Good administration is the fundamental prerequisite for the functioning of a state. The quality of its actions determines the rule of law, progress, and social equilibrium. Good administration ensures public welfare. Therefore, the trust of citizens in governmental institutions depends on good administration. However, many questions regarding the functioning of authorities and the effects of their actions remain unanswered in research, partly due to the lack of empirical studies. Hence, the cooperative doctoral program aims firstly to interdisciplinarily examine the individual components of good administration and secondly, to explore the reasons for good administrative behavior and the possibilities to influence it.
In the sub-project on the conceptualization and effects of administrative culture, the focus lies on the employees or members of an administration, who are crucial for good administration. In addition to skills and knowledge, the perception of administrative actions and the context in which they take place are also significant. Changes are typically successful when organizations foster an open, trust-based communication and leadership culture, where the joy of experimentation, collective learning, iterative development, and process improvement have a solid place in employees' work reality and are embedded in the organizational culture of the administration. This doctoral project aims to investigate the effects of administrative culture on administrative actions using qualitative and quantitative methods. It is important to conceptualize and operationalize administrative culture first. The perspective of administrative staff, their perceptions, and their behaviors are at the center of the considerations, which are complemented by an examination of collegiality and leadership relationships.
