A National Assessment Project of Public Administration: Theoretical Framework and Preliminary Findings from Israel

Abstract

This paper reports on a new venture for the study of public sector performance and on its implementation in Israel. The Israeli study is part of the “European Assessment Project of Public Administration” (EAPPA) that is aimed at a cross-cultural and cross-sectional examination of public administration agencies in various European countries using attitudinal-behavioral methods and tools. A sample of 345 citizens was used to assess the performance of the Israeli public administration and to draw conclusions about the levels of satisfaction with, trust in, and general attitudes towards public policies and personnel. The main findings of the study indicate that Israeli citizens are deeply critical of public institutions and governmental agencies. A correlation analysis further shows a strong and stable relationship between satisfaction and three separate constructs of citizens' trust: (1) trust in administrative and governmental institutions, (2) trust in civil servants, and (3) faith in citizenship involvement. Significant relationships were also found between citizens' satisfaction and most of the other indicators of performance. Finally, the paper presents a socio-economic and demographic analysis of the data. The paper ends with a discussion about the centrality of public opinion studies in the field of public sector performance. It is our expectation that this initiative will lead to more extensive studies throughout other European states that are struggling for improvement in their public service systems.