Australian Journal of Public Administration最新文献

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have gained popularity as an alternative financing method for public services. SIBs promise to have lower risks for public budgets than traditional approaches. However, integrating private finance instruments into established public accountability procedures is notoriously difficult. Through a systematic review of the empirical research on implemented SIBs, this article examines those public accountability concerns. The results indicate that narratives of a new, more horizontal way of holding organisations accountable should not be accepted too easily. Risks are identified in the literature in four public accountability dimensions: transparency, controllability, responsiveness, and liability. Accountability safeguards will need to centre on establishing detailed procedures that precisely delineate the role of each actor, building effective platforms for both gathering and sharing information, and adequately transferring risks. At the same time, these safeguards could come at the cost of the attractiveness of the instrument for investors, creating a catch-22 in which making the SIB a sustainable model of service delivery at the same time may undermine its viability.

Points for practitioners

Metropolitan planning in Australia is argued to suffer from a ‘governance deficit’, alongside various calls for planning reform. The Greater Sydney Commission (renamed the Greater Cities Commission in 2022) was established in 2015 as a state-appointed planning commission to preside over new strategic and statutory planning powers; local governments’ metropolitan integration is one tenet of the reform's ambition for a more cohesive system. While the grounds for reform are often argued on effective terms, there is a clear need to explore the ways it may suffer from a ‘democratic deficit’ or be democratically defensible. This study explores the shifting planning powers, accountabilities, and forms of interest representation at the local level of the political system, in Australia's most concerted contemporary metropolitan reform attempt.

Points for practitioners

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

The use of markets has a long history in the delivery of social services. Market-based arrangements are used worldwide with the goal of increasing choice, efficiency, and cost effectiveness in public service delivery. However, government-run markets or ‘quasi-markets’ do not behave as regular markets and therefore require interventions and stewardship in order to function efficiently and meet the social goals they aim to achieve. We assess the usefulness of functional network analysis (FNA) (a form of social network analysis) for identifying market gaps and market failure in quasi-markets to assist governments in their stewardship roles. We test the utility of this approach within an Australian quasi-market for disability services, where data were collected via surveys with disability providers in two case study sites. In this proof-of-concept study, data were analysed using FNA techniques. We find that FNA techniques can generate insights to identify quasi-market problems. We find that FNA can be augmented with organisational characteristics such as size, profit margin, and ‘for profit’ status, enabling evaluation of the potential risks occurring within a particular quasi-market structure.

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

Cultural change is often positioned as central to transformation within the Australian Public Service (APS). The ongoing focus on cultural change suggests it has not yet been realised, which is unsurprising, given it is so difficult to change. However, cultural change may also be impeded due to the way it is portrayed within the APS. This article draws on the work of Schein to identify three problems with how organisational culture and cultural change are portrayed in the APS, including the focus on a unified APS culture, the simplistic way in which culture is portrayed, and the general and high-level claims for how to achieve cultural change. It provides three recommendations for how these problems can be addressed, including focusing on high-level principles for conduct across the APS (rather than a unified APS culture), focusing on cultural evolution at the department, agency, and subunit levels, and supporting cultural evolution through establishing mechanisms for behavioural change. Adopting this approach could enable the APS to realise desired changes and enable success of the Albanese Government's APS reform agenda.

Points for practitioners

Limited or incomplete achievement of societal aspirations, such as the realisation of sustainable development, can lead to distrust in government and the public sector. This paper takes an empirical approach to uncover (1) what factors influence public decision-makers, (2) if such factors apply equally irrespective of the decision, and (3) which are most important. Thirty-five interviews of public servants within the subnational State of Victoria, Australia, yield 40 common influences upon decision-makers. Collectively, these influences result in an unmanageably complex operating environment. Statistical and network mapping analyses further demonstrate decision context and decision-maker self-efficacy impact influence importance.

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