Smart governance as a new stage in the development of public sector management brings many challenges to the cities of the 21st century.It opens new possibilities for how to maximize the socio-economic and ecological performance of cities and cope with negative externalities.But to achieve these benefits, it is necessary to create conditions for smart governance implementation.The paper aims to define the principles and prerequisites of smart governance development in cities theoretically and verify them in the real conditions of cities.Based on the theoretical review on smart governance paper identifies principles and prerequisites of smart governance development in cities.They are verified by research results of two sub-researchesone among the experts from academia and practices and one among the representatives of the cities in the Slovak Republic.The paper identifies also the challenges in the implementation of smart governance and the potential future research in the international context.

National and local governments around the world are trying to implement gender responsive budgeting (GRB).Rarely the focus is on local levels and consequently, no sensitive tool is available to measure GRB implementation at the local level.The paper tried to conceptualise some characteristics for the assessment of GRB process at local government units, using Albania as a case study.Based on a literature review (i.e., content analysis) and case studies of seven local government units (municipalities) in Albania, the proposed maturity model for GRB (GRB MM) at the local level is determined.Main characteristic attributes to develop a GRB MM were identified setting the layout for the development of a maturity model to classify stages/levels of GRB implementation as well.

Public administration and governance must adapt to the changing socio-economic environment, improving quality, process efficiency, and collaboration. Hence, public administration and public governance models have been significantly modified multiple times, resulting in differences in public governance practices. This paper examines different public governance models’ principles in Slovene and Japanese public administration. It quantifies elements based on the models' principles and applies them to an empirical case using a survey of 55 Slovene and 135 Japanese public managers. The independent samples t-test examines the differences in characteristics of public governance practices between state administration and local government in Slovenia and Japan. The results show that state administration institutions in both countries are strongly characterised by the (Neo)Weberian model’s principles, while Slovenia's local government leans towards Digital-era governance (DEG) and good governance (GG) principles. Japan's state and local administrations show equal presence of New public management (NPM), DEG, and GG models. The study aims to bridge a research gap by providing new findings on how different public governance models can be found at various Slovene and Japanese public administration levels and offers insights for public managers and policymakers for future public administration reforms.

Research trust in e-government has increased through the decades. Trust in e-government is an important instrument for citizens who intend to use digital services. The aim of this research is to measure and provide an overview of how the level of people trust Jakarta Kini super-application as an e-Government in DKI Jakarta. This study uses a factor score analysis with the Mplus program and OECD method to characterize the trust level of the valid instruments SRMR, CFI, and TLI values. The pre-test results on the validity and reliability of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 1687 respondents. The results of this study indicate that the level of trust of the people in DKI Jakarta is in the medium to high category. It was found based on the factor score value in accordance with the average level of trust in the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, which was 7.5 out of 10, with a scale of 1 indicating no trust at all, to a scale of 10 indicating full trust from the entire population. This level belongs to the medium to full trust level category. The lesson learned is that the government must take action to increase trust, such as identifying factors affecting the public use of the Jakarta Kini super-application. This study provides a discussion of the findings, and limitations and further proposes potential directions for future research

Digital transformation is trending pursuant to the almost ubiquitous use of digital technology by private and public sectors, and general populations. The disruption caused by advancing technology requires strategic responses to mitigate the negative aspects of such disruption and generate positive change. Other disruption, moreover, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, additionally imposes limitations on what we consider to be normal life, further engendering the utilization of digital technology. Even though the impact of digital transformation can be assessed by means of different metrics, including the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), they do not provide sufficient clarity in terms of pain points and improvement possibilities. The differences in relation to the availability of said technology and the skills necessary for its optimal use, which are closely related to user education level, age, and economic status, are additional parameters governments and policymakers need to consider, and data-driven decision-making is essential to ensure optimal policy-making and investment vis-à-vis digital transformation, such as the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. This paper analyses Slovenia’s digital transformation between 2018 and 2021, using data collected from more than 5,000 respondents, to detect technology use differences in terms of demographics, focusing on the digital divide and the COVID-19 crisis, and compares Slovenia’s experience with other EU Member States, focusing especially on online public administration services. Our results evidence that the digital divide is the main differentiating factor in Slovenia and that gender is accordingly not of great import, and that Slovenia’s oldest generation and some members of younger generations face problems when endeavoring to digitally integrate. Compared to other EU Member States, Slovenia is average according to DESI, but the findings show that EU Member States should take its specifics into account to address their own DT paradigm.

The aim of the study is to analyse and select the best practices and solutions used in the process of shaping leadership competencies in selected military academies. The research was carried out on the basis of the experts’ reviews, analysis of the education programs, and the authors' own experiences. The main conclusions are that there are many similarities between the studied academies, however, differences were also identified that may have a significant impact on the shaping of leadership competencies at individual academies. As a result, in the nextstage of the research, there were identified areas that should be improved at the General Tadeusz Kosciuszko Military University of Land Forces in Poland.

The profession of a social worker is one of the most important professions for the functioning of a household and society as a whole. A key feature of this type of activity is that an employer does not have economic benefits associated with the tasks that a social worker performs. The study aims to determine the components of job satisfaction of public social workers and to conduct a quantitative analysis of the dependence of these components on factors of the external (professional) environment. The research methodology is focused on considering the object as a system. To achieve a goal, other studies were analyzed with the allocation of categorical data of satisfaction components and external (professional) environment factors. Using the statistical method, categorical data are presented in the form of frequencies to conduct a quantitative analysis of the dependence of satisfaction components on external (professional) environment factors, using the correlation coefficient. The study focused on two categories - job satisfaction and the external (professional) environment. The most significant components of job satisfaction are interpersonal relationships and commitment to an organization; the most significant factors of the external (professional) environment are the interaction of social workers with different population groups and compliance with the law and regulations. On the other hand, the least significant components of job satisfaction are social connections and wages, and the least significant factors of the external environment are professional burnout and personal life. A positive relationship was established between the components of job satisfaction and factors of the external (professional) environment. This indicates that job satisfaction components have an inverse relationship with external environment factors such as rules and norms. The research results are applicable in the field of public policy development, as well as for managers of public institutions, in particular, human resource management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a major effect on the world economy and the world's population Statistics show worryingly, at the beginning of May there were almost 4 million diseases and almost 250,000 deaths in the world More than 1 million diseases are registered in the USA, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, France, and Russia This extremely difficult context has led us to make a comparative analysis of the measures that the governments of the states of the European Union have taken to manage it Our paper analyses the cooperation between the European Union and the states in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic The paper contains some recommendations for the governments of the Member States to solve the problems of their health systems and to relaunch the economy in the European space The results of the research are useful and interesting for the governments of the EU member states, which should have a unitary and coherent strategy to avoid economic and social imbalances The recommendations contained in this paper can be a reference and source of inspiration for the EU institutions to develop a coherent strategy for a rapid social and economic recovery

A comparative analysis of the practice of implementing e-government in different countries gives an opportunity to identify the advantages and disadvantages of existing information systems, find ways to optimize and improve the efficiency of public administration. The purpose of this study was to identify the leading countries in e-Government development for comparison with Ukraine, and to apply their positive experience in implementing e-portals, creating the necessary regulatory framework, disseminating the Internet, and attracting citizens to participate in the processes of forming the information society. The article explores the dynamics of E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and E-Participation Index (EPI), analyzes the achievements of developed countries in e-government, and identifies leading countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Spain whose experience is useful for its application in Ukraine. The qualitative analysis of the achievements of different countries was based on the UN e-Government knowledgebase and the United Nations E-Government Survey from 2003 to 2018, information from e-Governance research articles, government website data, newsletters, and research findings. The study of e-government practice in leading countries and in Ukraine shows that the development of public information space has many similarities and the process of e-government formation in developing countries in many spheres follows the path of developed countries, preserving their own national features. The authors of the article have identified the main common components of this process, outlined aspects of improving the practice of e-government in the direction of building an effective system of public administration.

The need to change the government’s role and focus more on stakeholders’ collaboration when striving to get over economic, social and environmental challenges is highlighted in strategic documents of the most of the EU countries. Also, scholars argue that collaboration between institutions and sectors is a significant when seeking for sustainability of a country. It is evident that improvement of interinstitutional collaboration practice requires a permanent deep look into a situation despite dozens research which have already determined the key factors of collaboration effectiveness. Thus, in our paper, we aim to identify the most important drivers for strengthening interinstitutional collaboration in organizations providing social services. With this aim in mind, we have examined the social service employees’ attitudes to interinstitutional collaboration as a means to ensure quality of services and, then, we have identified the key factors that allow forming strong long-term collaboration relationships between institutions providing social services. Our research shows that interinstitutional collaboration gives an opportunity to provide better quality social services, thus contributing to the improvement of social service standards in the state. On the other hand, we have observed that practitioners tend to put lesser emphasis on the importance of leadership while not mentioning joint values and collaboration process control mechanisms at all. Finally, it should be noted that in the case of our research, no interinstitutional collaboration constraints described in literature were emphasized. It seems that successful cases of interinstitutional collaboration have one feature in common – the problems are avoided, and misunderstandings are solved before their escalation.