The paper at hand analyses the principal-agent relationship, where comparative perspective between principals’ (municipalities) and agents’ (public utility providers) in the field of water and wastewater management is scrutinized. The goal of the paper is twofold: firstly, to present empirical results validating principal-agent relationships that emerged due to the reorganization process of public enterprises; secondly, to highlight the similarities and differences between the perspectives of principals and agents regarding motives, advantages and disadvantages, and price-setting in relation to the reorganization process. The empirical research is based on the primary data collected through two self-prepared and structured online questionnaires—one for municipalities, and the other for public utility providers. The results reveal similarities between public enterprises and municipalities in motivating factors for full municipal ownership. However, differences are seen among the advantages of the reorganization process. Price-setting by public utilities is recognized as a motivating mechanism for agents.

The rapid progress of information technology has made public online participation in policy formulation an inevitable product of modern government reshaping and reconstruction. However, compared with developed countries, citizens’ online participation in policy formulation in China started relatively late. Thus, in order to explore an effective and efficient method for Chinese citizens’ participation in policy formulation, this research made a brief review of the experiences from the typical developed country of United States of America at first, followed by some other developed countries such as Singapore, South Korea, and Japan in Asia with similar situations. Still, combined with the current situation of the China itself into consideration, this research further proposes targeted recommendations. It is expected that the findings in this research could provide some references for the Chinese government to form more effective and efficient theoretical frameworks targeted at the future development trends of the Chinese society and accordingly, to improve the construction of democracy in China.

This research was conducted with the aim of developing indexes for diagnosis of balanced personnel levels in Korean Public Offices through Analytic Hierachy Process (AHP). The research found that 62.3% of ‘structural improvement’ and 37.7% of ‘inclusive organizational culture’ were weighted in large classification items. In the middle classification items, it was found weights of 27.5% for ‘gender equality’, 23.5% for ‘disabled’, 16.2% for ‘science and engineering’, 17.7% for ‘regional talent’, and 15.2% for ‘social integrated type’. In the small classification items, 9.4% of ‘employment rate of social integrated talent’, 5.3% of ‘the percentage of grade 7 and 9 selection of regional talent’ and 5% of ‘the percentage of women at the head of a department level’ were shown as important evaluation indicators. In addition, the ‘inclusive organizational culture’ was derived by allocating weights of 9.45% each for four areas: fairness, disclosure, cooperation and support. As above, this research constructs items of the balanced personnel index through prior research and designs detailed indexes. However, it is meaningful that surveys and others have confirmed the usefulness of the balanced personnel index, which will contribute to the achievement of balanced personnel objectives in public offices.

Public signs in scenic spots play the role of guidance, instruction and warning, and are of great significance to promote the development of scenic spots. Guang’an District has a strong historical and cultural heritage and the rapid development of tourism, but the English translation of public signs in the scenic spot has become increasingly prominent, mainly including nonstandard translation, spelling errors, logical confusion and grammatical errors. In order to promote the solution of such problems, this paper will analyze the current situation of English translation of public signs in Guang’an scenic spots, and put forward solutions to the problems of English translation of public signs through hiring professional translators, cultural difference training and regional cooperation.

Organisational culture stands as a fundamental prerequisite for the efficacious operation of any given organisation. The primary aim of this study is to discern potential alterations within the dimensions of organisational culture across the pre-COVID-19, contemporary, and favoured paradigms within the realm of public administration. The data set was obtained from a cohort of 1189 officials in the Czech Republic. The Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was deployed for the purposes of conducting an online survey. The dominance of the clan archetype across all examined time frames has been corroborated. In addition, a statistically significant manifestation of these dimensions has been determined. In relation to pertinent variables, specifically gender, age, tenure, manager gender, and the dimensions typifying organisational culture, no statistically significant correlations have emerged. Respondents have not reported a sense of work-life imbalance in the aftermath of the pandemic. In summary, it is deduced that the pandemic has not exerted a drastic influence on the metamorphosis of organisational culture within the ambit of public administration. This study provides invaluable information on the repercussions of the pandemic within a sphere that, as an intangible constituent, often goes under-recognised. Mastery of the positioning of dimensions across diverse archetypes is of paramount significance for managers, as it can provide guidance in the cultivation of an apt organisational culture.

This paper explores the distribution of educational resources from the perspective of public service equalization in China, with a particular focus on government responsibility and fiscal input. Initially, the paper reviews the theoretical foundations and empirical studies concerning the distribution of educational resources, analyzing the role of government in educational equity and the impact of fiscal expenditure. By employing quantitative analysis methods, this study utilizes data on provincial education expenditures over several years to examine the relationship between government fiscal input and the equalization of educational resources. Empirical results indicate that increasing educational fiscal input and optimizing the allocation mechanism significantly enhance the level of equalization in educational resources. Furthermore, through case analyses of several local governments, effective policy recommendations are proposed to promote the fair distribution and optimization of educational resources. Lastly, the paper discusses potential obstacles in policy implementation and suggests corresponding strategies.