Study title

Finnish Local Government Barometer 1995: Municipal Managers, Chairmen of Municipal Executive Boards

Dataset ID Number

FSD1137

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1137
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd1137

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Foundation for Municipal Development

Abstract

The survey studied the opinions of municipal leaders (municipal managers and chairpersons of municipal executive boards) on how to improve municipal finances. The respondents evaluated how acceptable and effective certain measures would be: e.g. borrowing, increasing taxes, cutting or privatizing services, introducing service fees, delaying investments, accountability in municipal institutions, reducing salaries, laying off/reducing staff, and reducing governmental control.

The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to municipal finances, services and taxation, the number and size of municipalities, efficiency of municipal staff, relations between the government and municipalities, etc. Opinions on which municipal services could be cut were charted. One question asked about changes in the services over the past two years. The respondents were also asked which of the services currently provided by municipalities could be left to other bodies (governmental or non-governmental organisations, private enterprises, or citizens themselves).

Some questions covered to what extent various operators influence municipal decision-making (e.g. municipal managers, banks, enterprises, parties, trade unions, the church) and whether certain operators have too much or too little influence. The respondents also rated the usefulness of some national and regional bodies in the development of their municipalities. Opinions on governmental control and regional administration were charted. Finally, the respondents evaluated media reporting on municipal issues.

Background variables include the respondent's sex, status in municipal administration, municipality size, and province.

Keywords

consolidation of municipalities; local finance; local government; local taxation; municipal government; municipal managers; municipalities; privatization; public sector; public services; social economy; subsidies

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Elites and leadership (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Government, political systems and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Local Government Barometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Gallup Finland

Data Producers

• Foundation for Municipal Development

Time Period Covered

1995

Collection Dates

1995-08-18 – 1995-09-26

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Managers of Finnish municipalities and chairpersons of municipal executive boards (excluding Swedish-speaking municipalities)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

Municipal managers: 82

Chairpersons of municipal executive boards: 59

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Foundation for Municipal Development: Finnish Local Government Barometer 1995: Municipal Managers, Chairmen of Municipal Executive Boards [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-13). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1137

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Kansalaismielipide ja kunnat: ilmapuntari 1995 (1995). Helsinki: Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiö. Polemia-sarja; 13.

Blomberg, Helena & Kroll, Christian (1999). Who wants to preserve the "Scandinavian welfare state"? Attitudes to welfare services among the citizens and local government elites in Finland 1992-96. In: The end of welfare state? Responses to state retrenchment (eds. Svallfors, S. & Taylor-Gooby, P.). London: Routledge. ESA studies in European Society.

Blomberg, Helena & Kroll, Christian (2003). Kuntalaiset, paikalliset päättäjät ja hyvinvointipalvelut 1990-luvulla. Teoksessa: Laman varjo ja nousun huuma (toim. Olli Kangas). Helsinki: Kansaneläkelaitos. Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan tutkimuksia; 72.

Sandberg, Siv (2015). Den seglivade kommundirektörsmakten. Lokalpolitiskt ledarskap i Finland. I: Lokalpolitisk lederskap i Norden, Redaktører: Nils Aarsæther og Knut H. Mikalsen. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS.