Browse or Brush? An Exploration of Citizen-Government Interaction in the Municipal Realm

To gain a better understanding about new forms of citizen-government interaction enabled by modern technology, we conducted a survey among citizens who interact with their local government by using a web-based platform or a mobile application. In our paper, we investigate the patterns of online and mobile communication between citizens and local government. Based on logistic regressions, we study who possesses the characteristics that predict communication via web and mobile application. Empirical findings indicate that socio-demographic factors (gender, age, education) predict individuals’ usage of web over mobile devices. Those with experience in communicating with local government via traditional channels prefer the web interface to get in touch, whereas frequent communicators are more likely to use mobile phone

Shedding Light on Participation in Open Government Arenas: Determinants of Platform Activity of Web and App Users

This article develops and tests a model to explain web-based and mobile devices usage by citizens to interact with their local government. By employing literature from diverse fields of information systems research, the authors derive an integrated model that investigates citizen participation on a city improvement platform. The model proposes three overall influences on platform activity: technological influences (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness), motivational influences (intrinsic motivation and prosocial motivation), and socio-demographic influences (gender, age, education), and is tested among two groups of users (i.e. web page and mobile app users). Empirical results show that platform activity of both web and mobile users is mainly driven by intrinsic and prosocial motivation. Whereas perceived usefulness is positively associated with platform behavior of web users, TAM variables have not effect on mobile users’ activity. While gender and age play a role regarding web activity, age and education influence mobile participation

Government Openness and Public Trust: The Mediating Role of Democratic Capacity

The open government paradigm implies public processes are becoming more transparent, public information is available online, and citizens and non‐governmental organizations are encouraged to interact with public administration through new platform‐based forms of participation and collaboration. Though these governmental efforts to open up organizational procedures to the public are meant to strengthen the relationship between citizens and the government, empirical evidence is currently sparse and mixed. This article argues that positive impacts of openness depend on citizens' democratic capacity defined as individual sense of empowerment to influence governmental systems. By matching individual survey data from the European Social Survey with secondary institutional data the authors investigate the relationship between individual and structural level variables. Findings indicate that structural openness is, in general, positively associated with higher trust. Further, the effect of openness on public trust is partially mediated by an individual's perception that they have meaningful opportunities for political participation

Management by Performance - Konturen und Instrumente eines leistungsorientierten Verwaltungsmanagements

Nachhaltige finanzielle Engpässe in den Haushalten und veränderte Anforderungen an Staat und Verwaltungen lassen seit einiger Zeit die Notwendigkeit einer Neuorientierung im Management von öffentlichen Ressourcen, Prozessen und Dienstleistungen erkennen. Dabei steht die Hinwendung zu privatwirtschaftlichen Managementmethoden mit verstärkter Fokussierung auf die konkreten Ergebnisse und Wirkungen des Verwaltungshandelns im Vordergrund. Die tatsächliche Diskussion und Entwicklung in öffentlichen Verwaltungen ist allerdings ganz überwiegend durch die weitgehend isolierte Übertragung und Anwendung einzelner Instrumente und Verfahren aus der (privatwirtschaftlichen) Managementlehre gekennzeichnet. Die in weiten Bereichen vorherrschende Komplexität der öffentlichen Leistungserstellung findet keine Berücksichtigung. Die Beurteilung der Eignung, Leistungsfähigkeit und Wirkung einzelner Instrumente unter Vernachlässigung der Einbindung in den komplexen Systemzusammenzusammenhang dürfte weitgehend unzureichend sein. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt hierfür einen konzeptionellen Bezugsrahmen unter besonderer Berücksichtung der Reform des öffentlichen Haushalts- und Rechnungswesens vor. Er soll zugleich Grundlage und Impulsgeber für eine stärker empirisch ausgerichtete Forschung zum öffentlichen Haushalts- und Rechnungswesen sein.Lasting financial straits in public budgeting and changed requirements placed on the state and its administration indicate the importance of the reorientation of the management of public resources, processes, and services. In this context, the tendency towards commercial management methods with a strong focus on specific outputs and outcomes of administrative action is gaining importance. Here, the guiding concept is performance management, offering instruments for gaining more efficiency and effectiveness and stimulating a policy-driven management process also considering pluralistic stakeholder interests. However, the current discussion and development in public administrations is characterized by a largely isolated application of individual instruments and procedures from the entrepreneurial management field. The prevailing complexity of public services, which can be found in large areas of administration, is not taken into consideration. The present article introduces a conceptual framework with special attention given to the reform of public budgeting and accounting. At the same time, it shall serve as a basis for a stronger empirically oriented research in public budgeting and accounting

BENKLER REVISITED – VENTURING BEYOND THE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ARENA?

The organizational principles of open source software (OSS) development have challenged traditional theories in economics, organization research and information systems. In a seminal paper, Benkler (2002) provided a comprehensive framework to structure and explain these OSS principles. Coined Commons-Based Peer Production (CBPP), his framework has inspired a large stream of research on OSS. The objective of our paper is to determine whether CBPP also provides a viable framework to investigate projects of open innovation in non-software related domains. Using a case study approach, we focus on four projects that attempt to operate in line with the OSS phenomenon, but deal with tangible outputs (biotechnology, automobiles, entertainment hardware, and public patent review). We show that in general the CBPP framework is well-suited to explain open value creation in these domains. However, we also find several factors which limit its adoption to non-software related arenas

Trajectories of local open government: An empirical investigation of managerial and political perceptions

‘Open government’ refers to transparent, participative decision-making and platform-based citizen-government collaboration and has emerged as one paradigm at the local government level, in particular. However, substantial disparities exist in open government adoption among municipalities, and the empirical evidence on the determinants of open government adoption is sparse and mixed. This article considers open government adoption by integrating the resource- and knowledge-based views and decision-makers’ open government willingness. We argue that the positive impacts of internal capacity depend on the municipal decision-makers’ open government willingness. Using data from a survey conducted among local decision-makers, we investigate organizational ability to implement open government and decision-makers' preferences and adoption level. The findings indicate that organizational capacity is positively associated with open government. In addition, the effect of ability on adoption is partially mediated by leaders’ perceptions that open government is a meaningful opportunity for the municipality

Nutzen-Determinanten der kommunalen Doppik aus Sicht der Haushaltspolitiker

Seit mehreren Jahren befindet sich das deutsche Kommunalhaushaltsrecht im Umbruch. Im Großteil der deutschen Kommunen wird die Kameralistik durch ein den Ressourcenverbrauch berücksichtigendes, neues öffentliches Haushalts- und Rechnungswesen ersetzt. Der Beitrag untersucht auf Basis eines Strukturgleichungsmodells die Determinanten des Nutzens der Doppik-Einführung aus Sicht der kommunalen Haushaltspolitik. Als Replikationsstudie konzipiert, orientieren sich die Autoren im Forschungsdesign an einer zuvor durchgeführten Studie bei kommunalen Kämmerern und vergleichen die Ergebnisse dieser beiden Gruppen von Entscheidungsträgern. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass aus Sicht der Haushaltspolitik die verbesserte Effektivität den wichtigsten direkten, und die gesteigerten Steuerungsmöglichkeiten den wichtigsten indirekten, Nutzentreiber der Doppik darstellt. Die Steuerungsmöglichkeiten in der Doppik werden ihrerseits maßgeblich durch die erhöhte Entscheidungsrelevanz doppischer Informationen determiniert.The municipal budgeting and accounting system in Germany has been in state of fundamental upheaval for several years: Most municipalities replace their traditional cash-based system by an accrual-based system. Our paper analyses the determinants of the benefits of accrual budgeting and accounting from a political perspective using a structural equation model. As a replication study, the research design is based on an earlier study covering the perspective of public financial managers on accrual budgeting and accounting. Results show that improved effectiveness is the most important direct determinant of benefits. Improved management capabilities represent the most important indirect determinant of benefits. The management capabilities in an accrual system are primarily determined by the enhanced decision relevancy of accrual-based information

Comparative Single-Cell Analysis of Different E. coli Expression Systems during Microfluidic Cultivation

Binder D, Probst C, Grünberger A, et al. Comparative Single-Cell Analysis of Different E. coli Expression Systems during Microfluidic Cultivation. PLoS one. 2016;11(8): e0160711.Recombinant protein production is mostly realized with large-scale cultivations and monitored at the level of the entire population. Detailed knowledge of cell-to-cell variations with respect to cellular growth and product formation is limited, even though phenotypic heterogeneity may distinctly hamper overall production yields, especially for toxic or difficult-to-express proteins. Unraveling phenotypic heterogeneity is thus a key aspect in understanding and optimizing recombinant protein production in biotechnology and synthetic biology. Here, microfluidic single-cell analysis serves as the method of choice to investigate and unmask population heterogeneities in a dynamic and spatiotemporal fashion. In this study, we report on comparative microfluidic single-cell analyses of commonly used E. coli expression systems to uncover system-inherent specifications in the synthetic M9CA growth medium. To this end, the PT7lac/LacI, the PBAD/AraC and the Pm/XylS system were systematically analyzed in order to gain detailed insights into variations of growth behavior and expression phenotypes and thus to uncover individual strengths and deficiencies at the single-cell level. Specifically, we evaluated the impact of different system-specific inducers, inducer concentrations as well as genetic modifications that affect inducer-uptake and regulation of target gene expression on responsiveness and phenotypic heterogeneity. Interestingly, the most frequently applied expression system based on E. coli strain BL21(DE3) clearly fell behind with respect to expression homogeneity and robustness of growth. Moreover, both the choice of inducer and the presence of inducer uptake systems proved crucial for phenotypic heterogeneity. Conclusively, microfluidic evaluation of different inducible E. coli expression systems and setups identified the modified lacY-deficient PT7lac/LacI as well as the Pm/XylS system with conventional m-toluic acid induction as key players for precise and robust triggering of bacterial gene expression in E. coli in a homogeneous fashion

O-GlcNAcase:promiscuous hexosaminidase or key regulator of O-GlcNAc signalling?

O-GlcNAc signaling is regulated by an opposing pair of enzymes: O-GlcNAc transferase installs and O-GlcNAcase (OGA) removes the modification from proteins. The dynamics and regulation of this process are only beginning to be understood as the physiological functions of both enzymes are being probed using genetic and pharmacological approaches. This minireview charts the discovery and functional and structural analysis of OGA and summarizes the insights gained from recent studies using OGA inhibition, gene knock-out, and overexpression. We identify several areas of “known unknowns” that would benefit from future research, such as the enigmatic C-terminal domain of OGA