What are we researching?
Public organisations aim to create public value: finding solutions to societal problems, implementing policy, and providing public services to citizens and businesses. To realise this, they must (1) be well organised and managed internally and (2) cooperate well with executive agencies, citizens, civil society organisations andprivate businesses.
Why and how are we are we doing this research?
On the one hand, our research focuses on the internal management of public organisations: organisational structure and form, operations, financial management, use of ICT and HR policy. On the other hand, we research the cooperation between public organisations and other organisations such as executive agencies, societal organisations and private businesses, and the interaction with citizens.
We study how public managers and civil servants experience and perform their work. Topics covered include concrete issues such as sustainable contracting or procurement and relationships between governments and executive agencies or private partners, but also perceptions and relationships between civil servants and citizens, or democratic accountability of executive agencies for their performance. We look at organisations and individuals - civil servants and citizens - and how they implement and experience policy, respectively.
Research often zooms in on specific cases, with researchers coming into close contact with the organisations. In addition, experimental research methods are used in combination with questionnaires. As a result, our research can be useful for both practice (e.g. through commissioned research) and science (through systematic research and replications).
Through our research, we learn how public sector organisations' internal and external management functions and/or can be improved so that they can create the desired public value.
How does our research make an impact?
Because our research is often conducted in cooperation with or commissioned by public sector organisations, it immediately provides practical recommendations. These can be used to improve internal work processes, develop better cooperation relations with numerous partners, or increase the satisfaction of employees and citizens who use the services of these organisations. But our knowledge also reaches practice in other ways, such as through publications and advice we give, as members of committees or as external experts in parliamentary investigations.