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We present three studies that examine the relationship between perceptions about public personnel management and social resilience during a crisis among frontline public healthcare servants who battled the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on theories of public personnel management, crisis management, trust, and resilience, we suggest a model and hypotheses that may extend our knowledge about perceived social resilience, both internal (organizational) and external (communal and national). We tested our model with the results of an online survey conducted in early 2021 among 437 healthcare employees from the Ministry of Health (n 1 = 87), hospitals (n 2 = 200), and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs; n 3 = 150) across Israel. The findings generally support direct and indirect relationships between perceptions of good public personnel management, defined as healthcare system resilience, participation in decision-making and information sharing, and group-level organizational citizenship behavior, and perceived national and community resilience, and trust. Implications, extensions, and recommendations for future theoretical and empirical studies are discussed along with practical proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses two versions of a signaling game to set minimal quality requirements for higher education applicants in Israel: one assumes low sensitivity to quality, the other high sensitivity. Concludes that indirect government influence on quality variations in applicant pool is more effective in controlling institutional quality then direct measures. (Contains 31 references.) (PKP)

Offers a quality-policy planning model for academic institutions, noting that rapidly growing higher education systems are often characterized by market failure in terms of program quality, because controlling bodies have incomplete information about program quality and low sensitivity to quality variations. Applies this framework to Israel, discussing policy implications for structural changes that would set minimal quality requirements. (DB)

The COVID‐19 pandemic clearly highlighted the importance of effective crisis management and its relationship with citizens' willingness to cooperate with the government in such turbulent times. We develop a theory and hypotheses about the impact of citizens' experiences on their perceptions of the government's effectiveness during times of crisis. We do so with data collected at two points in time: in late March 2020 during the first peak of the COVID‐19 crisis in Israel, and in October 2020 when Israel was exiting from a second lockdown. The findings demonstrate that during crises citizens focus on the short term and seek immediate results in terms of readiness and preparedness. During such times, the government's responsiveness and transparency, as well as the public's participation in decisions, seem even more important than their trust in the government. Implications and practical recommendations follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the factors that influence public trust in public organizations responsible for providing services before, during and after emergencies. We develop a research framework and test it using a survey distributed among a representative sample of the Israeli population. The analysis develops the concept of an emergency network and explains its advantages as a mechanism for coordinating emergency services. It shows that trust in emergency organizations is related to trust in the public sector in general, the perceived level of readiness of emergency organizations and the degree to which people fear that an emergency situation will occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective action requires resources, organization, leaders and political opportunities. In the case of disadvantaged minority groups, long-standing conflict with the majority, a closed political opportunity structure and the difficulty of acquiring resources, increases the costs and risks of the action. We argue that the development of such an action is a function of leaders' perceptions about the cost of inaction (COI) and symbolic resources of the group, such as solidarity. Combining these evaluations creates three trajectories: growth, restriction and decline. We examine this argument by four collective actions carried out by Arab Palestinians citizens in Israel to improve education. The findings show that leaders increased efforts even if they assessed opportunities are limited when they thought that COI is high, since inaction means not only the loss of instrumental costs but also the loss of potential symbolic gains such as recognition of the group collective identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent comparative measures rank Israel very high on the innovation scale and note its preference for informal managerial practices. Based on a principal–agent analysis, this article explains that the economic and administrative systems in Israel have created the basis for the evolution of a managerial culture characterised by constant distortions and the gaming of performance information, lack of truthful reporting and improvisation. On the positive side, this managerial culture encourages innovation; on the negative side, it creates significant problems related to accountability, ethical conduct and overall managerial quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests theoretical outlines and comparative perspectives, in the context of new institutionalism, for analyzing electricity sector reform. It calls for a better understanding of the timing and pace of specific reforms in order to loosen the structural determinism that dominates the field. The paper integrates historical and rational choice new institutionalism to explain utilities sectors reforms. We analyze the mechanisms of change as the outcome of individual players' strategies under given structural influences. The theoretical framework highlights the critical role of transformative entrepreneurs as a necessary condition for meaningful or radical institutional change, and suggests a platform for analyzing their strategic choices. The paper also provides insights from its comparison of developed and developing countries. We test our framework using a case study analysis of the ongoing process of re-structuring and reform in the electricity sector in Israel in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies incremental institutional change. It integrates various rationales suggested in the literature and uses the resulting integration to explain managerial reforms in the public sector, specifically, performance management reforms. The analysis highlights the role of public officials as institutional entrepreneurs and provides tools for explaining their strategies for change. The empirical analysis explains the dynamics through which performance management reform has been carried out in Israel since 2006. It shows that an incremental strategy based on a layering mechanism may prove effective and stable when external barriers to change are weak, and internal barriers are strong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on a survey and interviews, this article presents and analyses Israeli public opinion toward black-market medicine (BMM) and the welfare state. In addition to providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of the existence of under-the-table payments in Israel, we suggest various insights into this phenomenon. While most citizens admit that they would consider making under-the-table payments in order to receive preferential medical treatment, when the questions mention words such as 'illegal' or 'bribe', respondents tend to be less tolerant of such activities. We find that, first, there is a basic willingness among Israeli citizens to use BMM. Second, despite this predilection, Israeli citizens are reluctant to articulate their willingness to engage in such illegal activities. This reluctance implies the existence of a moral barrier among the population as far as identifying themselves with illegal behaviour is concerned. We may infer the existence of a gap between declared attitudes and behaviour. Third, the fact that people's willingness to engage in BMM is greater than their willingness to adopt black-market strategies in other areas signifies the special nature of health care. Finally, by connecting the phenomenon of BMM to public opinion regarding the welfare state, we point to a possible gap between normative attitudes and preferences produced by structural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse societies present different challenges for police forces that have to gain the trust and legitimacy of minorities. Police forces must develop the ability to engage with diversity and overcome their own biases and prejudices in order to better serve minorities. Police reforms, however, may fail to address the challenge successfully if core problems are not clearly identified. In such a case, reforms may be misdirected and fail to achieve the desired results. This paper, based on a study of the Arab minority in Israel, suggests a bottom-up approach that concentrates on identifying the attitudes of minority groups as the basis for any reform plan. A survey was conducted among Arab citizens to identify general attitudes, perceptions of over-policing and under-policing and assessment of three potential reforms; recruitment of minority members into the police, community involvement in policing, and cultural training for police officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between the strategic behavior drawn from a given political culture and adopted by citizens and decision makers, and the characteristics of policy-making processes. Specifically, this paper advances the concept of alternative politics to describe a “do-it-yourself” approach where citizens on their own adopt extra-legal, and often illegal, strategies to improve their political outcomes. The paper explains the conditions under which such an approach evolves and the ways in which it changes the context and environment of policy-making processes. The study analyzes processes in the Israeli healthcare system that can be compared with processes in other countries. It focuses on the expression and potential effect of alternative politics in three processes: the development of black market medicine, the process through which the basket of healthcare services is decided, and the decline in the public share of financing the healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides data and insights into Israeli public opinion about the welfare state and social policy. The study included 940 respondents who reported their attitudes towards various issues related to the welfare state. The study was conducted in spring 2008 prior to the current economic crisis. The findings show that, to a large extent, the Israeli public justifies state intervention in the supply of public services, supports public investment in services related to the welfare state, and recognizes the obligation to support those in need. As for various policy areas, the Israeli public regards education as a top priority, believing that investment in public education is likely to lead to achievements in other areas such as security and health. However, when asked about their willingness to pay more taxes for services related to the welfare state, respondents tended to be less enthusiastic. The research points to a significant gap between the social and economic policies in the past decade and the attitudes of large parts of Israeli society towards the welfare state. We provide possible explanations for that gap. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article studies the possible impact of citizen and worker participation in decision making (PDM) in the Israeli National Insurance Institute (INI) on the perceived performance of this organization, and trust in it. Such an impact is expected according to the rationales suggested by the New Public Management (NPM) approach. The findings show that customers and employees of the INI correlate trust with performance and outcomes much more than with participation in decision-making processes. We suggest a potential explanation for the weak relationship between PDM and trust based on the idea of alternative politics and segments of the political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a framework for measuring trust in health care at the institutional level and for explaining the impact of structural variables on trust. The empirical study was conducted in Israel using a national survey. Trust in health care is found to be positively related with performance and satisfaction much more than with participation in decision-making processes and other structural variables such as accessibility, equality, and autonomy. Participation is positively related with performance. The paper also provides an explanation based on political culture for the weak relations between participation in decision-making and trust in health-care organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public administration literature usually assumes that citizens' participation in administrative decision-making (PDM) processes can improve public sector performance and trust. In this article, we question the universality of this assumption, arguing that PDM processes will have positive results in terms of performance and trust only when there are available channels to influence policy outcomes and democratic participatory behavior. We construct theoretical arguments based on a mechanism of social learning and illustrate them by reference to the case of Israel. The framework highlights the centrality and importance of culture and social characters for the study and planning of public administration reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between bureaucracy and democracy in modern nations has gained the attention of scholars and experts worldwide. This article uses the allegory of a tango dance to illuminate core pandemics of the bureaucracy--democracy interface. First, we propose a theoretical model that relates these arenas in the public realm. The model is then tested empirically based on four in-depth field studies of Israeli public sector organisations (in the fields of public energy, healthcare, policing and local governance). The studies were conducted simultaneously and were based on both qualitative and quantitative data collected in the intra-organisational and extra-organisational arenas. Respondents were 159 public sector personnel and 158 citizens who received services from the same organisations. Data were analysed with a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The findings reconfirmed a solid positive relationship between elements of an effective bureaucracy and segments of an active democracy. Moreover, strongest support was found for a mediating model where perceived performance mediated the bureaucratic--democratic relationship. Implications of the findings are discussed in both the intra- and extra-organisational context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to explain transformations in military-society relations using models developed in the context of political participation and social learning. The authors suggest that patterns of alternative politics might evolve from the undermining of the "republican contract," that is, the exchange between citizens' military sacrifice and the rights and rewards granted to them by the state. This situation creates growing dissatisfaction among citizens that may trigger collective action, even among soldiers. Barriers to internal bargaining within the military generate modes of alternative politics in the military-society realm. Drawing from the case of Israel, the authors illustrate these strategies by focusing on conscientious objection, "gray refusal," reservists' rebellions, and a direct form of civilian monitoring of the army. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the impact of socio-political transformation processes on sport policy through the Israeli experience. A framework was developed for analyzing learning processes, utilizing the argument that under highly centralized systems, citizens' preferences regarding any area of life, including sport, are strongly affected by governmental policy. We show that in Israel the lack of a significant sport policy during the centralized formative years of the State influenced citizens' long-term preferences regarding sport, in the sense that it was regarded as a marginal issue that did not trigger demands for policy change. We explain that the marginality of sport in Israeli society also continued when the nature of relations between citizens and politicians was transformed from a top-down to a bottom-up orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a method for evaluating the effectiveness of auditing, and more specifically, develops measurement tools for evaluating the effectiveness of auditing in local municipalities. Auditing effectiveness is defined basically as the number and scope of deficiencies corrected following the auditing process. Given the relatively scant literature about the measurement of auditing effectiveness in the public sector, this study attempts to bring the issue to the forefront and provide systematic tools for such a measurement. The method suggested in this paper is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology, which is usually used for grading multi-criteria alternatives where a subjective (expert) comparison between alternatives is required. In our context, this methodology helps rank the relative importance of each deficiency in the auditing report by assigning weights to each deficiency. Applying this method to auditing in local municipalities, the paper develops measurement tools for evaluating their effectiveness based on questionnaires distributed among experts and illustrates their applicability in three local municipalities in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the connection between forms of political participation and the political role of the Supreme Court in Israel's democratic system. Features of Israel's political culture; Role of the Supreme Court in Israel.