Minimum wages and the economic well‐being of single mothers

Using pooled cross‐sectional data from the 1992 to 2005 March Current Population Survey (CPS), this study examines the relationship between minimum wage increases and the economic well‐being of single mothers. Estimation results show that minimum wage increases were ineffective at reducing poverty among single mothers. Most working single mothers were not affected by minimum wage hikes because they already earned wages above state and federal minimum wages. And less‐educated single mothers who were affected did not see a rise in net income because of negative employment and hours effects. For this low‐skilled population, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage was associated with an 8.8 percent reduction in employment and an 11.8 percent reduction in annual hours worked. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Sustainable development challenges in a war‐torn country: Perceived danger and psychological well‐being

The laborer's physical and mental health, well‐being, and happiness are among the major indicators for measuring each nation's sustainable development. A conflictive and hostile external environment (war zone) poses considerable difficulty and psychological distress to workers and nonworkers. Therefore, working in such a physically dangerous business environment may hurt worker's well‐being and happiness that in turn may reduce the workers' productivity at the workplace. A high level of laborers' productivity in public and private sectors is essential for achieving sustainable development in the long term. Therefore, this paper examines the effects of perceived danger on employees' psychological well‐being in war‐torn Afghanistan, an issue being addressed for the first time. We tested the moderating role of social support from coworkers on this effect in order to have a broader vision of which individuals are healthier and happier in a physically dangerous working environment. Two survey data sets were collected from 190 employees working in various small private and public businesses in Herat, Afghanistan. Our results reveal the negative impact of perceived danger on employees' psychological well‐being and that employees who receive little or no social support from their peers feel the negative effects of a physically dangerous working condition even more acutely.     

Consumer well‐being through engagement and innovation in higher education: A conceptual model and research propositions

With globalization and the marketization of higher education, the relationship between higher education institutions (HEIs) and students is becoming more complex. As the cost of higher education increases, the expectations of students have not only changed dramatically but, combined with heightened competition in the market, it is clear that the balance of power has moved towards the students. Operating across this new landscape, HEIs are facing a different set of opportunities and challenges. In order to survive, differentiation through service innovation is imperative to achieving success in attracting and retaining students. While this has been voiced by a number of authors, until now, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the impact of service innovation in higher education on individual customer outcomes. This paper explores the links between service innovation and well‐being and the mediating roles of perceived service quality and customer engagement within the higher education context. The research is timely as previous studies have not taken into consideration the mediating roles of customer engagement between service innovation and customer well‐being. Yet, unless customers are engaged and participating in the service innovation process, or satisfied with the service innovation, the innovation may not lead to the desired customer outcomes. HEIs cannot afford to ignore the expectations of their primary customers (students). Hence, this conceptual paper seeks to develop a conceptual model of how service innovation leads to student/consumer well‐being and the mechanism through which perceived service quality and customer engagements affects this process.     

Modelling the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness for policy development

Counter‐knowledge refers to flaws in citizens' mental models arising from utilization of rumours, inappropriate knowledge structures, outdated routines or procedures. When counter‐knowledge is applied to civil servants, it may result in problems of efficiency, equity and motivation. This paper examines the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness to model a framework for improving city marketing and policy development. This study tested two measurement models. While the theoretical model represents the effect of counter‐knowledge on city marketing and that the latter has a negative effect on open‐mindedness, the alternative model involves that counter‐knowledge has a positive indirect impact on open‐mindedness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 203 Spanish city halls. The results show a potential positive indirect effect of counter‐knowledge on open‐mindedness through city marketing programmes. This paper clarifies the existing literature, which tries to contribute to the discussion of city marketing, and helps us to obtain meaning out of the relationship between counter‐knowledge, city marketing and open‐mindedness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A socio‐cultural approach to public sector corruption in Africa: key pointers for reflection

The public sector of many African countries is notoriously corrupt; cultural inclinations and socialization processes largely have a tendency to lead public officials into actions that may amount to corrupt practices. Providing seven (7) key pointers for reflection, this study explores public sector corruption in African countries by examining the interplay between culturally acceptable norms and professional expectations of public officials. The public official, by these two unparalleled expectations, tends to walk on a tight rope which often results in ethical dilemma and conflict of interest. The study adopts Riggs' prismatic‐sala model and uses the case of Ghana and traditional proverbs to explain the cultural context within which Ghanaian public official ought to operate. How can one combine these cultural expectations with professionalism? To what extent does the ‘collectivity culture’, ‘culture of gift giving and acceptance’, ‘extended family system’, ‘ethnic loyalty’ and ‘unfettered respect of the aged’ downplay professional bureaucratic and ethical principles? Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The nature of knowledge about public management: Lessons for research and teaching from our knowledge about chess and warfare

Knowledge about public management is similar in form to the knowledge about chess and warfare. It consists of general information about the formal and informal rules, principles of public management, and numerous examples that illustrate when, how, and why these principles apply. A master of public management, like a master in chess, has encoded in long-term memory a large managerial repertoire: patterns of managerial situations and successful actions that can be recalled and applied to new problems. The role of research on public management is to develop these principles and patterns, to weave theminto a repertoire of managerial actions, and to illustrate all this with vivid examples so that the ideas can be taught, learned, and remembered.     

Foot‐march: Large‐scale mobilization for a public cause or a tool for fanning political ambition

We present the case of an awareness campaign, strategically crafted by a local student political leader, based on a national level policy for urban poor and marginalized, in the city of Ahmedabad in India. The campaign, designed in the form of a foot‐march, was aimed at mobilizing the urban poor, but with a clear ambition of gaining visibility for political mileage. This study reinforces that the mediation role taken up by local leaders transcends the traditional policymaking, in democracies with blurred boundaries between the state and citizens. Further, in local governance structures, with weak participatory spaces for the poor, foot‐marches have the potential to become an extended invited participatory space.     

Citizen perceptions of public management: Hybridisation and post‐new public management in Japan and New Zealand

An older body of research claims variously: a world‐wide transformation from new public management (NPM) to new public governance or post new public management (post‐NPM); a ‘layering’, where new management rhetoric and techniques are layered upon existing ones; or a ‘hybridisation’ synthesised from competing systems. More recent studies, particularly in central and Eastern Europe, suggest a nuanced and context‐specific degree of transformation. Influenced by a growing research interest in citizen perceptions of public management, this study expands this more nuanced approach by surveying local government public management perceptions of 1,140 New Zealand and 3,100 Japanese citizen online survey respondents. Using principal component analysis, we show both New Zealand and Japan exhibit degrees of hybridisation of public management paradigms, with Japan exhibiting a higher degree of eclecticism.     

The political economy of accountability in Timor‐Leste: Implications for public policy

With a view to establishing the likelihood of the occurrence of state capture and different forms of corruption and the feasibility of their management and prevention, important aspects of the historical, social, economic, political and governance context of Timor‐Leste are examined. This context is found to be conducive to various forms of state capture and systemic grand and petty corruption, and to be resistant to conventional short‐term technocratic anticorruption remedies. While the latter are likely to have public relations benefits that may be helpful to the maintenance of political stability in the short run, it is argued that significant anticorruption progress is a long‐term endeavour, achievable principally through: sustained impartial service delivery that undermines beliefs in patronage; hastening—through general education and the creation of a conducive legal environment for business—the emergence of leaders of integrity and the growth of a middle class; and the establishment of the rule of law. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Political and public acceptability of congestion pricing: Ideology and self‐interest

Studies of the “stated preferences” of households generally report public and political opposition by urban commuters to congestion pricing. It is thought that this opposition inhibits or precludes tolls and pricing systems that would enhance efficiency in the use of scarce roadways. This paper analyzes the only case in which road pricing was decided by a citizen referendum on the basis of experience with a specific pricing system. The city of Stockholm introduced a toll system for seven months in 2006, after which citizens voted on its permanent adoption. We match precinct voting records to resident commute times and costs by traffic zone, and we analyze patterns of voting in response to economic and political incentives. We document political and ideological incentives for citizen choice, but we also find that the pattern of time savings and incremental costs exerts a powerful influence on voting behavior. In this instance, at least, citizen voters behave as if they value commute time highly. When they have experienced first‐hand the out‐of‐pocket costs and time savings of a specific pricing scheme, they are prepared to adopt freely policies that reduce congestion on urban motorways. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Googling the requester: Identity‐questing and discrimination in public service provision

Innovating upon previous field experiments and theories of identity‐based discrimination, we test whether public officials are using searches (“identity‐questing”) to profile citizens and acting on latent biases. Pairs of “institutional” and “noninstitutional” requesters send lower and moderate burden freedom of information (FOI) requests—providing no identity cues apart from undistinctive names, e‐mails, and ID numbers—to nearly 700 of Brazil's largest municipalities. Results show institutional requesters receive one‐fifth more responses than noninstitutional comparators. For moderate versus lower burden requests, noninstitutional requesters are 11% less likely to receive a compliant response than their institutional comparators. The only plausible explanation for these results is identity‐questing, a phenomenon that has far‐reaching policy implications. Most of the world's FOI laws, for example, contain vague ID obligations, which translate incoherently from laws to regulation and practice. Results enjoin public service providers to protect the identities of citizens by default or upon request.     

Between knowledge and power: Utilization of social science in public policy making

Most conceptualizations of the linkage between science and politics have traditionally been informed by rationalist concepts of science and decision-making. The result has been a false dichotomy between (legitimate) rational research utilization and (illegitimate) political research utilization. This dichotomy must be overcome, on normative as well as empirical grounds. Scientifically generated knowledge constitutes an important, but on the whole unquantifiable part of the enormous store of knowledge which participants in the politico-administrative decision-making process apply to their practical tasks. To understand the complex interfaces between social science research and the political-administrative decision-making process, it is necessary to be aware that research is transferred to, and becomes part of, a discourse of action, in the philosophical as well as the everyday practical sense — a discourse in which (self)reflecting participants deliberate on and debate norms and alternatives with a view to concrete action. This makes the contribution of science to policy making both less tangible and potentially more influential than is usually assumed.     

Corporate public affairs: necessary cost or value‐added asset?

This paper examines the valuation tools available to measure the financial contribution that public affairs activities add to the corporate bottom line. The paper begins with a consideration of the state of quantification in public affairs. Next, theoretical frameworks for broad classes of valuation methodologies are presented. Specific models applied by companies are also examined, outlining their advantages and limitations. The paper concludes with recommendations for implementing quantitative financial measures and opportunities for future research. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Civil society and public sector institutions: more than a zero‐sum relationship

Measuring civil society strength has become entangled in competing definitions of civil society (CS). A more productive approach begins by considering CS from the perspective not of what it is but from what it does. Civil society functions—articulating citizens' interests and demands, defending their rights and meeting their needs—can be performed by a variety of institutions and organisations, not all of which are or need to be detached from the government. Determining the strength of CS requires assessing how well these functions are performed by a continuum of organisations and institutions. A disaggregated, multi‐sector model is developed that assists in measuring CS strength in any specific context. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deliberation and Opinion Change: Evidence from a Deliberative Mini‐public in Finland

A number of studies examining the effects of deliberative citizen forums have found that citizens taking part in deliberative processes experience changes in their policy attitudes. However, it remains unclear why these opinion changes occur, since most studies pay little attention to the communicative exchange that is expected to cause the observed changes. Within deliberative theory, there is an expectation that reasonable individuals should be amenable to changing their preferences as a result of the reflection induced by the deliberative process. However, apart from a few recent studies, there has been little empirical research that directly examines how the quality of the communication affects opinion change. This article fills this gap by examining what factors help explain the opinion changes that occur in citizen deliberation. To do this, the article uses data from a mini‐public organized in Turku, Finland, concerning the use of nuclear power. First, the extent and nature of the opinion changes that occurred as a result of the deliberation are established. Following this, the article examines the explanatory powers of a number of potential explanations: deliberative reasoning, sociodemographic inequalities and issue awareness. The results suggest that both deliberative reasoning and issue awareness are significant predictors, meaning there is no single explanation for opinion changes.