Public Management and Governance Review

Insights from Freedom of Information research: Recommendations for transparency policymaking and practice

2025-09-16T14:32:30+00:00

Freedom of Information (FOI) laws are essential for promoting a culture of transparency and accountability in public administration, yet their practical impact often falls short of expectations. This article synthesizes findings from two empirical studies analyzing citizen information requests submitted via a German FOI platform. The studies highlight the compliance gap between legal provisions (de jure transparency) and actual organizational behavior (de facto transparency), influenced by variations in FOI laws across Germany's federal states and factors such as request topics and communication tone. Drawing on the findings of this prior research, this article offers recommendations for public managers and policymakers to effectively design and implement FOI. In light of Austria’s late FOI implementation in fall 2025, the article specifically addresses the Austrian use case. The practical implications, however, extend beyond the German and Austrian research context and aim to improve responsiveness, foster a culture of openness in the public sector, and leverage digital tools for FOI usage.

Relations-oriented leadership in practice: Empirical insights from Danish public managers

2025-06-03T11:32:02+00:00

Social relationships within organizations are widely recognized in research as a vital resource for motivating and retaining engaged employees. Supporting these relationships is therefore a key managerial responsibility. Relations-oriented leadership offers considerable potential to foster such relationships, yet there remains a notable gap in practice-oriented research that explores how managers can concretely enact this leadership style. This article illustrates how relations-oriented leadership is practiced from the perspective of managers, offering empirical examples of leadership behaviors that strengthen social relationships. The analysis further shows how managers can navigate relational challenges through strategies involving physical presence, digital accessibility, and mental closeness. In addition, the article introduces a set of reflective questions designed to support practitioners in critically engaging with and refining their own relations-oriented leadership practices.

Misguiding donors and non-profit management by regulation: the role of ‘overhead’ costs

2025-05-26T09:07:10+00:00

Overhead costs and the concomitant efficiency notion are frequently used both to measure non-profit organisations’ performance in research and to select non-profit organisations worthy of donations. The main message of this article is that their concept and interpretation are not always correctly understood, even not by (influential) regulators imposing some potentially misleading disclosure rules. The arguments presented in this article depart from a short overview of the relevant cost concepts and their correct calculation, and contrasts them with the indicators usually looked at in practice and research. The article closes with some recommendations for non-profit organisations, potential donors, and governments.

Not all Wine and Roses: Nonprofit Consulting as Nonprofit-Sector-Adjacent Work

2025-07-07T08:48:46+00:00

Nonprofit organizations engage consultants for executive recruitment, strategic planning, and change management. Recent trends—including the growing reliance on consultants, the expansion of the nonprofit consulting industry, and the migration of nonprofit professionals into consulting roles—raise important questions about the roles consultants play and how they impact the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit consulting remains underexplored, with limited research into consultants’ practices and their impact on organizations. We investigate the individual, organizational, and sector-level dimensions of nonprofit consulting and share recommendations for nonprofit managers, organizations, consultants, and researchers.

It's Not the AI,... It's the Way You Use It: Making LLMs work in the Real World

2025-08-04T17:26:45+00:00

Pharmaceutical deviation and corrective and preventive action (CAPA) processes are broken—plagued by rushed closured, “human error” cliché and data silos. Can large language models (LLMs) fix this, or will they just automate bad habits? Based on expert interviews, this article reimagines LLMs not as decision makers but as devil’s advocates—tools that provoke better thinking, expose bias and deepen investigations. The proposed five-step roadmap demands more than tech: strong data governance, human oversight, iterative validation, small-scale pilots and a cultural shift toward learning. The EU’s draft Annex 22 on Artificial Intelligence (AI), released in July 2025 for public consultation, adds timely pressure—demanding traceability and accountability but risking innovation paralysis if applied too rigidly. The takeaway: LLMs could be transformative, but only if quality leaders have the courage to use them as catalysts for change—not as digital box-tickers in the same old broken system.

One year in the game … and Welcome! to the new co-editor

2025-07-07T09:13:49+00:00

In this Editorial, Jurgen Willems welcomes Lisa Hohensinn as the new co-editor for Public Management and Governance Review (PMGR). Together they discuss the first reactions since the launch of the journal, future plans, and ambitions. They also reflect on intriguing topics that are currently or will increasingly be on the minds of practitioners and researchers in the field of public management and governance.

Patient-centered medicine: What do patients want?

2025-07-09T12:56:51+00:00

In this data report, we provide insight into Austrian public opinion on criteria that are considered important in interactions with hospitals and doctors. Data was collected in a sample of 2,800 respondents, between January and June 2025. The most important criteria are: (1) Clean health care service environment, (2) Professional interactions with health care professionals, and (3) Clear and sufficient information. We observe differences based on demographics such as age, gender, occupation, educational level, and migration background. However, differences remain approximately within one scale point on a 9-point survey scale.

Patientenzentrierte Medizin: Was wollen Patient*innen?

2025-09-12T13:29:21+00:00

In diesem Datenreport geben wir einen Einblick in die öffentliche Meinung in Österreich zu Qualitätskriterien, die Patient*innen im Kontakt mit Krankenhäusern und Ärzt*innen als wichtig erachten. Die Daten wurden in einer Stichprobe von 2.800 Befragten zwischen Jänner und Juni 2025 erhoben. Die wichtigsten Kriterien sind: (1) eine saubere Umgebung im Gesundheitswesen, (2) professionelle Interaktionen mit Gesundheitspersonal und (3) klare und ausreichende Informationen. Es zeigen sich kleine Unterschiede in Bezug auf demografische Merkmale wie Alter, Geschlecht, Beruf, Bildungsgrad und Migrationshintergrund. Diese Unterschiede bleiben jedoch auf etwa einen Skalenpunkt auf einer 9-stufigen Befragungsskala beschränkt.