better success in PPP delivery due to a suitable financial market, stable economic policy, favorable legal framework, and a transparent procurement process. We conclude by highlighting the key CSFs for PPPs in Nigeria and South Africa and emphasize the need to address the identified shortcomings. The relevance of this study is in its contribution to the understanding of CSF in PPP projects thereby offering useful insights for policy makers and administrators in improving the success rate of PPPs and enhancing the delivery of public services in these countries. Related Articles: Ikeanyibe, Okechukwu Marcellus. 2018. "Bureaucratic Politics and the Implementation of Liberalization Reforms in Nigeria: A Study of the Unbundling and Reorganization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation." Politics & Policy 46(2): 263–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12249. Iwuoha, Victor Chidubem, Nneka Ifeoma Okafor, and Emmanuel Ifeadike. 2022. "State Regulation of Nigeria's Maritime Ports: Exploring the Impact of Port Concession on both the Regulator and the Operators." Politics & Policy 50(5): 1032–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12495. McNamara, Madeleine W., John C. Morris, and Martin Mayer. 2014. "Expanding the Universe of Multi‐Organizational Arrangements: Contingent Coordination and the Deepwater Horizon Transportation Challenges." Politics & Policy 42(3): 346–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12073. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee turnover presents a considerable difficulty for South African municipalities, especially in preserving tacit organisational knowledge. This study evaluated the effect of employee turnover on the retention of tacit knowledge within South African municipalities. The research employs secondary data analysis to investigate employee turnover in essential roles within many municipalities in South Africa, including senior management and occupations identified as scarce skills. The results of this study indicate that employee turnover adversely affects tacit organisational knowledge. The findings indicated that turnover exacerbates the retention of organisational knowledge gaps within municipalities, frequently resulting in worse service quality and heightened operational expenditures, including recruiting and the utilisation of service consultants. The study underscores the disparity between rhetoric (policies) and real practice (implementation) in tackling service quality and operational costs, indicating that current retention tactics and knowledge management methods frequently require revision. The article questions the efficacy of retention strategies, proposing that municipalities need more proactive and inventive methods to manage turnover and retain organisational tactical expertise, hence improving the continuity of public service delivery and organisational sustainability. Moreover, towns must to incorporate retention tactics, including succession planning, ongoing training, leadership development, and mentorship programs, into a comprehensive municipal governance framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research assessing blame attribution in third-party governance views public service performance as a function of efficiency and effectiveness but overlooks equity. We address this gap in the literature by asking two questions: (1) Does contracting out lessen the blame assigned to the government for inequitable service provision? and (2) Is the public less critical of inequitable service provision when told it results in greater efficiency? To answer these questions, a survey experiment was conducted using a representative sample of United States residents (n = 1034). The results show that, while the government still bears responsibility for inequitable service provision, contracting out diminishes some of the responsibility placed on the government, shifting it toward the contractor instead. In addition, citizens' blame attribution patterns do not change when told inequitable service provision results from efforts to improve efficiency, which suggests that the public does not excuse inequitable service provision even when told it saves money. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of blame dynamics in third-party governance and bring implications to democratic accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments manage coordination problems with different levels of success. The existing literature suggests that organizational features are important for explaining coordination quality, that is, how successful governments are in managing coordination problems. However, few studies have systematically compared coordination quality in multiple political systems. This article examines how governments' organizational features explain variations in the coordination quality of public services in 259 local political systems in Norway. Three organizational features are considered, namely governments' use of coordination instruments, their structural specialization, and task interdependence between their services. For the analysis, the article combines existing and original survey data on the coordination of public service delivery. Multilevel regression analysis indicates that public managers perceive coordination quality to be better when local governments introduce more coordination instruments and when task interdependence is higher. However, local governments' structural specialization does not correlate with perceived coordination quality. These findings are important because they suggest that local governments have the capability to facilitate coordination. Moreover, local governments' coordination efforts inform how public managers perceive their own abilities to address coordination problems and, by extension, foster more coherent service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bestuurskunde is the property of Boom uitgevers Den Haag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This contribution applies the Q methodology to investigate Chinese public employees' accountability preferences under different accountability relationships in delivering public services. We identify four accountability preferences: a vertically oriented accountability, a network‐style accountability, a style of accountability between market and participatory accountability, and a vertically oriented style of market accountability. Our data show that Chinese public employees hold varied accountability preferences in public service delivery, and hierarchy is a relatively popular one. It is suggested that governors should effectively align different accountability relationships with the aim of better steering the behavior of public employees in public service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption on public service delivery efficiency in India. It addresses a significant gap in existing literature by investigating the impact of AI adoption on public service delivery efficiency in India, a context that has not been extensively explored. Through a comparative analysis approach, the study assesses the effectiveness of AI applications in enhancing public service delivery. The quantitative research design employed in the study draws on previous literature on AI integration in governance and focuses on Chief Information Officers (CIOs) as primary respondents. The findings reveal significant improvements in citizen-centric services and municipal processes due to AI adoption. However, the impact on human-centric aspects is found to be moderate. The study also underscores the importance of infrastructure readiness for successful AI implementation. Notably, only 25 % of organizations were found to be possessing advanced technological infrastructure. This research is original in its focus on Chief Information Officers (CIOs) as primary respondents and its comparative analysis approach to assess the effectiveness of AI applications in enhancing public service delivery. This study offers valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners. Emphasizing the need for effective policies and infrastructure development, it highlights the potential of AI to eliminate corruption risks and enhance overall efficiency and transparency in public service delivery mechanisms.

Advancements in information and communication technologies, along with the new windows opened by the digital world day by day, lead to various transformation processes both individually and collectively. Public administration and public service delivery are among the areas affected by this change. Public services, which have a complex and large-scale structure, require new-generation technological tools to respond to rapidly changing needs and to use resources effectively and efficiently. At this point, public administration, which holds the larger share of responsibility, constantly follows new and emerging technologies and updates its existing operations with the advancements of the digital world. Blockchain technology, which stands out among the rising digital technologies with its strong potential at the global level, is used as one of the innovative tools in this regard. Blockchain is currently included in government programs in the field of public administration and public service delivery by various countries around the world and is continuously developed through concrete applications. In this study, blockchain technology is associated with efficiency and evaluated in terms of Turkish public administration. The study uses the current situation and content analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, and in this direction, the topic is analyzed within the framework of existing institutional structures and published plans and programs related to blockchain technology in Turkish public administration. As a result of the findings, blockchain policy recommendations have been developed for Turkey by making use of concrete application examples from around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of field studies, analysing the perspectives of blockchain developers on decentralised service delivery and elaborating on unique algorithms for lifetime ledgers to reliably and safely record e-government transactions in an intrinsically cross-referenced manner. New interesting technological niches of service delivery and emerging models of related data management in the industry were proposed and further elaborated such as the generation of unique lifetime personal data profiles, blockchain-driven cross-referencing of e-government metadata, parallel maintenance of serviceable ledgers for data identifiers and phenomena of blockchain 'black holes' to ensure reliable protection of important public, corporate and civic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public mobile apps provide a new platform to facilitate communication between the government and citizens. Especially, citizens' engagement in the delivery of public service expands the discussion of mobile apps to coproduction. However, it remains unclear what public services are provided on apps and coproduced, and what factors affect governments to enable coproduction. This paper examines how local governments diversify public services provided on the mobile apps, and tests factors that affect the diversification of public services and coproduction of public services on local governments' mobile apps. The results suggest that a government's institutional form and fiscal capacity affect mobile app adoption and usage of the app as a coproduction platform. Also, racial diversity and income of the community broaden the scope of public services provided on the app paving increased opportunities for citizens to perform coproduction activities of service requests and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have provided opportunities to improve public service delivery. Uganda is committed to leveraging opportunities presented by AI technologies to improve service delivery. Aim: This study examines how the Ugandan government uses AI technologies to enhance public service delivery. Setting: Few studies have been conducted exploring how AI technologies are used to improve public service delivery in Uganda. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study examines the ways in which AI technologies have been used in public service delivery by the government of Uganda. Methods: Using a mixed-methods approach, secondary and primary data were collected. Textual content analysis and Microsoft Excel 2016 were used to analyse qualitative and quantitative data respectively to obtain results and insights for the study. Results: The results reveal that the Ugandan government is deploying AI technologies in various agencies to enhance efficiency and productivity, improve accuracy and precision, solve environmental challenges, enhance fraud detection and security, and enable personalisation and customisation of citizen-centric services. Furthermore, this study discusses the ethical concerns and social implications of adopting AI technologies such as data privacy, security threats, the digital divide and job displacement. Conclusion: Recognising the transformative potential of AI technologies to overcome traditional public service barriers, ethical concerns and social implications should be considered in the implementation to yield sustainable outcomes in Uganda. Contribution: This study contributes to the body of knowledge on AI adoption in Africa, and provides insights for policymakers and researchers seeking to understand and/or recommend AI technologies utilisation to optimise public service delivery.

The Government of South Africa faces unique difficulties in providing public services to society. These difficulties in providing services are of paramount significance for the government of South Africa as the problem extends from national to local governments. This is due to the fact that these difficulties often cause countless issues, including protests against the supply of public services, which usually result in property losses. The introduction of electronic government is expected to be the start of an instrument to promote efficient and effective service provision. Currently, there is insufficient knowledge of the effectiveness of electronic government as an instrument to improve public service delivery at all levels of the government in South Africa. With the aid of qualitative methodology and relying on secondary data, the study was able to determine the effectiveness of electronic government as an instrument to enhance public service delivery in the government of South Africa. The findings of the study highlighted the benefits of electronic government, including streamlined administrative processes, reduced wait times, improved transparency, accountability, and citizen involvement. Successful practices such as online service portals, digital identity verification, and mobile applications demonstrated the capacity of e-government to transform public service delivery. On the other hand, difficulties such as digital literacy gaps, uneven internet access, data privacy concerns, and lack of monitoring and evaluation of e-government initiatives hinder the full realization of electronic government’s potential in South Africa. The study noted that e-government has proven to be successful in enhancing the supply of public services in the South African government, and also noted that electronic government can be utilized as a supplement to traditional paper documentation government as some services require the residents to visit public offices for further assistance. The study concludes with recommendations for the South African government to launch government programs aimed at improving the literacy of society as well as government employees. Moreover, more investment in ICT and more ICT personnel are needed to ensure the accessibility and effectiveness of the usage of electronic government in South Africa. The study successfully proposes techniques that the Government of South Africa can utilize to address challenges related to electronic government initiatives, especially in rural and remote areas, to further enrich the knowledge base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature highlights the complexities of the relationship between voting, protest action and service delivery within Southern African democracies. We explore the relationship between these variables for South Africa by generating a new dataset from various sources. Although this relationship has been explored before, the existing evidence is mixed. The results from this study therefore bring a fresh perspective, especially at a time during which the political power of the incumbent African National Congress has been declining. We find that improvements in service delivery are not significantly associated with an increase in votes for the incumbent party, indicating that accountability is not the main motivation for South Africans' voting decisions. However, we find a statistically significant negative correlation between protest action and service delivery, providing evidence of the increasing importance of protest action as a form of political accountability in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effects of fiscal decentralisation on public service delivery in devolved systems of government in Kenya. A qualitative study interviewed 126 respondents and held two focus group discussions with key stakeholders from within two of Kenya's 47 counties: Kiambu and Nairobi City. The paper focuses on key elements of fiscal decentralisation, namely: expenditure responsibilities, revenue autonomy and borrowing powers. Public service delivery was examined using affordability as a key measure of the quality of services. Results show that fiscal decentralisation did not necessarily lead to more affordable public services as there were significant contextual factors such as corruption, legal structures, cultural values, belief systems, pressure to conform and change agents that moderated this relationship. Corruption made public services less affordable in both counties, while Nairobi Metropolitan Services emerged as a change agent that improved the affordability of specific public services within Nairobi City county. The paper outlines a conceptual framework for further research into implementation of fiscal decentralisation in Kenya and elsewhere, especially in Africa, and calls for more qualitative studies, especially longitudinal studies, case studies and ethnographic approaches to enrich knowledge in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on evidence-based policy, a subset of the policy analysis literature, largely assumes information is produced and consumed by humans. However, due to the expansion of artificial intelligence in the public sector, debates no longer capture the full range concerns. Here, we derive a typology of arguments on evidence-based policy that performs two functions: taken separately, the categories serve as directions in which debates may proceed, in light of advances in technology; taken together, the categories act as a set of frames through which the use of evidence in policy making might be understood. Using a case of welfare fraud detection in the Netherlands, we show how the acknowledgement of divergent frames can enable a holistic analysis of evidence use in policy making that considers the ethical issues inherent in automated data processing. We argue that such an analysis will enhance the real-world relevance of the evidence-based policy paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates barriers to social impact bond (SIB) implementation through a review of academic and gray literature. A SIB is a type of public policy instrument that leverages payment for performance (P4P), contracting together with private investments in the delivery of welfare programs. Outcome-based contracts, such as SIBs, are gaining attraction for public service providers in developed countries, but research regarding their implementation remains underexplored both empirically and theoretically. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review is conducted in which two types of documents are included: (1) empirical research papers and (2) evaluations of completed SIB projects. In total, 43 documents have been investigated. The study engages in a comparative design where insights across sectors (healthcare, social care and employment/education), are leveraged. The insights rest on evidence from the UK and US. Findings: The investigation reveals five types of barriers to SIB implementation related to: (1) the SIB model, (2) organizational competencies, (3) data infrastructure, (4) stakeholder engagement and (5) the institutional context. The study discusses ways of managing these barriers and develops a conceptual framework for empirically investigating SIB implementation. Originality/value: This study is the first academic paper to systematically assess insights regarding the implementation of SIBs. Also, the article proposes a conceptual framework for investigating SIB implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to examine the prosocial motives of solar energy entrepreneurs as they generate energy to combat energy poverty in South Africa. Using a qualitative research method, data, in words of survey participants, were collected from social purpose and profitable solar energy businesses using a semi‐structured interviews technique. These represent the reality of the interviewed Social Entrepreneurs because their societal world deals mainly with socially constructed issues. A pre‐developed "codebook" forms the basis to build categories of social issues and to consequently amalgamate codes into umbrella themes that enable researchers carry out structured and systematic contextual analysis. Motivated by innate feelings of compassion, empathy and extrinsic concerns for the environment, solar entrepreneurs embark on social venturing to collaborate with municipalities to deliver public services, to the group of vulnerable energy poor South Africans gain access to public benefits, like access to clean energy, which are frequently out of reach of township as well as slum dwellers operating mainly in the informal sector. This study contributes to our understanding of how solar energy entrepreneurs operate and adapt to the complexity of public energy service delivery venture in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world, with a population that is growing at 2.4% annually. Despite considerable political will, including a national commitment that was endorsed by the president to raise the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) to 50% by 2025, it has stagnated at around 30–35%. Much of the dialogue on raising CPR is hypothetical and revolves around percentage point change rather than an actual number of women that must be served. Methods The Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18 (DHS 2017–18) provides information about the channels through which users receive family planning (FP) services and disaggregates this information at the provincial level. Proportions of users from each of these channels were multiplied by the Pakistan Census-2017 populations to arrive at the number of users. These users were compared with the total FP users and the number of women that had used any FP service in the past 12 months. Linear estimations of population were applied to calculate population numbers in 2025. Results The national target of 50% CPR by 2025 translates to a population of 20.02 million users. Currently, 11.26 million married women of reproductive age (MWRA) use any method, 8.22 million use a modern method and 4.94 million received this service in the past 12 months. Of these, 2.7 million did so from social marketing outlets, 0.76 million from public sector outreach through lady health workers (LHWs), 0.55 million from private sector and 0.88 million from public sector facilities. However, arriving at the CPR target means expanding annual service delivery from 4.94 to 13.7 million users. Since social marketing and LHW outreach may have become saturated, only public and private health facilities are the likely channels for such an expansion. Conclusions We demonstrate triangulation of the survey data with the census data as a simple policy analysis tool that can help decision-makers estimate the quantum of services they must provide. Such an analysis also allows an understanding of the utilization patterns of each of these channels. In Pakistan’s context, underutilization of funds and existing facilities suggests that increased funding or more providers will likely not be helpful. The policy changes that will likely be most effective include adding outreach to support existing public and private sector facilities while ensuring that procurement of commodities is prioritized.