Public administration needs to step up its game in terms of adaptability and leadership

A public sector reputation survey conducted by T-Media reveals clear differences between the reputations of public sector organizations and private companies. Private companies have the edge, particularly in terms of perceptions related to their ability to innovate and their leadership.

This was the first time the reputation of public administration was assessed. In the study, 4,465 Finns evaluated the reputation of 51 organizations. The results were compared to a similarly conducted study that focused on private companies.

Organizations’ reputations were assessed across the eight dimensions Reputation&Trust. The assessment covered the organizations’ transparency in governance, financial situation, leadership, ability to innovate, engagement with stakeholders, service quality, employer practices, and corporate responsibility.

Citizens gave public sector organizations the highest ratings for financial management. The second-highest ratings were for their performance as employers, and the third-highest were for accountability, which was also the only area of reputation where public sector organizations outperformed private companies.

“From the perspective of a democratic society, it is both interesting and important to understand how citizens view the operations and quality of publicly funded organizations. After all, taxpayers fund the entire public sector,” says Riku Ruokolahti, Development Director at T-Media, explaining the background of the study.

The biggest difference in adaptability and leadership

Citizens rated the ability to innovate as the weakest area of public administration organizations. Public administration received a score of 3.01 on a scale of one to five, while the corresponding score for businesses was 3.43. The difference between the public and private sectors was the clearest among the eight reputation dimensions in the category measuring the ability to adapt to change.

“The perception gap is clear, but there are some refreshing exceptions. One example is the Emergency Response Center Agency, which has recently been in the media spotlight and clearly outperforms the corporate average in terms of its ability to innovate. This is due in part to the innovative 112 mobile app, which has already been downloaded 1.4 million times,” says Harri Leinikka, CEO of T-Media.

The second area where public sector organizations face the most criticism is leadership. Citizens clearly perceive private companies as being better managed, even though the leadership perceptions associated with private companies do not, in themselves, reach a high level of satisfaction.

“The results for the public sector reflect respondents’ actual work experiences, which indicates that there is indeed much room for improvement in management. On the other hand, executives at numerous government agencies and institutions have received less media attention than corporate leaders, which partly explains the difference in ratings. The public appreciates a more personal approach,” says Riku Ruokolahti.

Data for the survey was collected via an online questionnaire between October 1 and October 22, 2018. A total of 4,465 Finns participated in the survey, providing a total of 10,593 organizational evaluations. A total of 51 central government organizations were evaluated. The results have been compared to a comprehensive corporate reputation survey, to which a total of 6,612 Finns responded in the summer of 2018.

In both studies, the target group consisted of Finns aged 15–65 nationwide (excluding the Åland Islands). The samples were weighted to be representative of the population by gender, age, and region of residence. The statistical margin of error for the dimension-specific reputation scores is at most 0.02 units in either direction.