Projects / Programmes
Development of an Efficient and Effective Public Administration System
January 1, 2019
- December 31, 2024
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.04.00 |
Social sciences |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S170 |
Social sciences |
Political and administrative sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.06 |
Social Sciences |
Political science |
public administration reform, administrative systems, Europeanisation of public administration, local self-government, public sector economics, public governance models, new public management, Neo-Weberian state, new public governance, e-government, digitalization, interdisciplinarity
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
December 9, 2023;
A3 for period
2017-2021
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
324 |
5,297 |
4,894 |
15.1 |
| Scopus |
404 |
8,060 |
7,421 |
18.37 |
Researchers (24)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Today’s changing societal environment requires public administration systems to continually develop if they are to successfully identify and put in place public policies, strategies, mechanisms, legal, financial, and information-based foundations and other resources to address the complexities of modern dimensions such as multi-level public governance, digitalization, migrations, nationalism and interstate conflicts, environmental change and several others. It is thus no surprise that national public administration reforms are a key priority of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, post EU 2020 strategy, and EU member states’ national strategies. Accordingly, the main purpose of the research programme will be to develop a comprehensive framework for developing a modern efficient and effective public administration system. It would be based on gradual improvement, concentrating on those levels, policies, dimensions and domains of the Slovenian and European administrations perceived to be weak or as providing a basis for synergistic effects. This will be achieved through: 1) concrete and verifiable research goals (establishing the theoretical framework; empirical application, encompassing Slovenian, EU and global administrative space and the key PA challenges; in-depth validation and optimization of the findings; establishing guidelines, facilitating the research findings’ absorption in administrative practice; ensuring a large-scale social impact via a wide range of publications, professional meetings and conferences; ensuring policy implications, based on a multi-level systemic approach and collaboration between stakeholders); 2) a set of comprehensive methodological approaches (classification based on interdisciplinary approach, required for holistic, efficient and effective frameworks/models for PA reforms: philosophical approach, legal approach, historical approach, scientific approach, case method approach, institutional and structural approach, behavioural approach, consensus approach), and 3) including all societal subsystems and stakeholders at the macro (society), mezzo (government) and micro (individual PA entities) levels of governance. The key content of the research will therefore be constituted by the search for a framework for an efficient and effective public administration system, including the preparation of expert guidelines for the design of modern public administration models, the evaluation of operations and the implementation of reforms of selected segments of the wider public sector and the identification and proposal of measures and ways of implementing them to create a better business environment co-created by the public administration and the broader public sector in order to improve Slovenia’s international competitiveness. Once prepared, the guidelines will enable the transition to a highly efficient and successful governance model as a driver of large-scale social innovation and sustainable development.
Significance for science
The scientific contribution is demonstrated in the comprehensive framework for developing an efficient and effective public administration system. It is based on gradual improvement, focusing on those levels, policies, dimensions and domains of the Slovenian and European administrations perceived to be weak or providing a basis for synergistic effects. By developing unique tailored approaches to efficient and effective governance, the programme group takes an alternative, original approach to the traditional, qualitative studies in the scientific field. The added value of the research would also be seen in the evidence-based and directly applicable findings that would represent a novelty in the wider EU administrative area and globally. The importance of integrating studies of multi-level governance into the research on good governance largely relates to the fact that the existing EU institutional environment is multi-level in nature, meaning we cannot look at just one single level of government. Nevertheless, we need to acknowledge, particularly within the EU, due to its institutionalization multi-level governance sometimes willingly or unwillingly omits participation, so we need to expand the research and find potential solutions to bridge this gap. The findings will also be accompanied by a guided transformation from formal, scientific results into concrete activities within public administration organizations and, thus, enable successful implementation in practice. Therefore, the scientifically grounded findings of our research programme contribute to the challenging systematic transition from governance models that perform below average to highly efficient and effective governance models, not previously scientifically addressed in such detail. This is especially important since, instead of concentrating on other studies, we take the statistically verified specifics of the Slovenian public administration into account by appropriately balancing the various elements. Content-wise, the programme ensures the comprehensiveness required but not yet achieved by studies in Slovenia and the wider EU area (Bouckaert, 2012; Kovač and Jukić, 2016). Thus, many unique research results are expected to contribute to the scientific and practical development of the public administration field: a methodological framework for optimising current governance models within the Slovenian PA, and others faced with comparable circumstances and PA issues; a clear set of guidelines for assisting the shift from the existing to the optimal governance model within each PA segment; the placing of Slovenia’s governance challenges within a wider global context and the presentation of statistical comparisons, all together with high-profile Slovenian and international scientific (ISI) publications.
Significance for the country
In terms of economic and cultural development, the programme research will provide a highly valuable framework for a more efficient and effective public administration system, one that fosters innovation and economic growth. From the perspective of responsible national institutions, the value added is seen in the presented and prioritized governance elements, enabling tangible innovative improvements in public organizations’ long-run activities. This is especially the case regarding democratic, participatory models enabling the holistic addressing of emerging societal challenges, thus leading to better value for public spending and the much-desired effectiveness and efficiency of PA. The programme activities hence act as enablers of large-scale social innovation and long-term socio-economic effects, such as: more efficiently and effectively resolving highly important emerging governance challenges, empirical results that represent a novelty in the wider EU area and globally, a greater utilization rate of budgetary resources, an overview of the public administration in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, the methodology’s applicability for further research, and the greater use of publicly available statistical data. Consequently, the improved position/reputation of the PA in both national and international contexts may be expected. Special attention will be paid to the cultural development of a more inclusive public administration, by designing legal grounds and supporting mechanisms for their implementation to overcome the gap existing in the field in the EU setting. Enforcing such mechanisms indirectly also reduces corruption, a problem in Slovenia and several CEE countries (Transparency International, 2018). The funding of innovative projects for public well-being (instead of personal interests) and recruiting the most creative human resources will be indirectly fostered by the research results, further improving the PA’s effectiveness and efficiency. The programme activities represent an important supporting instrument for the framework 2015–2020 Slovenian Public Administration Development Strategy and the Slovenian Development Strategy 2030. An especially big challenge in implementing these national strategies is their exceptional breadth and the related need for additional support with a systematic and clear order of the measures being required (Kovač and Jukić, 2016). Since the programme will systematically link Slovenian public administration reform activities and in order to enable implementation it will be possible to achieve the target conditions of the strategies faster, with fewer resources, and the socio-economic effects will also be more quickly detectable by citizens and institutions from the public and private sector. Finally, based on other PAs’ socio-economic needs and the resulting methodological and content adjustments, it will be possible to transfer the developed framework to numerous other countries and adequately promote Slovenia’s achievements in developing its PA internationally. The programme will hence also act as a driver of scalability, which allows social, administrative and economic development across countries/regions.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
