Potential for comparative public opinion research in public administration

The public administration and public services have always taken a marginal place in the political scientists’ behavioural research. Public administration students on the other hand tend to focus on political and administrative elites and institutions, and largely ignored citizens in comparative research. In this article we make a plea for international comparative research on citizens’ attitudes towards the public administration from an interdisciplinary perspective. Available international survey material is discussed, and main trends in empirical practice and theoretical approaches are outlined, especially those with a potential impact on public sector reform

Estimating the influence of introduction of a «low-eentry» grounds in the structure of an integral body on resource characteristics of the bus in operation

Problem. In connection with the introduction of European requirements for the transportation of passengers on wheelchairs, manufacturers have to introduce low entrance into the design. Such an in-novation requires high costs for the design and test-ing of the new body structure of the bus. Goal. The purpose of the work is to assess the impact of intro-ducing “low-entry” platforms into the structure of the axle box on the bus life in real operating condi-tions. Methodology. When creating new designs of buses, or changing the design of existing bodies, it is important to predict the consequences of such chang-es. It is advisable to take into account the practical experience of manufacturers who have already intro-duced innovations. Results. A bus with a modified design without proper calculations undergoes road tests. During the tests, we find weaknesses and are eliminated at the enterprise by studying the related technical decisions. Problems of frame uniformity may occur during the operation of new buses on city routes and passenger transportation. This causes breakdowns of the body frame during the warranty period of operation. Originality. Operation with overloading of buses due to the formation of an additional area for standing passengers in the “low-entry” areas, coupled with the realities of unsatisfactory road conditions, results in breakdowns of the carcass at run-ups of up to 100 thousand km and life periods of less than two years. Practical value. It is advisable to review and clarify the boundary conditions for calculation of the finite elements of the body frame, taking into account the uneven distribution of standing passengers along the longitudinal axis of the body, and the corresponding improvement of the structure and assortment of bodies of the body frame

Putting Public Service Motivation into Context. A Balance Between Universalism and Particularism

Research on Public Service Motivation (PSM) has increased enormously in the last 20 years. Besides the analysis of the antecedents of PSM and its impact on organizations and individuals, many open questions about the nature of PSM itself still remain. This article argues that the theoretical construct of PSM should be contextualized by integrating the political and administrative contexts of public servants when investigating their specific attitudes towards working in a public environment. It also challenges the efficacy of the classic four-dimensional structure of PSM when it is applied to a specific context. The findings of a confirmatory factor analysis from a dataset of 3754 employees of 279 Swiss municipalities support the appropriateness of contextualizing parts of the PSM construct. They also support the addition of an extra dimension called, according to previous research, Swiss democratic governance. With regard to our results, there is a need for further PSM research to set a definite measure of PSM, particularly in regard to the international diffusion of empirical research on PSM.Points for practitionersThis study shows that public service motivation is a relevant construct for practitioners and may be used to better assess whether public agents are motivated by values or not. Nevertheless, it stresses also that the measurement of PSM must be adapted to the institutional context as well. Public managers interested in understanding better the degree to which their employees are motivated by public values must be aware that the measurement of this PSM construct has to be contextualized. In other words, PSM is also a function of the institutional environment in which organizations operate