Employee voice behavior and perceived control: Does remote work environment matter?

Important outcomes of perceived control and employee voice behavior include employee-driven innovation, increased productivity, and job satisfaction;therefore, it is essential to study if there is a difference in a remote versus an in-person work environment. The 81 participants in this study were employees at a public utilities department in a local municipal government that had worked both remotely and in-person during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. This research also looked at the role communication modalities played for both in-person and remote work scenarios. Although these employees indicated there was no difference in perceived control and employee voice. This study's data suggests that voice behavior and perceived control are stable attitudes that are not impacted by the move from in-person to remote work. As more employees press for remote work arrangements, these data indicate that managers should not expect voice or perceived control to be impacted (negatively or positively) when employees work remotely. These participants indicated both Zoom staff meetings and Zoom one-to-one meetings with their supervisor were important, however, only Zoom one-to-one meetings with the supervisor were indicated to be satisfactory, which is not surprising during a time of social isolation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Is there a post-COVID urban model? The pandemic as a catalyst of urban transformations in Buenos Aires

Since the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic, intellectuals and technical urban personnel across the world developed diagnostics and mediatic prophecies about the radical changes that cities would suffer and, particularly, spaces for public use. This text analyzes the urban changes that the Government of the City of Buenos Aires developed during the fourth period of the Republican Proposal Party (2019-2022), in response to the challenge of the pandemic. In addition, these changes are compared with the previous management of the same party between 2007 and 2019. The objective is to trace continuities and ruptures among the programs implemented, in relation to the rhetoric regarding public space, and in the urban planning used to design and justify urban policies. For this, a hybrid methodological design was developed that combines document, spatial, and cultural analysis. The methodological strategy was concentrated on the empirical production and descriptive and interpretative analysis of a documental body that included two main sources -- publications from local government and from mass media. From the results it is evident that, before the conformation of a new post-COVID urban paradigm, local urban management during the pandemic was characterized by the deepening of existing transformations and urban models. Thus, the pandemic operated as a catalyst for changes that were already being developed. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Transformation and Divide of Cities through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all sectors of society in a short period. In this paper, we study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smart cities through analyses of 311 data of cities and the residents in the United States. We have compared various aspects of municipal governments' service platforms and citizens' requests during pre-COVID, the lockdown, and the rest of the pandemic duration. Among multiple observations from the data, we discover the noticeable changes in the digital transformation of citizens' voices during the COVID-19 pandemic. We observe disparities in service adaptation across many cities, where only a few cities have quickly added pandemic responsive service types and favorable 311 mobile apps in addition to phone and online web services. Besides the digital transformation of residents and municipal governments, we also find that various aspects of divides of residents, such as economic, COVID-related health, and demands are closely related to each other. We have built a comprehensive website that dynamically collects 311 data from municipal open data of cities in the United States that other researchers or urban planners can use to understand citizens' voices better and draw insights. © 2022 IEEE.

E-administration in Polish and Hungarian Municipalities – a Comparative Analysis of the Regulatory Issues

E-administration became on important issues of the development of the municipal administrations. In this paper we examined the regulation of poland and Hungary to examine the challenges of these reforms. The Polish and Hungarian municipalities have been strongly influenced by the digitalisation. In the fields of administrative decisions, decision-making and public service provision new tools and methods have been introduced. We should emphasise, that the centrally operated platforms can be even interpreted as a new, 'soft' tool of the centralisation. However, the Polish and Hungarian systems are similar, but there are differences which are related to the different competences and spatial structure of the municipal systems of the two countries.

Local Policies in the Fight Against the Covid-19 Pandemic: Ankara and Rome Municipal Councils' Decisions

Purpose and methodology: This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is included in municipal councils' decisions and investigates the local policies developed through these decisions. Ankara and Rome Municipalities were selected as study samples. Turkey and Italy are both unitary states and their local government structures are similar because their local government systems are part of the Franco group, as defined by Hesse and Sharpe. Both cities have gained the status of metropolitan cities under the legal regulations adopted in recent years. For this reason, Ankara and Rome present similarities in terms of both the areas they serve and the responsibilities of being the capital. The decisions of their municipal councils were reviewed from March to December 2020. The decisions were analysed within the framework of the relevant commissions and application areas, and the local policies implemented in the fight against COVID-19 were put forward. Findings: According to the analyses, the Ankara Metropolitan Municipal Council intensified its decisions on economic support, social assistance, cleaning, public health, and local diplomacy, while the Rome Metropolitan Municipality's policies focused on security, education, economic support, social assistance, cleaning, and transportation services. As a result, both municipalities brought their COVID-19 proposals to the agenda of the council. Municipal assemblies played a vital role in helping their countries fight the pandemic as administrative units that provide the legal basis for implementing local policies. Strengthening local assemblies and expanding their mandate and responsibility in times of crisis could also support the success of central government policies. The findings reveal that fast and effective solutions delivered by local governments through local policies successfully curbed the pandemic that had spread around the world. Practical Implications: The policies implemented by local governments were impressive and complementary to central government policies, providing a valuable guideline for policymakers.

Intimate Partner Homicide in the Times of Covid-19 in Slovenia

The Covid-19 epidemic and the measures employed to tackle it have affected (inter alia) intrapersonal relationships and family life. This paper explores how those changed circumstances correlate with the patterns of intimate partner homicide (IPH) in Slovenia. For that purpose, we examine the recent IPH trends and compare them to trends in homicide in general. in the second part of the paper, we look qualitatively into all the cases of iPH that have allegedly occurred during the Covid-19 epidemic in Slovenia and that have been reported in online newspapers. The preliminary investigation into homicides committed during the Covid-19 epidemic reveals that intimate partner killings are likely to have occurred with more frequency, while their patterns have not been substantially changed.

Sentiment Analysis of Social Survey Data for Local City Councils

Big data analytics can be used by smart cities to improve their citizens’ liveability, health, and wellbeing. Social surveys and also social media can be employed to engage with their communities, and these can require sophisticated analysis techniques. This research was focused on carrying out a sentiment analysis from social surveys. Data analysis techniques using RStudio and Python were applied to several open-source datasets, which included the 2018 Social Indicators Survey dataset published by the City of Melbourne (CoM) and the Casey Next short survey 2016 dataset published by the City of Casey (CoC). The qualitative nature of the CoC dataset responses could produce rich insights using sentiment analysis, unlike the quantitative CoM dataset. RStudio analysis created word cloud visualizations and bar charts for sentiment values. These were then used to inform social media analysis via the Twitter application programming interface. The R codes were all integrated within a Shiny application to create a set of user-friendly interactive web apps that generate sentiment analysis both from the historic survey data and more immediately from the Twitter feeds. The web apps were embedded within a website that provides a customisable solution to estimate sentiment for key issues. Global sentiment was also compared between the social media approach and the 2016 survey dataset analysis and showed some correlation, although there are caveats on the use of social media for sentiment analysis. Further refinement of the methodology is required to improve the social media app and to calibrate it against analysis of recent survey data.

Potential of Youth Participation in Local Territory Branding Management

The purpose of this article is an attempt to determine the main characteristics of the potential for youth participation in branding of territory for the implementation of a scientific approach to branding of cities with the participation of residents in different countries. This is the first article that relatively approaches the issue of youth participation in branding of places and takes into account different experiences of countries. The results of a survey of young people in several cities in Poland, Romania, Armenia, Russia were used to develop a model of the potential for youth participation in territory branding on the basis of two scales - attractiveness of the territory and willingness of youth to participate in promoting settlements of their residence. Cross-country differences in the representation of various youth groups were identified in terms of their potential for participating in the branding of local territories. The model can be used as a basis for the development of urban programs for involving youth in territory branding. These programs do not differ significantly across countries and cities. However, the model can be used at the first stage of the development of such programs to highlight the specifics of each territory based on an assessment of the potential according to the research presented in the article.

Cybersecurity in the Local Government Sector in Poland: More Work Needs to be Done

Although cybersecurity is an important and complex issue that should be addressed by all government levels, so far little research has been devoted to cybersecurity at the local level. Existing literature lacks information on whether municipalities have implemented cybersecurity policies, if such policies are applied in practice and what they encompass. A CAWI method was used to collect the required data. The results indicate that while most municipalities have a document defining their security policy, they do not always apply it in practice. There is still little awareness regarding countering cyberattacks. Therefore, more emphasis should be placed on such issues as: integrating cybersecurity policies into local government management, the rising threat of cyber-attacks, consultations with security auditors, and cybersecurity management training. Based on all Polish municipalities, the research described in this paper partly fills the identified gap. Correspondence Address: Aneta Choodakowska, Ph.D., Assistant, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Department of Public Finance, 61-875 Poznań, al. Niepodległosci 10, Poland, email: aneta.choodakowska@ue.poznan.pl. Sławomira Kańduła, dr hab., Associate Professor, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Department of Public Finance, 61-875 Poznań, al. Niepodległosci 10, Poland, email: slawomira.kandula@ue.poznan.pl. Joanna Przybylska, Ph.D., Assistant, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Department of Public Finance, 61-875 Poznań, al. Niepodległosci 10, Poland, email: joanna.przybylska@ue.poznan.pl.

Do Local Budgets Influence Regional Development? Empirical evidence from Romania

Public agenda constantly include the topics of sound local finances and promoting regional development, especially in the context of the government's efforts to ensure a sustainable path of economic growth. From this point of view, our research is intended to empirically determine the role played by local finances on regional development, having Romania as a case study. We computed a Regional Development Index at county level, by comprising nine dimensions of progress: Our analysis encompasses data from TEMPO online database of National Institute of Statistic and from Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. The empirical evidence suggests a positive and significant relationship between some indicators of local budgets and our computed Regional Development Index. Reported to these results, our recommendations are directed towards the local fiscal policy, aiming to optimize the design of local budgetary indicators.