This study explores the utilization of administrative data by child welfare managers across various municipalities in Norway, focusing on the types of data used, methodologies employed, and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of these practices. A qualitative interview study was conducted with 16 leaders from eight different municipalities. Participants included chief municipal executives, heads of health and social services, and Child Welfare Services (CWS) managers. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews focusing on the management and use of administrative data in CWS. Thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes related to data use and its impact on services. The study found diverse practices in the use of administrative data, with variations influenced by municipal size and resources. Larger municipalities tended to use data for strategic planning and quality improvement, while smaller municipalities focused on operational management and compliance. Strengths of data usage included enhanced monitoring, user-centred approaches, and systematic quality improvements. The findings highlight the potential of administrative data to improve CWS but underscore the need for better data management practices and capabilities, particularly in smaller municipalities. Enhancing data integration, investing in data quality, and developing targeted training programs for data analysis could improve the effectiveness of data-driven practices.
Over the past 20 years, the Norwegian department responsible for immigrant integration has been relocated seven times within the ministerial structure. Yet we know little about how such organisational changes impact policy development, whether recurrent changes produce specific effects, and the role of organisational culture in the processes. The article explores how changes in organisational structure affect three mechanisms in the political process: 1) agenda-setting, 2) policy instruments, and 3) coordination. We find that the main goals for integration have remained stable, but the ministerial affiliation and frequent shifts have influenced the use of policy instruments and interorganisational coordination. Contrary to theoretical expectations of negative effects and resistance to recurrent reorganisations, we find an organisational culture that accepts, nurtures and exploits the opportunities these changes bring about, including greater interorganisational coordination, utilisation of different sectoral toolboxes, and the possibility of putting integration on the agenda in new ministries.
This article argues that public managers aiming to implement co-creation initiatives must find ways of coping with the emerging conflicts that arise from the clashes with traditional forms of governance. In this article we study these coping strategies focussing on who becomes involved (who), what is the value one intends to create (what), and how is co-creation organized (how). The theoretical part of the paper develops a typology of coping strategies covering avoidance, separation, compromise and integration. The analysis of these coping strategies is based on data from a Norwegian research project where a project group has followed nine examples of co-creation over a longer period. The study shows that real-world co-creation struggles to live up to an idealized definition of co-creation, and the concluding part discusses both negative and positive interpretations of this finding.
Finnish municipalities operating under an identical statutory framework show large variation in detailed planning performance: the national average duration of detailed plan amendments was 25.7 months (2015), while the case studied here was completed in approximately 4.7 months. This study examines how institutional conditions shape the efficiency of local detailed planning in Finland through a qualitative case study of Ilmajoki municipality, a densely populated Finnish municipality. Drawing on Scott’s institutional pillars (regulatory, normative, and cultural–cognitive), the study applies process tracing and thematic analysis of municipal planning documents and process-level evidence. The main contribution is a mechanism-based explanation of how institutional pillars translate into efficiency at the municipal level. Findings show that proactive administrative arrangements—such as strengthened coordination and governance structures—reduce lead times by preventing late-stage iterations while maintaining legality and transparency. In addition, cultural–cognitive elements (shared routines or understanding and coordination norms) support efficiency by enabling upstream coordination and trust-based interaction under resource constraints. The study provides transferable insights for Nordic municipalities aiming to improve planning efficiency within existing legal frameworks. Limitations include a single-case design and embedded practitioner role, suggesting a need for comparative Nordic research.
While storytelling has become widely used in organizational communication, the study addresses this gap by applying linguistic methods to analyze three stories from Swedish municipal communication campaigns during the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim is to deepen understanding of the mechanisms of organizationally crafted storytelling and how they may shape discursive legitimation in local government. Drawing on narrative linguistics and multimodal discourse analysis, we examine how meaning is produced in these narratives. The analysis identifies three intertwined mechanisms structuring municipal storytelling: personification, values, and a shared narratorship. These mechanisms foster emotional engagement, construct images of responsible and caring municipalities, and invite readers into communities of action. At the same time, we show the complex - and at times paradoxical - nature of storytelling: while stories can clarify information and enhance accessibility, they may also obscure or blur understanding by allowing municipalities to promote themselves subtly, make strategic selections about which aspects to emphasize, and communicate organizational interests without clearly revealing themselves as the sender. The study contributes to a more critically informed perspective on discursive legitimation and underscores the need for reflexivity when public authorities use storytelling to reach out to citizens.
This article examines the challenges and opportunities of delivering urban policies through initiated their light rail projects in the early 2000s, but only Tampere's light rail system has been implemented. The article explores why similar projects led to different outcomes and different timelines for related development. The first theoretical framework focuses on "transit-oriented development", which promotes sustainable urban growth through transit systems, for example light rail projects that also offer economic benefits among other possible goals, such as reducing ecological footprint and segregation. Another key framework involves examining the interactions between public officials and decisionmakers, where local culture and relationships influence project advancement. The article uses documentation from city councils and interviews with key civil servants and decisionmakers in both cities. It finds that in these two cities geography, economic factors, and political support differ significantly, affecting project success. While rational arguments are important, aligning beliefs and goals among stakeholders is crucial for progress. Among other factors, differences in decision-making cultures have led to divergent outcomes in each city's transit-oriented development efforts.
Based on a thematic content analysis of 63 key policy documents from the five Nordic countries, we discuss national strategies about introducing welfare technology to care for older persons. We argue that the Nordic care regime is a central research context in two senses: 1) the tradition of strong states and extensive social rights, and 2) the transformation of welfare states through marketisation and digitalisation, which also underpin welfare technology policies. We contribute to care policy research by contrasting the Nordic strategies and definitions and by identifying friction emerging within and across them. Our analysis shows that, while the overall image of WT policy is rather similar between the Nordic countries, the Danish, Finnish and Norwegian policy documents show signs of the earliest implementation. While the rest of the countries have implemented pilot-based, regional approaches, Denmark has seen a more centrally driven development. Our analysis also identifies friction in the welfare technology policies, portrayed as overly optimistic expectations; contested national rollouts; and financial resources designated for pilots and acquisition but not for maintenance costs. We argue that the notion of friction may support inter-stakeholder communication by providing cues to and making sense of the complexity of welfare technology innovation.
Middle managers, such as school form managers and school area managers, have come to play a crucial role in local public administration in Sweden. We need to understand the forms of power they exercise, as middle managers-in contrast to chief education officers and principals-they do not have a legally defined mandate. This article draws upon new institutionalist perspectives to enhance knowledge and understanding of how chief education officers, middle managers, and principals perceive middle managers to exercise power over, power to, and power with in administrations and in relation to other officers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents in four local education administrations across three municipalities in Sweden. The results show that middle managers in the study exercise all three types of power, and that not only regulative but also normative and cultural-cognitive perspectives contribute to explaining the expansion or limitation of their power. Notably, the institutional perspectives can coexist to different degrees, depending on the context and situation, with implications for the relative administrative power of middle managers. Without a clearly defined legal mandate, their exercise of power raises urgent accountability concerns.
Building on its legacy under previous titles –Kommunal Ekonomi och Politik (1997–2009) and Offentlig Förvaltning: Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (2010–2013)– the Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (SJPA) has, over the past three decades, established itself as a central platform for scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of public administration across Scandinavia. As we mark the 30th anniversary of the journal, this special issue offers an opportunity to reflect on past contributions while charting out future directions in public sector research. Since its inception, SJPA has documented key developments in governance, from the rise of New Public Management (NPM) and market-driven reforms in the 1990s to current debates on digitalization, sustainability, and collaborative governance.
This article employs Dewey's pragmatist theory and a follow-up study design to explore how Finnish national-level decision-makers perceived and interpreted lessons learned at two different time points during the crisis: first during the acute stage in 2021 (n = 21) and later following the stage of high vaccination coverage and the conclusion of the acute stage in 2022-2023 (n = 16; 15 of which took part also in the first interview and 1 having transferred to a key role after 2021). Interviewees represent key ministries, other national governmental organizations with pandemic governance responsibilities, expert organizations, and authorities responsible for preparedness. Analyses aimed to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic, and explore lessons learned as situationally emerging, evolving, and processual. Results reveal how lessons were intertwined with political decision-making, experienced as temporally impractical and easily forgotten, and shaped through a dichotomy of crisis and normalcy. For further research on crisis lessons, we call for greater acknowledgement of the politicized nature of defining lessons learned, measures to overcome the tendency of lessons to fade, and management of continuity across the crisis-normalcy divide. Conclusions offer suggestions for overcoming these difficulties in preparation for future crises.
The purpose of this paper is to explore context adaptation of change processes in the setting of public administration. This is done by adopting a contingency approach. Thus, the research question guiding this study is: How is context adaptation enacted in change processes and what are the behavioural implications? Drawing on empirical findings from the Swedish Transport Administration, the study illustrates the enactment of context adaptation and its behavioural implications through the phases of change. The analysis identifies key contextual factors and contingency variables, demonstrating that context adaptation is enacted by managers and employees. Notably, certain context adaptation led to contradictory behavioural patterns. This study hence contributes to public administration literature by exploring the enactment of context adaption in change processes which represents an understudied phenomenon in this field.
While collaboration is often promoted as a solution to complex societal challenges, the role of management accounting tools in facilitating these efforts remains a source of ongoing contention. By drawing on 29 interviews, this study examines a coordination association (samordningsf & ouml;rbund in Swedish) composed of public organizations that jointly fund rehabilitation measures to combat long-term unemployment. The study shows how the pooled budget functions as a ground for collaboration by creating financial interdependence and enabling coordination, communication, and shared practices. While this formalized structure fosters stability, it is also prone to anomic tendencies such as disengagement and short-termism. These tendencies undermine collaboration unless actively countered by practices that promote mutual understanding, shared goals, and practical coordination strategies. Ultimately, effective management accounting in collaborations appears to require not only external enforcement but also internal commitment shaped by the collaboration's own dynamics and values.
Universities worldwide have increased their competition for the best students and employees. Consequently, business schools are pressured to demonstrate excellence and differentiate themselves through brand building. One essential part of branding is the quality narratives that universities present to the public. We study the presentation of quality in Nordic business schools. Data concerning the presentation and manifestation of quality by the Nordic business schools was collected from 41 business schools' public web pages. We used content analysis to gather 12 quality narratives and interpret them. We identify 12 items applied in the quality narratives by the studied business schools. Our results show homogeneity in communication stemming from the pursuit of legitimacy and conformity to expectations. We demonstrate that the visible manifest content of the quality manifestos of Nordic universities functions as artifacts similar to tangible and visual representations, heavily laden with market-oriented neoliberal values. We highlight how Nordic business schools have predominantly adopted a uniform approach to branding in higher education, as the universities align with their institutional settings.
The article explores the collaboration between cabinet ministers and civil servants in the Finnish political system from the minister's perspective. The relationship between politicians and public administration is a classic topic, and an in-depth analysis from the politician's perspective is essential for gaining a deeper understanding of politico- administrative relations. Although there are many theoretical frameworks for politico- administrative relations, there has been less focus on the individual perspective and how politicians perceive their role. The focus is on how ministers view their role in relation to civil servants and how they describe their collaboration with them. The article draws on 29 interviews with persons who have served as cabinet ministers in Finland between 2000 and 2019. The depictions of how the ministers perceive their role and collaborate with civil servants include some variation. From a theoretical perspective, there are both classic views on the role of civil servants and understandings that emphasize a complementary relationship to a greater extent. A focus on the individual perspective reveals clear variation in the experiences of cabinet ministers, and an analysis focusing on their perspective provides a more nuanced understanding of politico-administrative relations.
The “de-bureaucratization” of the public sector is a recurring theme in politics. Scandinavian politicians are working to scale back control-based performance management through trust-based governance, enabling professionals to develop flexible, local solutions to enhance welfare services. While the positive impact of trust on organizational processes is well established, it remains unclear whether efforts to strengthen trust in the public sector will improve welfare.Based on a systematic review and using the education field as a case, this article explores whether research evidence supports the idea that trust can enhance welfare, defined as school outcomes.It addresses the following questions: How do trust-based leadership and governance affect school outcomes in primary and lower-secondary schools? And how can findings from extant research inform the future implementation of trust-based leadership and governance to help ensure positive outcomes? The main finding is that trust-based leadership and governance can yield positive outcomes, both indirectly through improved teaching practices and directly through enhanced student achievement.Moreover, the findings bring us closer to understanding how trust works and what decisionmakers should consider to successfully strengthen it.The article recommends further research to advance trust measurement methodologies, which could simultaneously provide decisionmakers with actionable insights into the practical dynamics of trust implementation.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Nordic governments to implement various measures to control the virus’s spread, impacting individuals in different ways. This study seeks to understand the extent to which people in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) perceive these COVID-19 regulations as reasonable. We conducted surveys among representative samples of citizens in these countries and analyzed the data using linear regression. Our findings indicate a high level of acceptance for these measures, suggesting a willingness to sacrifice significant freedoms in a pandemic crisis. However, this acceptance does not imply that 'anything goes.' Acceptance varies based on individual circumstances and context, aligning with the notion of critical compliance. The study underscores the importance of both state-centered and citizen-based perspectives in understanding public acceptance of pandemic measures. It raises questions about citizens' willingness to sacrifice fundamental human rights and highlights potential negative impacts on democratic standards and values during crises. Our insights can assist policymakers in creating more effective and widely accepted regulations in response to pandemics or similar crises.
Research finds strong correlations between how employees perceive regulation and their motivation, but we lack a full understanding of how these dynamics evolve over time and across regulatory contexts. This article addresses this gap by analyzing how changes over time in actual national regulation and teachers’ individual perceptions of the regulation relate to their intrinsic task motivation. Empirically, we utilize variation over time in national regulation of primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. Large teacher surveys from 2010, 2014, and 2023 inform us about teachers’ perceptions of the varying regulation and their intrinsic task motivation. We find that teachers who perceive national regulation as supportive – rather than controlling – tend to have higher intrinsic task motivation. Additionally, teachers’ intrinsic task motivation decreased over time as national regulation became more restrictive. Notably, the decrease continued even when regulation later became less restrictive, suggesting that restrictive regulation may have long-term negative consequences for motivation. While isolating individual context factors remains challenging, our analysis of employee perceptions and motivation indicates that national regulation can play a key role in shaping motivation. The results are interpreted based on qualitative responses from 1,724 teachers and deepen our understanding of temporal dynamics in regulation and motivation.
"Place-based policy" is a widely recognized concept prioritising local contexts in creating sustainable policies. However, research on its adoption in geographically disadvantaged areas suggest that such areas fail to effectively design and implement place-based policies for development. This paper originates from a general interest in the challenges associated with the design and implementation of place-based policies in geographically disadvantaged areas. Building on previous research that identifies 'external pressure' as a hindrance to the development of place-based policy, this paper investigates a specific case of such pressure: municipal rankings. Central to our discussion is the ranking published by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (COSE). According to qualitative data generated through participatory observation and surveys with 43 local government representatives in 39 geographically disadvantaged Swedish municipalities, rankings published by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (COSE) are perceived to influence the formulation of local policy and planning. Our conclusion is that external pressures from standardized rankings impede the development of genuinely place-based policies, plans, and strategies. By illuminating the tension between external metrics and local needs, we contribute original and vital knowledge to regional development, public policy, and sustainable planning, paving the way for more nuanced approaches to policy development in disadvantaged areas.
Collaboration between the state and the defense industry has long been seen as critical for national security. Nonetheless, scholarly studies on state defense industry relations (SDIR) are still limited in the field of public policy and administration. This article provides an empirical analysis and national case study of SDIR. Through process tracing methods and analysis of official documents and interviews transcripts, the case study investigates how the issue of ammunition security of supply (SoS) became prominent on the Swedish government’s agenda. The case is examined with a Multiple Streams Analysis (MSA) offering insights into policymaking and agenda-setting. The study makes at least three contributions: It addresses the need for bridging public policy and defense and security studies; it adds more empirical research on SDIR to defense and policy studies; and it offers lessons on how states can navigate security concerns in volatile times.
