MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

This qualitative case study focused on transparent public procurement. In the first three parts, the entire procurement process as well as the economic, legal and public policy definition were described through document analysis and secondary data analysis. The issue of the transparent behavior of the contracting authorities and the publication of relevant information was assessed more in detail. This fullfill the first secondary goal of the thesis - to describe the entire tender process and describe the transparent behavior associated with public procurement. The fourth part focuses on secondary analysis of data on the theoretical anchoring of the phenomenon. In the fifth part, the research analyzes the behavior of 12 selected public contracting authorities and tenderers using the mentioned qualitative methods. The answers of respondents are compared using tables and diagrams as well as the theoretical background. This was the second part of the thesis - to bring together the opinions and experience of the contracting authorities and tenderers and to compare them with the theoretical background. The benefit of the work is the development of a possible proposal how to improve the current situation in the area of contract transparency, thus fulfillment of the third secondary partial goal of the...

Background: The public sector like all other sectors of the economy has been influenced by digitalization. Governments and policy makers are forced to rethink their operational models and business logics. Digitalization offers organizations new ways of creating, delivering and capturing values at the same time new relationships are ensured. However, to leverage these opportunities and to avoid being stagnant, organizations need to rethink their strategies and adapt their operations to suit the digital technologies. Purpose: This paper aims to understand the digitalization impact on the public organizations’ business models and managing the impact. The identified limited empirics in this context informed the purpose of this study. Design/methodology/approach: This study was designed as exploratory with a case study carried out. In total four semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of a municipality. A combined data and concept driven strategies were used to analyse the data collected to identify how digitalization impact the way the municipality create, deliver and capture value and subsequently how they innovate their business model to adopt to digitalization Findings: The findings revealed that digitalization is relevant to the municipality and impacts the majority of the business model components of the municipality. Thus, it was identified the municipality engaged in business model innovation to be able to adapt. The strategic agility meta-capabilities appeared to be relevant in managing the changes to the business model components.

A large generation shift is coming, where the precious generation, so called “Baby Boomers” which are born between 1946 and 1964 will be replaced in the labor market by the new generation, also known as “Generation Y” which refers to individuals born between 1980 and 1999. This generation shift has brought about that the public sector as an employer faces a challenging recruitment need, where new potential employees need to be recruited to replace the previous generation (Baby Boomers). One problem with this fact is that the previous generation (Baby Boomers), and the “Generation Y” may differ considerably in terms of conditions, expectations, needs and goals that may be associated with a potential workplace. This has brought about that the potential employers in the public sector must appear as attractive employers in order to fulfill the recruitment needs of potential future employees that will arise and be attracted to the public sectors activities. There are different ways for an employer to achieve this, for instance by potential employers appropriately utilizing their (employer brand) which can work to attract potential employees in the future. In this report, that is based on a qualitative study in which 10 individuals (belonging to Generation Y) with ongoing/completed university education were interviewed regarding their perspective of the public sector as a potential employer. The respondents have an educational background with the main areas HR and logistics, where these are distributed among 5 within HR and 5 in logistics. The purpose has been to capture individuals (within Generation Y) views of the public sector and to understand their experiences/aspects on the public sector as a future employer.

Audit delay refers to the time from the end of the country or company’s financial year to the date of the audit report. The chances of delay of audit in the public sector are pervasive and as such the expectations of users of these audit reports may differ which could result in the quality and reliability of these audits within this sector to be questioned. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore the external and internal factors that cause audit delay and the aftermath they have on public sector audit quality. As for this study, its original value correlates with the espousal of the institutional theory from the perspective of public sector auditing. Considering the aim of this study, a qualitative research was preferred with the objective of gathering in-depth and enriched empirical data; hence, semi structured interviews were conducted with ten auditors of the top and middle management of the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Liberia – General Auditing Commission. There are varying views regarding the findings of this study as the respondents disclose that the external factors that result to audit delays are caused by either the audited entity or other external parties and not the SAI; however, it is the responsibility of the SAI to work with the entity involved to ensure those factors do not impede the audit process to the extent it cannot be completed; whereas, internal factors which includes inadequate staff training, delay in the review and approval of the draft audit report by top management to the poor performance of auditors as a result of lack of knowledge and etcetera cause audit delays as well and the SAI is solely responsible for ensuring that they are resolved or lessened so as not to affect the timeliness of the reporting process. The study mentions several limitations. One of them is the lack of observation being conducted which would have provided first-hand information on factors that cause the delay of audits in the public sector.

This study addresses in an exploratory fashion the following questions. 1. Would non-monetary performance measures grouped into a statement of public efforts and accomplishments significantly reduce the uncertainty of decision makers concerning past entity performance? 2. Would knowledge of such data alter their resultant budgetary decisions?

Actualmente la economía del Perú está estrechamente vinculada con el sector construcción, existen diversos factores por qué este sector no ha crecido, específicamente en el sector público. Durante el 2018 el estado peruano contó con más de 49 (cuarenta y nueve) mil millones de soles programados para ejecución de Obras (Según Consulta Amigable del Portal del Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas), sin embargo, solo se han gastado treinta y dos mil millones de soles en inversiones de obras lo que hace que existe diversos factores que influyen que este dinero programado no se pueda gastar. De estos cuarenta y nueve mil millones de soles en proyectos para ejecución están incluidos la construcción de obras por administración directa el cual por los problemas que existe en el sector construcción siendo el desconocimiento acerca de la ejecución de obras por administración directa hace que este monto programado no supere 65% de ejecución presupuestaria. El sector Educación durante el año 2018 ha contado con más de 1,500 millones de soles en gastos programados para la ejecución del año fiscal 2018, siendo ejecutados alrededor de un 71% lo que significa que no existe éxito en la ejecución de gasto presupuestal en este sector, La UNDAC para el 2018 ha programado más de 18 millones de soles en ejecución de obras por administración directa e indirecta ejecutando solo un 27.7% lo que significa un bajo nivel de gasto presupuestal y un problema para solucionar esta brecha. Este trabajo de investigación desarrollará una propuesta de directiva para ejecución de obra por la modalidad de administración directa ya que la UNDAC no cuenta a la fecha con una directiva eficaz para esta modalidad de ejecución de obras. En el capítulo I de este Proyecto de Investigación se planteará el problema de investigación evidenciando los objetivos y la justificación de nuestro trabajo de investigación. En el Capítulo II presentaremos el marco teórico en relación a la ejecución de obras por la modalidad de administración directa, indicando los antecedentes, palabras claves, definición de conceptos básicos y la hipótesis de nuestro trabajo de investigación. En el Capítulo III presentaremos la metodología de investigación indicando el tipo, diseño y metodología de investigación como también el procesamiento y análisis de datos de los proyectos evaluados y de la directiva planteada. En el Capítulo IV explicaremos todos los resultados que emanan de nuestro trabajo de investigación en base a índices, montos, y acciones que resulta de la implementación de la directiva y por último se discutirá en el Capítulo V las conclusiones y recomendaciones que derivan de la investigación. / Currently the economy of Peru is closely linked to the construction sector, there are currently several factors why this sector has not grown specifically in the public sector. During 2018, the state had more than 49 billion soles scheduled for the execution of Works (According to the Friendly Consultation of the Portal of the Ministry of Economy and Finance), however, only 32 billion soles have been spent on construction investments. which causes that there are several factors that influence that this programmed money cannot be spent. Of these 49 million in Projects for execution, the construction of works by Direct administration is included which, due to the problems that exist in the construction sector, the lack of knowledge about the execution of works by direct administration means that this programmed amount does not exceed 65% of Budget Execution. The Education sector during 2018 has had more than one thousand five hundred million soles in expenses planned for the execution of fiscal year 2018, being executed around 71% which means that there is no success in the execution of budget expenditure in this sector, UNDAC for 2018 has programmed more than 18 million soles in execution of works by direct and indirect administration, executing only 27.7%, which means a low level of budgetary expenditure. This research work will develop a proposal for a directive for the execution of work by the direct administration modality since UNDAC does not have an effective directive for this type of execution of works. In Chapter I of this Research Project, the research problem will be presented, evidencing the objectives and justification of our research work. In Chapter II we will present the theoretical framework in relation to the execution of works by the direct administration modality, indicating the background, keywords, definition of basic concepts and the hypothesis of our research work. In Chapter III we will present the research methodology indicating the type, design and research methodology as well as the data processing and analysis of the projects evaluated and the proposed directive. In Chapter IV we will explain all the results emanating from our research work based on indices, amounts, and actions resulting from the implementation of the directive and Finally, the conclusions and recommendations derived from the investigation will be discussed in Chapter V. / Trabajo de investigación

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study explored the perspectives of six public sector human resource professionals on social media policies and how it maintains the behavior of employees that engage on social media. The expansion of technology in the public sector allows personnel to build relationships with the people they serve and participate in public forums. As more legislators and professionals use social media for work and personal matters, they are more likely to face public humiliation and disciplinary punishment over uncivil behavior. This research shows the public sector institutions in the Indianapolis area have lenient social media policies. In addition, this research argues that work policies, i.e., social media, should be modernized and relevant for all cultures. This dissertation analyzes how social media policies are established and executed within local government organizations using a multi-method approach. The first phase of this study surveyed and interviewed human resources professionals. While social media issues are still relatively new, progressive disciplinary procedures are most likely to be implemented when an employee engages in uncivil behavior on social media. The Logic of Appropriateness as the framework for the content analysis of social media policies from eight local agencies explores how the organizations direct employee behavior. The analysis findings determine certain public sector institutions in the Indianapolis area have social media policies for legal protection but place ethical value on respect as an expectation for employee conduct. This study backs the development of transparent social media policies in public sector agencies, especially since there is a recurring shift in the generational and cultural background of public representatives.

Bakgrund: Balansen mellan objektivitet och subjektivitet i rekrytering- och urvalsprocesser har diskuterats inom forskningen i över hundra år. Vid offentliga rekryteringsförfaranden får vissa principer inte förbises, bland annat objektivitetsprincipen som innebär att iaktta saklighet och opartiskhet samt beakta allas likhet inför lagen. Om beslut i rekryteringsprocesser baseras på felaktiga grunder riskerar organisationen att en felrekrytering kan ske, vilket resulterar i kostsamma konsekvenser. HR-funktionen har genomgått betydande förändringar under de senaste tre decennierna. Från att ha fungerat som en mer administrativ och underhållsinriktad funktion beskrivs HR numera som en strategisk affärspartner och kärnverksamhetsfunktion. HR-funktionen besitter vanligen expertkunskap inom kompetensförsörjning och kan bidra med att utveckla strategier angående personalhantering inom organisationen. Empirisk forskning visar emellertid att HR-avdelningar, inom specifikt den offentliga sektorn, inte nödvändigtvis lyckats transformeras till att fylla en sådan strategisk position utan främst fortsätter att fylla administrativa funktioner. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att skapa förståelse kring de möjligheter och utmaningar som följer strävan efter opartiskhet i en rekryteringsprocess inom offentlig sektor. Vidare är syftet med studien att undersöka vilken funktion HR-personal fyller i den strävan efter att nå opartiskhet. Studien fokuserar specifikt på olika kommuners rekryteringsprocesser. Metod: Till studien har en kvalitativ metod använts, där nio semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med nio olika kommuner med personal inom HR och rekrytering. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på att de intervjuade respondenterna anser att olika metoderoch verktyg, såsom arbetspsykologiska tester och kompetensbaserad rekrytering, kan bland annat bidra till att de sökande blir mer likvärdigt bedömda. Det i sin tur kan förebygga riskenför felrekryteringar samt diskriminering. Objektiva metoder kan dock uppfattas begränsa bedömningen och inte ta hänsyn till de arbetssökandes åsikter och känslor, vilket kan leda till att rekryteringsprocessen upplevs av humaniserad. Därav utifrån studiens resultat kan mänsklig interaktion anses nödvändig och väsentlig, trots dess utmaningar med risken att subjektiva åsikter påverkar bedömningen. Utifrån studiens resultat uppfattas HR-funktionen inom den offentliga sektorn, när det gäller rekrytering, inte fullt ut besitta en strategisk roll utan främst vara en mer administrativ funktion. HR har en central roll som en stödfunktion och anses rikta fokus i beslutsfattandet, från det subjektiva till de mer objektiva faktorerna. / Background: For over a hundred years, research has discussed the balance between objectivity and subjectivity in recruitment and selection processes. In public recruitment procedures, certain principles must not be overlooked, including the objectivity principle, which means observing objectivity and impartiality and considering everyone's equality before the law. If adecision in the recruitment process uses incorrect grounds, the organization risks that the wrong person gets recruited. The consequences of that can be costly. The HR function has undergone significant changes over the past three decades. HR has functioned as a more administrative and maintenance-oriented function. Now HR is described as a strategic business partner and a core business function. The HR function usually possesses expert knowledge in competence supply. HR can contribute to developing strategies regarding personnel management within the organization. However, empirical research shows that HR departments, specifically in the public sector, have not necessarily succeeded in transforming to fill such a strategic position but primarily continue to fulfill administrative functions. Purpose: Creating an understanding of the opportunities and challenges that follow the pursuit of impartiality in a public recruitment process is the purpose of this study. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the role that HR staff fills in this quest to achieve impartiality. The focus of this study is specifically on different municipalities' recruitment processes. Method: For this study, a qualitative method where used. With staff in HR and recruitment in nine different municipalities, were nine semi-structured interviews conducted. Conclusion: The results of the study show that the interviewed respondents believe that various methods and tools, such as work psychological tests and competency-based recruitment, can, among other things, contribute to more equally assessed jobseekers. That can prevent the risk of incorrect recruitment and discrimination. However, objective methods can limit the assessment and not consider the jobseekers' choices and feelings. That can lead to the recruitment process perceived as dehumanized. Therefore, based on this study's result, human interaction can be considered necessary and significant, though its challenges with risking subjective choices affect the assessment. Based on this study's results, HR functions in the public sector, when it comes to recruitment, are not perceived to fully play a strategic role without primarily being a more administrative function. HR has a central role as a support function. The role of HR can help the decisionmaking focus from the subjective to the more objective factors.

This dissertation studies the economics of strategic misreporting and the effect of different anti-misreporting approaches based on theoretical, experimental, and quasi-experimental evidence. In Essay 1, I propose a theoretical model to study the efficacy of absolute and relative inspection standards in reducing misreporting when agents are heterogeneous in their reporting cost. I extend from previous theoretical studies by examining explicitly the performance of competitive endogenous audit rule (i.e., tournament audit) compared to the random audit as a function of agent’s heterogeneity parameter. I find that a tournament audit reduces average misreporting and the dispersion of misreporting relative to a random audit, and that the magnitude of the reduction is independent of the degree of heterogeneity among agents. A larger number of audits (presumably delivered by a softer budget constraint), a higher degree of imperfect monitoring, and larger risk aversion among agents reduce the effectiveness of the tournament audit in lowering misreporting. However, the magnitude of the reduction remains independent of heterogeneity in those cases.<div><br></div><div>Theoretical predictions from the first essay are built on a strategic equilibrium concept that relies on rather sophisticated assumptions. Testing these predictions in a controlled environment is thus of empirical importance. In Essay 2, I study misreporting decisions in laboratory experiments, and I test predictions from the first essay. The game played by subjects carefully recreates the environment used to generate theoretical predictions. The experiments have two sources of exogenous variation. The first varies the audit scheme, while the second varies heterogeneity in the cost of reporting. This allows me to test the key predictions from Essay 1 by comparing outcomes across different combinations of treatments. The experimental results largely support the theoretical predictions that a tournament audit reduces misreporting, both with homogeneous and heterogeneous agents. It also supports the prediction that the magnitude of the reduction in misreporting under a tournament audit relative to the random audit is largely independent of the degree of heterogeneity. However, the misreporting reduction is smaller than predicted, as subjects in the experiment tend to misreport less in the random audit baseline. This result is consistent with subjects being risk averse as characterized in Essay 1. Similarly, efficiency gains associated with lower misreporting are smaller than predicted.<br></div><div><br></div><div>In the third essay, I study a reform that conferred Chinese provincial authorities more monitoring power over air pollution performance by cities in those provinces. I use quasi-experimental methods to quantify the effects of this reform on misreporting by local authorities. Implemented in 2016, the reform gave the provincial authorities direct access to local (municipal) pollution monitoring stations, thereby making it harder for local authorities to misreport after the reform. The reform was introduced only in some provinces, many treated and untreated provinces have similar pollution trends before the reform and significant overlap on observable characteristics. These features aid me in establishing a causal effect of the reform on misreporting. The estimation involves two steps. First, I quantify different types of misreporting following recently proposed methodologies. Second, I regress estimated misreporting on the reform indicator using a difference in difference estimator. I found that the reform reduces hard misreporting, which takes place when local authorities interfere with the pollution monitoring facility, both during regular days and during heavily polluted days. The reform does not appear to reduce soft misreporting, which takes place when local authorities tamper with the pollution data. The results are robust to a number of robustness tests, and suggest that through proper institutional reform, the upper-level government can prevent certain types of misreporting at the local level. <br></div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation delivers a characterization of strategic misreporting by heterogeneous agents and studies the impact of different anti-misreporting schemes based on theoretical, experimental, and observational evidence. Results from this dissertation provide evidence that regulators can use mechanisms that: 1) curb misreporting without enhancing monitoring (tournament audits), or 2) that enhance monitoring to ultimately curb misreporting (adoption of monitoring technologies), or 3) a combination of both. This is important given the pervasiveness of misreporting among regulated agents, and substantial heterogeneity among those agents. <br></div>