The adoption of Blockchain technology looks promising in many areas. However, it is still a relatively new area of research, and implementations are not entirely free of challenges. This study focuses on the potential benefits of blockchain adoption in the public sector, with the potential to enhance democratic processes. Blockchain technology is, by design, apt at managing several significant challenges regarding communication and security in digital networks. This includes maintaining data integrity, enhancing security and privacy, and to mitigate fraud and manipulation. Possible issues that might arise when applied to the public sector is regarding law and regulation compliance. To cover the current state of the field, an exploratory literature review has been conducted. Among the results are several interesting blockchain projects around the world with emphasis on civic dialogue. Studying possible network architectures it appears that Hyperledger Fabric is the most prominent when it comes to implementations in the public sector. Based on this study, and on input from experts within the field, a proposed model that could be implemented and tested on a smaller scale is presented. The purpose is to record and track expenditures on public sector projects and make them available to the public. / Antagandet av Blockchain-teknik ser lovande ut på många områden. Det är dock fortfarande ett relativt nytt forskningsområde, och implementeringar är inte helt fria från utmaningar. Denna studie fokuserar på de potentiella fördelarna med blockchain-tillämpningar i den offentliga sektorn, och dess potential att förbättra demokratiska processer. Blockchain-tekniken är designad för att hantera flera viktiga utmaningar när det gäller kommunikation och säkerhet i digitala nätverk. Detta inkluderar upprätthållande av dataintegritet, förbättrad säkerhet och integritet för att minska risken för bedrägerier och manipulation. Möjliga problem som kan uppstå när de tillämpas på den offentliga sektorn handlar om efterlevnad av lagar och förordningar. För att täcka fältets nuvarande tillstånd har en undersökande litteraturstudie genomförts. Bland resultaten finns flera intressanta blockchain-projekt runt om i världen med tonvikt på medborgardialog. När man studerar möjliga nätverksarkitekturer verkar det som att Hyperledger Fabric är den mest framträdande när det gäller implementeringar i den offentliga sektorn. Baserat på denna studie och på input från experter inom området presenteras en föreslagen modell som kan implementeras och testas i mindre skala. Syftet är att registrera och spåra utgifter för projekt inom den offentliga sektorn och göra dem tillgängliga för allmänheten.

Hållbarhet är ett begrepp som fått ökad betydelse i samhället på senare tid, då det finns krav på att aktörer ska ta sitt samhällsansvar. Därmed har intresset ökat för hur arbetet kring hållbarhet ska genomföras. Styrning, som innebär åtgärder som görs inom en organisation i syfte att uppnå målen, blir då ett viktigt verktyg i arbetet mot hållbarhet.  Det förekommer begränsad forskning kring hållbarhet inom den offentliga sektor, vilket gör det intressant att studera en region, som är del av den offentliga sektorn Det förekommer viss forskning om styrning mot hållbarhet, men det finns en brist i att studera styrning och hållbarhet som ett gemensamt koncept och orsakerna till de utmaningarna som finns. Tidigare forskning visar därmed att det krävs ökad förståelse för styrning mot hållbarhet inom regioner. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva hur en region arbetar med styrning mot hållbarhet, dessutom syftar studien till att få en djupare förståelse för vilka utmaningar som kan förekomma i styrningen mot en hållbar organisation. Studien utgörs av en fallstudie av Region Värmland, där datainsamlingen består av sex intervjuer med tjänstepersoner på Region Värmland samt granskning av sju dokument. Studien visar att Region Värmland använder en del olika styrmedel som innehar olika bidragande egenskaper. Däremot ses styrdokument och kommunikation som de centrala styrmedlen. Vidare finns det olika orsaker till att det förekommer utmaningar att integrera de tre hållbarhetsaspekterna. En del av orsakerna hänger samman, men det är svårt att enbart peka på en orsak som påverkar svårigheten att uppnå en integration mellan de tre aspekterna. / Sustainability is a concept that has become increasingly important in society recently, as there are requirements for actors to take their social responsibility. As a result, the work with sustainability has increased. Governance, which involves measures taken within an organization in order to achieve the goals, thus becomes an important tool in the works towards sustainability. There is limited research about sustainability in the public sector, which makes it an interesting field to study. There is some research on governance towards sustainability, but there is a lack of studies of governance and sustainability as a common concept and the reasons for the difficulties that exist. Previous research also shows that a better understanding of governance towards sustainability within regions is required.    The purpose of this study is to describe how a region works with governance towards sustainability and to give an account of the challenges that may occur in the governance towards becoming a sustainability region. The study consists of a case study of Region Värmland, where the data collection consists of sex interviews with officials at Region Värmland and a review of seven documents. The study shows that Region Värmland uses a number of different regulatory documents, which have different contributing characteristics. On the other hand, the study shows that regulatory documents and communication are seen as central instruments. Furthermore, there are various reasons why there are challenges in integrating the three sustainability aspects. Some of the causes are interconnected, but it is difficult to choose only one cause that affects the difficulty of achieving an integration between the three aspects.

Since 2016 the external communication of the Swedish international development cooperation agencys (Sida) has been governed by the ‘Strategi för informations- och kommunikationsverksamhet, inklusive genom organisationer i det civila samhället, 2016–2022’. Government investigations have shown that the strategy leaves room for divergent interpretation due to abstract formulations and ambiguous objectives. Several researchers have studied How ambiguous strategy is interpreted by organizational members. However, there are no studies that, beyond the scope of profession-related factors, examine Why the interpretationsappear in any given way. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the interpretation process of an ambiguous strategy, by examining how cognitive, social and structural factors affect how employees at the communication units of Sida and Sida Partnership Forum interpret, and (consequently) enact the 'Strategy for information and communication activities 2016-2022 '. Based on the idea of accumulative understanding, the thesis theoretical framework consisted of Eric Eisenberg's Strategic Ambiguity, Abdallah & Langley's dimensions of the strategy process, and Hall's encoding/decoding model for communication. We used a combination of strategy documents and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions through an interpretive discourse analysis. Ascertained organizational discourses were linked back to the theories of Strategic ambiguity and encoding/decoding to draw conclusions from chosen theoretical perspective. We found that organizational socialization, governing signals and actors as well as formal structures for strategy planning caused divergent interpretations and perceptions of the InfoCom-strategy. We also found that how the employees interpreted the InfoCom strategy affects how it was enacted in their work. Since the strategy does not offer clear directives, the enactment seems to differ depending on the employee's position at Sida or SPF.

This thesis aims to answer the question of how digital technologies create new value pathways within a complex public sector organization. As the public sector faces new and varying challenges, we find it important to highlight how value is generated within a digitalizing organization faced with legal regulations, inertia, and a bureaucratic top-down management model. Also, how different recipients of the value generated with wildly different needs are affected. Performing a case study and conducting semi-structured interviews coupled with rigorous analysis of documents to answer the research question. We apply a digital transformation framework of Holmström (2021) as a lens for understanding how a unit within a larger organization generates novel value pathways. We found that the combinatory and boundary dissolving effect of change guided through a clear digital strategy within several dimensions of the framework is what generates the possibility for new value pathways. However, there is still a need for more longitudinal and reductionistic studies on the smaller details of the phenomena to define the most contributing variables of value creation by using digital technologies.

In today's knowledge economy, intellectual capabilities are one of the most important resources for organizations. Attempts have therefore been made to consolidate knowledge and facilitate knowledge sharing within organizations. For this purpose, many organizations turn to knowledge management systems. This study aims to investigate the barriers and enablers that affect the use of knowledge management systems for virtual teams within the public sector. To investigate this, we have conducted a qualitative case study of one of the largest multi-entity projects ever conducted within the Swedish public sector, and their use of their knowledge management system “Muster”. Our findings suggest there are multiple barriers and enablers for knowledge management use. Furthermore, our findings reveal that most enablers are related to organizational factors whilst barriers consist of both organizational and system factors.The barriers are limited access, inadequate routines, and lack of informal meetings in virtual teams. The last one we found to be unique for virtual teams. The enablers are importance of knowledge, organizational attitude, and routines for knowledge capture and storage. This suggests that duality of routines is present and a factor in knowledge management system use.

The banking industry in India has undergone many phases in its history; evolving from a regulated, decentralised system in the early 1800’s, to a regulated, centralised system during British rule, to a nationalised system following India’s independence, and finally a combination of a nationalised and private system adopting global standards as it currently stands. This study has two main aims. Firstly, it will assess the relationship between the firm-specific determinants of capital structure, based on the prevailing literature, and the capital structure of public and private sector banks in India. Secondly, it will determine whether there is a difference in the firm-specific factors that contribute to the determination of the capital structure of public sector banks and private sector banks. This study adopts quantitative methods, similar to previous studies on the relationship between capital structure and its firm-specific determinants. The dependent variable, being total leverage, is regressed against multiple independent variables, being profitability, growth, firm size and credit risk (hereinafter referred to as “risk” unless otherwise indicated) in a multivariate linear regression model. This study adds to the current literature by applying the same firm-specific independent variables to the case of private and public sector banks and then to evaluate and compare the similarities and differences between the regression outputs. The results show that for private sector banks, all independent variables are statistically significant in explaining total leverage, where all the independent variables conform to the current literature on capital structure – profitability (-), firm size (-), growth (+) and credit risk (-). Conversely, for public sector banks, all independent variables were considered to be statistically significant, except for credit risk – profitability (-), firm size (+) and growth (+). These results imply that credit risk is not an important determination in a nationalised banks’ capital structure; thus, providing evidence for the moral hazard theory of public sector banks.

Public sector organizations have practiced strategic management for more than 30 years. Strategic management in the public sector is subjected to political influence, as resources and major decisions are typically managed by elected and appointed officials. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to identify and report the lived experiences of public sector employees who have been subjected to political influence while engaged in the strategic management of their organizations in the State of Maryland. The study's conceptual framework was based on stakeholder theory and economic theory of the firm. A purposeful sample of 15 Maryland State Government employees shared their experiences through semi structured in-person interviews. Data were collected and transcribed using the Rev.com mobile application and was loaded into Dedoose software for analysis. Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method was employed for data analysis. The findings revealed the lived experiences of the participants with results in 5 thematic areas: leadership tenue, managing for results, strategic management resources, influence, and political skills. The findings further revealed that legislation that required strategic planning and performance management in Maryland's government has influenced its public sector employees to think strategically. Application of the findings of this study through positive political influences may align careerist actions as they prepare for the future needs of their organizations.

Disengaged employees decrease organizations' efficiencies and profitability. Engaged employees provide greater productivity and performance while being less likely to incur job burnout and exhaustion. However, public sector organizational leaders still struggle to engage their information technology (IT) employees. Partnering with a large public sector organization in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, in a case study design, this study explored the strategies that public sector business leaders use to increase productivity through engaging IT employees. The conceptual framework for this study was the job demands-resources framework. Four participants were selected through purposeful sampling from a population of 7 IT leaders who had successfully increased employee engagement and their teams' performance. After collecting data through in-person semistructured interviews from 4 participants, member checking, and organizational documentation, an iterative pattern-matching data analysis process revealed key themes from coded words and phrases. The themes were also verified through methodological triangulation through comparisons with related organizational documentation. The key themes for engaging public sector IT employees were developing positive relationships, providing empowerment with support, and connecting work with meaningful purpose. Each theme included specific supporting implementation strategies. The implications for social change are that engaged employees are less likely to experience job burnout and incur fewer health problems, and therefore have a greater capacity to care for family, friends, and communities.

Cette thèse porte sur le périmètre de l’intervention publique dans l’économie en droits français et iranien. La confrontation de ces deux régimes juridiques recèle une potentialité de libéralisme économique en droit iranien car les propriétés ne sont pas figées en fonction des personnes à qui elles appartiennent. Ainsi, malgré l’obésité actuelle du secteur public iranien, cette particularité permet une meilleure circulation des biens, entre secteur public et privé. Mais dans le même temps, d’autre part, le fait que le droit de propriété ne soit pas, contrairement au droit français, un droit de l’homme, dessert les personnes privées car la stabilité de leurs acquisitions s’en trouve menacée. En effet, exproprier une personne n’est pas considéré comme une atteinte à l’un de ses droits de l’homme mais c’est uniquement une atteinte aux biens qui se justifierait par l’intérêt général. L’ambivalence s’agissant de l’État propriétaire s’observe, également mais à rebours, s’agissant de l’État régulateur. Mais il s’agit cette fois d’une ambivalence à la fois au sein du droit iranien et entre les deux systèmes. Au sein du droit iranien, l’ambivalence du fait que la notion d’intérêt général est remplacée par celle d’intérêt du régime, ce qui empêche l’effectivité juridique de la protection des droits et libertés économiques. Mais, dans le même temps, cette "inopérance" de l’intérêt général a pour conséquence une meilleure protection potentielle de l’égale concurrence car l’État ne bénéficie pas d’un régime exorbitant du droit commun. À cette première ambivalence qui caractérise le droit iranien lui-même s’ajoute une ambivalence entre les deux systèmes puisqu’en droit français, l’intérêt général est plus présent et joue le rôle de conciliateur qui faisait défaut en droit iranien, ce qui est favorable aux droits et libertés économiques. Mais, dans le même temps, les prérogatives de puissance sont un frein au développement de l’égale concurrence. On retrouve donc des avantages en droit français inexistants en droit iranien et inversement. Cela nous amène à conclure à l’existence d’un tableau contrasté qui permet globalement une meilleure protection actuelle des droits et libertés économiques en France mais une meilleure protection potentielle de ces mêmes droits en Iran. / This thesis is about the scope of public intervention in the economy under Iranian and French laws. Comparison between these two legal regimes harbors potential for economic liberalism under Iranian law because properties are not fixed to those to whom they belong. Furthermore, in spite of the current enlargement of Iran’s public sector, this specific feature allows a better movement of properties between the public and the private sectors. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the fact that the right of ownership is not – unlike under the French law – a human rights, is detrimental to natural persons because the stability of their acquisition is threatened. In fact, expropriating someone does not amount to violation of human rights but is only encroachment upon public interest properties. Some ambivalence is observed with regard to State as owner, but there is also ambivalence with regard to State as regulator. Under the Iranian law, the ambivalence stems from the fact that the notion of public interest has been replaced by regime interests and that hinders legal effectiveness of protection of economic rights. But at the same time, the effectiveness of public interest leads to a potentially better protection of competition on equal footing because the State is not subject to an overriding ius commune. Add to this the very first characteristic of Iranian law on ambivalence between two systems because under the French law, public interest is more present and plays the role of conciliator, which is absent in Iran’s law, and which could favor economic rights. But at the same time, the privileges of state authority out a brake on development of equal competition. Therefore, one can find advantages in France’s law that do not exist in Iran’s law. That leads us to a conflicting system which generally allows a better protection of economic rights and freedom in France, but a potentially better protection of the same rights in Iran.

Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges in relation to creating a sustainable way of life. Urban areas have a significant potential to positively contribute to addressing these pressing challenges in sustainable development. The public sector plays a central role in ensuring a sustainable development of its municipality.This thesis presents a case study conducted on the example of Helsingborg municipality in Sweden, which is renowned for its approach to sustainable development as well as innovation.The authors have attempted understanding, why and how this Swedish municipality is so effective in its sustainable development by analyzing its use of the Concept Innovation of Quality of Life as a central component in its strategy.The Diffusion of Innovation Theory is used to analyze the adoption and potential of the Quality of Life Concept Innovation. Previous research is summarized and the findings from semi-structured interviews are presented and synthesized to develop a model that explains the diffusion and outcome of the Concept Innovation of Quality of Life. An interview guide for further use is also presented.