Hands-off or Hands-on Governance for Public Innovation? : A Comparative Case Study in the EU Cohesion Policy Implementation in Finland

Public innovation is increasingly strived for by involving non-state agents in policy implementation. Public governance theory has assumed the public administration better govern the activity hands-off by providing incentives and pressure. The theory-driven research agenda has, however, not sufficiently put the assumption to test. This paper compares two similar public innovation projects in employment management of which one was governed hands-off and the other hands-on. The cases reveal several problems with hands-off governance eventually risking innovation while hands-on governance consistently support innovation. Contrary to previous assumptions hands-off governance through competition in a complex environment confound the objective of the project. Hands-on governance, meanwhile, provide information and support that help the project to experiment and learn. The public governance theory should recognize the innovation potential of hands-on governance in the often complex public sector and be wary of mixing hands-off and hands-on governing techniques.Peer reviewe

Homeland Political Trust Among Emigrants : The Case of Finland-Swedes

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The Evaluation of Innovations : How to Evaluate the Transformative Value of the Cohesion Policy for Managing Purposes

Peer reviewe

The tie that binds? : A comparison of ethnicity‐based party ties among emigrated and resident citizens

Recent decades have seen a trend toward enfranchising emigrated citizens in home country elections. Political parties have also become increasingly interested in connecting with emigrant voters. That said, we still know little of what voters think of the parties in the home country and how party preferences may change because of migration. On the one hand, research shows that the experience of migration and the context of the host country have a significant impact on the political behavior of migrants. On the other hand, party ties are known to be resistant to change. In this paper, we study how what is generally assumed to be the strongest of party ties, namely ties to an ethnic party, is affected by migration. Utilizing two highly comparable surveys of resident and non-resident citizens, we study how identifying with an ethnic minority party among Finland-Swedes in Finland, where they constitute a linguistic minority, compares with emigrated Finland-Swedes in Sweden, where they speak the majority language. We find that party ties, even with an ethnic party, tend to be weaker for emigrated citizens. However, the difference is relatively small and only materializes after an extended stay abroad.Peer reviewe

Mapping the post-bureaucratic landscape : project managers’ perception of bureaucracy in European Union Cohesion policy projects

New post-bureaucratic organizational forms, such as projects, are increasingly used in policy implementation. Their assumed benefits in decreasing bureaucracy and increasing flexibility have, however, been questioned. It has been argued that public projects increase red tape (or bureaucracy perceived as a nuisance) because of the formal rules associated with them. Despite the topicality of the subject, we do not know how public project bureaucracy is perceived by the actors involved. This article explores the bureaucracy of public projects by analysing project managers' perceptions of them with data from European Union Cohesion policy projects in Finland. The data consist of project register data and a survey to project managers (N = 728). The study finds that when talking of the perception of bureaucracy, it is relevant to distinguish between a general attitude towards bureaucracy and a specific perception of the task at hand. The general attitude seems more negative than the specific perception of bureaucracy. We also show that project managers' experience, institutional background and share of administrative tasks in the project condition the extent to which bureaucracy is perceived as red tape. To conclude, the findings are discussed in relation to previous research on red tape in public administration. Points for practitioners Project organization connotes flexibility and innovation but involves also bureaucracy, which can be received as red tape, especially for inexperienced managers. In general, managers consider project bureaucracy as red tape, while in their own projects, bureaucracy is seen as less burdensome. Public managers have an advantage over managers from non-public organizations by perceiving public project bureaucracy as less burdensome.Peer reviewe

Vad förklarar variationen i projektens effektivitet? : En granskning av organisatoriska egenskapers inverkan på effektivitet i tillfälliga organisationer

Offentliga sektorns verksamhet organiseras allt oftare i form av projekt. Inom regionalpolitiken är projekt redan det vanligaste sättet att genomföra verksamhet. Användningen av projekt motiveras med förväntningar om effektivitet. Projektens effektivitet antas utgående från projektteorin med förankring i företagsvärlden grunda sig på deras tidsbegränsning, möjlighet till att föra samman olika aktörer och flexibla organisationer. Kritiker har dock ifrågasatt inverkan av dessa egenskaper på projektens effektivitet i en komplex miljö som offentliga sektorn. Oklarhet råder dock i frågan på grund av bristfällig forskning i området. Utbredningen av projekt inom offentliga sektorn gör att kunskap om vad som påverkar projektens effektivitet är av central betydelse för organisering av verksamhet. Mätning av effektivitet i offentliga sektorn är också mer komplicerat än i företagsvärlden. Kunskap om hur projektens effektivitet i offentliga sektorn kan förstås är viktigt för organisering av verksamhet. Denna avhandling visar om projektens egenskaper, som förklarar projektens effektivitet i företagsvärlden, förklarar variationen i projektens effektivitet i offentliga sektorn. I undersökningen diskuteras och operationaliseras också olika sätt att mäta projektens effektivitet i offentliga sektorn. Projektens egenskaper, vars betydelse för effektiviteten i offentliga sektorn utgående från projektteorin undersöks, är projektets längd, närvaro av tidspress i projektet, fortsättningen av projektet efter dess avslutning, grad av samverkan av offentliga aktörer i projektet och projektets storlek. Dessa är undersökningens oberoende variabler. Projektens effektivitet mäts med fyra mått som motsvarar de centrala dimensionerna av effektivitet i offentliga sektorn. Effektivitetsmåtten är undersökningens beroende variabler. Som metod används multivariat regressionsanalys. Resultaten visar att projektens effektivitet i offentliga sektorn påverkas delvis av projektens längd, närvaro av tidspress, grad av samverkan och organisationsstorlek. Kortare projekt är mer effektiva än längre projekt. Närvaro av tidspress ökar också på projektens effektivitet. Graden av samverkan av offentliga aktörer i projektet ökar inte direkt på projektens effektivitet men uppvisar vissa tecken av inverkan på effektivitet. Mindre projekt är däremot inte mer effektiva än större projekt. Tvärtom visar sig större projekt vara mer effektiva än mindre projekt. Undersökningen klargör att företagsvärldens antaganden om vad som förklarar projektens effektivitet endast delvis gäller för projekt i en komplex miljö som offentliga sektorn. Genom att beakta projektens längd, närvaro av tidspress, möjlighet till samverkan och organisationsstorlek kan projekten bland annat i regionalpolitiken organiseras effektivare. Undersökningen visar också att olika mått bör användas tillsammans i mätning av projektens effektivitet i offentliga sektorn. Undersökningens resultat kan gynna organisering av projekt i offentliga sektorn, inverkan av politiken och den framtida samhällsutvecklingen

Welfare Services from a Minority Perspective : Explaining Satisfaction with Language-Based Welfare Services among Swedish-Speaking Finns

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Long Hours, Uneasy Feelings : Parliamentary Work in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

A correction has been published: Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 75, Issue 3, July 2022, Page 576, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab034Politicians' work pressure is gaining more attention in parliamentary studies. To participate in the discussion about governing under pressure, this article offers an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how representatives navigate within a flexible, limitless work culture. This article presents a new inquiry to re-examine contemporary political agency by combining cultural studies theories with empirical insights in Nordic countries. By analysing 52 semi-structured interviews with MPs in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the study finds that politics attracts people who want to change the world, but these attributes may initiate a vicious cycle, taking the form of psychological strain.Peer reviewe

Luottamuksen kääntöpuoli : poliittisen epäluottamuksen typologia ja teoreettinen viitekehys

Peer reviewe

Long Hours, Uneasy Feelings: Parliamentary Work in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

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