Australian Journal of Public Administration最新文献

The use of quasi-markets for the delivery of social care continues to grow internationally. This has presented considerable challenges regarding governance and stewardship of these markets, to ensure they meet policy goals. To date, both scholarship and practice on quasi-market stewardship have mainly focused on the role of government. However, non-government actors can also play important stewardship roles. For effective stewardship, there needs to be integration between government and non-government actors in the system, not just a top-down approach. This paper explores the stewardship role of non-government actors in the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) with a focus on the role of information provision as a key market stewardship function. Findings show non-government information providers play important stewardship roles that increase choice and control for citizens, enhance market sufficiency, diversity, and innovation, and support other actors in the system. We argue for a shift in the conception of market stewardship as primarily a government activity and recommend the market stewardship actions of non-government actors be better acknowledged, funded, and ‘joined up’ with the market stewardship role of government to enable social care quasi-markets to operate more effectively.

Points for practitioners

Publishing in journals is crucial in the creation of knowledge within the public administration field and the career advancements of individuals. Each year, more articles enter journal publishing systems, and it is becoming more difficult and time consuming for editors to secure reviewers. A range of technological applications have been developed that apply automation techniques to various aspects of the peer review process and these are explored in this paper. We find some potentially promising applications in terms of assessing aspects of quality and in identifying potential reviewers. The replacement of humans in review processes is less clear cut and there are dangers in exacerbating inequities within the field. The value of peer review is particularly important for early career researchers and building a community of scholarship in the public administration field. It is crucial we recognise this and do not lose positives of peer review processes to address some of the issues currently experienced.

Points for practitioners

Electricity markets are facing innovation disruptions at levels never seen before. One of the major drivers is the introduction of distributed energy resources (DERs) technologies, especially those that apply to rooftop solar power. This has called into question established regulatory practices and brought new challenges to system operations. In this context, this article seeks to provide a comprehensive investigation of potential policy options for Australia's energy markets from two perspectives. We first examine recent and proposed reforms in this area, and then proceed to review the challenges for Australian regulators that will have major implications for the future, affecting policymaking, regulation, and market design.

Points for practitioners

This paper examines whether authentic leadership provides the resources employees need to build their psychological capacities and well-being so that they can embrace organisational change and engage in innovative work behaviour (IWB) within non-profit organisation (NPO). The paper builds on previous research examining the antecedents of IWB such as ‘innovation-enabling culture’ and psychological capital (PsyCap). The new variables examined in this study are authentic leadership and acceptance of change. Utilising a structural equation modelling methodology, 248 surveys from Australian not-for-profit employees were analysed revealing that authentic leadership accounted for more than a fifth of the variance of PsyCap; PsyCap, age, and authentic leadership accounted for 40% of employees’ well-being; and age, leadership, and acceptance of change accounted for a quarter of their IWB, although acceptance of change was not directly related to IWB. The main contribution of this paper is in explaining why authentic leadership is an important ingredient for building an ‘innovation-enabling culture’ for NPO employees, suggesting that such leadership provides a pathway for developing effective workplace relationships built on trust and ethical decision making. Such behaviour builds a supportive culture for developing employees’ personal resources, which promotes the conditions for promoting IWB.

Points for practitioners

Concerns of a decline in public service policy capacity coupled with evolving policy advisory systems have seen public services seek to reform their policy capacity and practices. This article examines the flagship policy modernisation initiatives launched by the Australian, Canadian, British, and New Zealand governments. Comparative analysis reveals a shared emphasis on overarching objectives, but important differences in their design, how they are embedded within the public service, and their comprehensiveness. The New Zealand and British initiatives are found to be the most comprehensive and stable, while the Canadian and Australian approaches suffer from repeated reinvention exercises and resource and leadership precarity. An examination of these initiatives also provides new insights into understanding the trade-offs and tensions around how these initiatives aim to address public service policymaking and effective advisory system participation.

Points for practitioners

Regardless of their prevalence and considerable expansion since the 1980s, evidence concerning the impact of welfare conditionality and marketisation in active labour market policies (ALMPs) has been inconclusive and mostly limited to developed and transition economies. Using mixed methods for collecting and analysing data, this study investigates the deployment of these two policy instruments in the latest addition to the stock of ALMPs: the Kartu Prakerja Program of Indonesia. Our findings indicate positive effects derived from such incorporation of the two instruments in this new program. Specifically, we observed a high level of jobseekers’ engagement and employment outcomes. The program also shaped the development of a provider market that is of higher standard of professionalism. It, however, is not exempt from problems that seem to be of perennial nature in other welfare-to-work programs, pointing to the need for greater service tailoring and provider engagement. Impressively, the program represents an example of a genuine policy learning in both policy formulation and re-formulation during the time of crisis, given that it has been run successfully, along with various adaptions quickly made in response to changing circumstances.

Points for practitioners