Premises for sustainability – participatory budgeting as a way to construct collaborative innovation capacity in local government
Pulkkinen, Meri; Sinervo, Lotta-Maria; Kurkela, Kaisa (2023-02-16)
Emerald
16.02.2023
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20230915127365
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20230915127365
Kuvaus
vertaisarvioitu
© Meri Pulkkinen, Lotta-Maria Sinervo and Kaisa Kurkela. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and noncommercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
© Meri Pulkkinen, Lotta-Maria Sinervo and Kaisa Kurkela. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and noncommercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Tiivistelmä
Purpose
In this paper, the authors focus on participatory budgeting (PB) as an organizational issue in local government. The aim of this study is to analyze the premises of PB becoming institutionalized in local governance by scrutinizing the factors that enable or disable PB as a collaborative innovation process, and that in turn build innovative capacity. The authors study how the collaborative innovation process constructs the innovation capacity of local government and further how this enables PB to institutionalize in local government. With this study, the authors deepen the understanding of PB as a collaborative innovation process that may encounter obstacles and hindrances, but also enablers and drivers for creating and transforming sustainable collaborative practices in local government.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors present a case study from one Finnish local government, the city of Lahti. The authors employ multifaced empirical data collected from the city of Lahti in two PB rounds between 2019 and 2022. Data include surveys for citizens and employees and municipal councilors and altogether 24 interviews with employees and councilors. The authors also gathered data by observing the PB process in Lahti, taking parts in workshops and meetings between 2019 and 2022. Municipal documents were likewise used as data in this study.
Findings
The institutionalization of PB in a local government organization requires organizational innovation capacity, not only individuals who are keen, motived and committed to work on PB. However, the Lahti case shows that successful PB results from the citizens' viewpoint can on one hand be reached while simultaneously the sustainability of PB needs more organizational commitment and support that materializes into managerial activities. The authors found that adequate resourcing is a key question in the institutionalization of PB.
Originality/value
In the present study, the authors approach the often-neglected topic of PB from the professional viewpoint in public administration. The originality of the empirical setting is the multifaced data collection during the first two rounds of PB in Lahti. It is highly relevant to analyze PB in its early stages as the organizational difficulties and resistance are at the time at their highest. This study offers a unique perspective on to the initialization of a novel participatory method in a city where no such efforts on this scale have been implemented before.
In this paper, the authors focus on participatory budgeting (PB) as an organizational issue in local government. The aim of this study is to analyze the premises of PB becoming institutionalized in local governance by scrutinizing the factors that enable or disable PB as a collaborative innovation process, and that in turn build innovative capacity. The authors study how the collaborative innovation process constructs the innovation capacity of local government and further how this enables PB to institutionalize in local government. With this study, the authors deepen the understanding of PB as a collaborative innovation process that may encounter obstacles and hindrances, but also enablers and drivers for creating and transforming sustainable collaborative practices in local government.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors present a case study from one Finnish local government, the city of Lahti. The authors employ multifaced empirical data collected from the city of Lahti in two PB rounds between 2019 and 2022. Data include surveys for citizens and employees and municipal councilors and altogether 24 interviews with employees and councilors. The authors also gathered data by observing the PB process in Lahti, taking parts in workshops and meetings between 2019 and 2022. Municipal documents were likewise used as data in this study.
Findings
The institutionalization of PB in a local government organization requires organizational innovation capacity, not only individuals who are keen, motived and committed to work on PB. However, the Lahti case shows that successful PB results from the citizens' viewpoint can on one hand be reached while simultaneously the sustainability of PB needs more organizational commitment and support that materializes into managerial activities. The authors found that adequate resourcing is a key question in the institutionalization of PB.
Originality/value
In the present study, the authors approach the often-neglected topic of PB from the professional viewpoint in public administration. The originality of the empirical setting is the multifaced data collection during the first two rounds of PB in Lahti. It is highly relevant to analyze PB in its early stages as the organizational difficulties and resistance are at the time at their highest. This study offers a unique perspective on to the initialization of a novel participatory method in a city where no such efforts on this scale have been implemented before.
Kokoelmat
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