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Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 24796

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrés Navarro-Galera

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Guest Editor
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Interests: sustainability in the public sector; transparency of public entities; the roles of the public sector accounting; performance and efficiency in public services; financial default in public sector; accounting sustainability
Prof. Dr. David Ortiz-Rodríguez

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Guest Editor
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Interests: sustainability in the public sector; transparency of public entities; e-government; corporate social responsibility; public management; public evaluation; public sector accountingsustainability in the public sector; public sector accounting

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Paris Agreement or the UN Sustainable Development Goals highlights the concern around achieving sustainable growth. This approach ensures that actions against climate change can be compatible with economic growth and social development. Public administrations have an important role in achieving this sustainable development, both through their regulatory action and through their own management; regarding legal regulation because they have to raise awareness among other agents, while promoting the applicable regulations; and regarding management, because the high volume of activity carried out by the public sector has to be consistent with environmental sustainability, promoting social development while maintaining economic balance.

The literature has investigated financial sustainability in public entities. However, more research is needed into the management of public services from an economic, social, and environmental perspective. Likewise, public entities have to respond to a growing demand for information from different stakeholders, which has led to changes in the management of public transparency, including new legal regulations. In this regard, the changes that new technologies and the introduction of e-government have led toin the provision of public services and the change in the relationship between citizens and public administration have to be considered, too.

Thus, this Special Issue includes but is not limited to the following topics:

  • Contribution of public administrations to sustainable development;
  • Instruments for evaluation and management of the sustainability of public services;
  • Transparency about economic sustainability in the public sector;
  • Transparency about social sustainability in the public sector;
  • Transparency about environmental sustainability in the public sector;
  • The role of the governmental accounting systems for the management of sustainability in public services;
  • Influential factors in sustainability management in public entities;
  • Influential factors in transparency about sustainability in public entities.

Original papers related to the above topics and also dealing generally with methodologies, numerical and experimental investigations, and case-studies addressing building retrofit are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Andrés Navarro-Galera
Prof. Dr. David Ortiz-Rodríguez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Sustainable Development Goals
  • Public sector management
  • Sustainability transparency
  • Public evaluation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 259 KiB  
Article
The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities
by Miquel Salvador and David Sancho
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5978; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115978 - 26 May 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 8493
Abstract
The role of local governments in promoting policies to combat climate change is critical. In order to play this role, local administrations must have different capacities that allow them to analyze, manage and transform their environment through public policies. This article aims to [...] Read more.
The role of local governments in promoting policies to combat climate change is critical. In order to play this role, local administrations must have different capacities that allow them to analyze, manage and transform their environment through public policies. This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on the role of local governments in the articulation of climate change policies and sustainable development. The proposal combines a conceptual and analytical contribution, which is illustrated by means of a case study analysis. At the conceptual and analytical level, the article proposes a review of the contributions from the perspective of public policies and organizational management models in order to introduce an analytical framework based on four capacities: strategic, analytical, managerial and collaborative. This framework is developed based on the design of a strategy to measure the existence of these capabilities in a given local government by means of specific indicators. This analytical framework is applied through a case study of Barcelona City Council and its policies to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. The results of the analysis highlight the importance of the combined action of the four management capacities mentioned as a precondition for the articulation of this type of policies at the local government level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
18 pages, 364 KiB  
Article
Promoting Online Transparency to Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: An Empirical Study of Local Governments in Latin America
by Tamara Guerrero-Gómez, Andrés Navarro-Galera and David Ortiz-Rodríguez
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1837; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13041837 - 08 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2511
Abstract
Although transparency on the sustainability of public services is an issue of urgent interest to both governments and academics, previous research in this area has mainly focused on developed European countries, and has paid insufficient attention to areas that are still developing, such [...] Read more.
Although transparency on the sustainability of public services is an issue of urgent interest to both governments and academics, previous research in this area has mainly focused on developed European countries, and has paid insufficient attention to areas that are still developing, such as many Latin American countries. The aim of this study is to identify factors that promote transparency on sustainability by local governments in Latin America, in the view that greater transparency will help them meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, using content analysis and following the GRI guidelines, we analyze the economic, social and environmental information published on the websites of 200 large local governments in 18 Latin American countries. In addition, using linear regression and calculating the corresponding Spearman coefficients, we analyze the influence of idiosyncratic and systemic variables on the volume of information disclosed. Our findings show that certain factors—population size, education level, unemployment, the quality of legislation and political corruption—affect transparency on sustainability. The conclusions drawn from this analysis enable us to identify useful measures for enhancing transparency on sustainability, including the reform of transparency laws and the analysis and disclosure of citizens’ information demands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
16 pages, 276 KiB  
Article
Internal and External Transparency in Public-Private Partnerships—The Case of Barcelona’s Water Provision
by Monica Reig, Mila Gasco-Hernandez and Marc Esteve
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1777; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13041777 - 07 Feb 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2888
Abstract
Despite the efforts devoted to open government, transparency is mainly considered an issue for public organizations. However, various tasks such as public services delivery and management are being increasingly privatized or outsourced to public-private partnerships (PPPs). Our study aims to contribute towards bridging [...] Read more.
Despite the efforts devoted to open government, transparency is mainly considered an issue for public organizations. However, various tasks such as public services delivery and management are being increasingly privatized or outsourced to public-private partnerships (PPPs). Our study aims to contribute towards bridging this gap by answering two research questions: (1) What determines internal and external transparency in PPPs? and (2) To what extent does internal transparency contribute to external transparency? We answer these questions through a qualitative case study, consisting of 38 in-depth interviews, on the transparency in water provision and management in the city of Barcelona. We conclude that in the case of PPPs, even when the service provided is excellent, transparency goes beyond making data available; thus, politicians and managers must build a narrative around the data they provide that guides citizens and partners in their interpretation of the information. Furthermore, our results show that internal transparency influences external transparency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
15 pages, 5433 KiB  
Article
The Commitment of Spanish Local Governments to Sustainable Development Goal 11 from a Multivariate Perspective
by Pedro-José Martínez-Córdoba, Víctor Amor-Esteban, Bernardino Benito and Isabel-María García-Sánchez
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1222; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13031222 - 25 Jan 2021
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3130
Abstract
The commitment of governments to sustainable development was materialised in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and later in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the latter being a more ambitious project that positions local governments as the main agents for its implementation. With the [...] Read more.
The commitment of governments to sustainable development was materialised in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and later in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the latter being a more ambitious project that positions local governments as the main agents for its implementation. With the aim of improving the sustainability of cities, this research analyses the commitment of Spanish local governments to the SDG-11, indicating possible improvements with the aim of complying with Agenda 2030. We use the X-STATIS study technique with graphic representations. The results indicate a positive trend towards achieving SDG-11, in which progressive governments are concerned with issues of inclusive and sustainable urbanisation as a result of increased citizen participation, and conservative governments focus on slum upgrading and safety in inclusive and accessible public spaces. In addition, the ideological coincidence between different administrative levels is an impetus to the fulfilment of SDG-11. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
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19 pages, 668 KiB  
Article
Drivers for Universities’ Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Analysis of Spanish Public Universities
by Natividad Blasco, Isabel Brusca and Margarita Labrador
Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 89; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13010089 - 23 Dec 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 4622
Abstract
Universities have a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both for implementing active policies and for encouraging other actors to participate. This requires having the skills and mind-sets to contribute to these challenges. The relevance and the commitment of universities [...] Read more.
Universities have a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both for implementing active policies and for encouraging other actors to participate. This requires having the skills and mind-sets to contribute to these challenges. The relevance and the commitment of universities to sustainability has led to the inclusion of SDGs in the strategies and agendas of these institutions. This requires the involvement of all the actors and some structural and cultural changes that put SDGs at the core of the governance and management of the university, embracing all the stakeholders. Various internal and external factors may influence the impact and success of the policies and activities aiming at achieving the SDGs, both from an overall perspective and for individual SDGs. This paper assesses the influence of some internal factors, such as the presence of universities on the internet, the level of internationalization or the availability of financial resources. Through both regression analyses and the Gephi method, our results confirm the importance of the presence on the internet, the internationalization of the university and the financial resources for research and infrastructure received from regional governments for Spanish public universities to make a greater contribution to SDGs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
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24 pages, 2311 KiB  
Article
Innovation System Assessment Model for Sustainability Planning in Taiwan
by Shiu-Wan Hung, Chao-Liang Chang and Shu Ming Liu
Sustainability 2019, 11(24), 7040; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11247040 - 09 Dec 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2461
Abstract
Research evidence has shown that innovation systems play crucial roles in the sustainability of a country. Taiwan as a natural resource-restricted society with a unique situation should pay great attention to related topics. Regarding this, scientific and strategic foresight planning is engaged in [...] Read more.
Research evidence has shown that innovation systems play crucial roles in the sustainability of a country. Taiwan as a natural resource-restricted society with a unique situation should pay great attention to related topics. Regarding this, scientific and strategic foresight planning is engaged in order to be competitive and sustainable. An advanced plan with evaluation and police research was revealed in this study, which utilized DEA (data envelope analysis) to reform qualitative principles and quantitively evaluate 22 counties of Taiwan, exploring potential opportunities among the counties. Moreover, based on the findings, a rational suggestion of smart healthcare development was investigated to help in decision making. In comparing the practical evidence with results, we conclude following viewpoints: First, sometimes policies have to be made with limited data and time because of the rapidly changing environment, though an effective solution to consistently bridge the conceptual principles with quantitative results is feasible. Second, we show quantitative results derived from qualitative principles that uncover missing phenomena from intuitive discussions. Third, by adapting the observation boundaries with variables, a new scenario can be exposed to meaningfully support decisions in new territories, including sustainability. Compared to intuitive decisions, scientific planning is fruitful according to social consensus in order to lay the foundation for sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating in the Management and Transparency of the Sustainability of Governments to Achieve the Objectives of Sustainable Development)
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