FSD2264 Finnish Local Government 2004: Office-Holders and Elected Officials 1999

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Study description in other languages

in Finnish

Related files

Study title

Finnish Local Government 2004: Office-Holders and Elected Officials 1999

Dataset ID Number

FSD2264

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2264
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2264

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

Grönholm, Sam (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
Helander, Voitto (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
Pikkala, Sari (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
Sandberg, Siv (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)

Abstract

The survey studied municipal elected officials' and office-holders' opinions on municipal services, the state-municipality relationship, alternative organising models, municipal decision-making practices, the possibilities of influencing for various operators, and the municipality's international activity.

First, the respondents' work history, elected offices, and political party membership were surveyed. They were asked to place themselves on the left-right axis and on the hard-soft scale. They were also asked whether they were actively involved in any organisation or association.

Further questions explored the respondents' views on the state-municipality relationship. They rated how well or badly certain municipal services functioned in their municipality, and evaluated whether the municipality should invest more or less in a particular service in the future. Services covered included social services, health services, education and cultural services, and municipal technical services. The respondents gave their views on the working relations between different bodies in the municipality and on the various organisational options for municipal government.

Some questions concentrated on the municipalities' international activity. The respondents evaluated the usefulness of different forms of globalisation for their own municipality. Developmental needs in municipal service provision were charted by asking the respondents to evaluate the importance of different factors (e.g. profit centering, outsourcing, regional cooperation), and various tasks of municipal elected officials and office-holders. They were also asked how often they interacted with certain operators (e.g neighbouring municipalities, personnel organisations), and how important they thought various aspects of financial administration were.

Those respondents who were elected officials were asked about the time they allocated on elective office tasks, their willingness to be renominated, absences from various meetings, party activity, and opinions on the political parties' actions. The survey also charted the extent and effectiveness of influence different operators/bodies (e.g. organisations, County Administrative Board) had on municipal decision-making. Some questions focused on the respondents' methods of influencing decision-making. They also evaluated how much influence they had on various matters. Views on the position of the respondents' own party in view of municipal decision-making were probed.

Finally, the respondents were asked about the importance of various aspects connected to citizenship (e.g. paying the taxes, voluntary work). They also evaluated the upper management of their municipality using different scales.

Background variables included municipality, the respondent's status and activity sector in the municipality, year of birth, gender, and education.

Keywords

elected officials; internationalism; joint authorities; leadership; local finance; local government; local government officers; local government organizations; mayors; municipalities; political parties; public services; social influence

Topic Classification

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

Series

Finnish Local Government 2004

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration

Data Producers

Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration

Time Period Covered

1999

Collection Dates

1999-11 – 2000-02

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland, Anttola, Espoo, Haukipudas, Humppila, Hämeenlinna, Iitti, Jaala, Joroinen, Kaarina, Karstula, Kemiö, Kerava, Kiikala, Kokkola, Kolari, Kotka, Kristiinankaupunki, Kuhmoinen, Lappeenranta, Leppävirta, Lieksa, Liljendal, Lumijoki, Mikkeli, Mikkelin mlk, Multia, Naantali, Noormarkku, Närpiö, Oulainen, Outokumpu, Padasjoki, Pieksämäki, Porvoo, Pudasjärvi, Punkaharju, Pyhäntä, Pylkönmäki, Ranua, Rääkkylä, Sonkajärvi, Suolahti, Tyrnävä, Vaasa, Vahto, Varkaus, Vehkalahti, Vimpeli, Virrat

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Members of municipal councils, executive boards and key committees, and municipal chief executives

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Multistage

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project municipalities. Total study of the elected officials and office-holders selected with judgmental sampling. The project municipalities were selected separately from those with less than 10,000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10,000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70% of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features caused by their autonomy. In addition to the 47 municipalities which had participated in the research programme from its beginning, Anttola and Mikkelin maalaiskunta were included in the 1999 survey, because they were to be annexed to Mikkeli in the beginning of 2001.

The basic sample of elected officials included the members of municipal committees covering the following branches: administration and government services, social and health services, education and cultural services, and technical and auditing services. Committee structures varied greatly between different municipalities, and the number of committees ranged from four to ten. Many of the committee members held several elected offices simultaneously. The overlaps were taken into account in that the persons holding several offices were sent only one questionnaire. After removing the overlaps, the final sample size was reduced to 3,224. Thus, the final sample consisted of elected officials, not elected offices. The sample of municipal office-holders consisted of chief executives and presenting officials of municipal committees. The starting point was that the sample included the people holding the same elected offices as in the corresponding 1995 survey. The exception to this rule was that the office-holders responsible for municipalities' financial administration (chief accountants/financial managers/financial directors) were included in the 1999 survey. The sample in the 1999 survey included 525 municipal office-holders.

Altogether, the sample consisted of 3,749 persons. 2,498 (66.6%) of them responded. Municipal office-holders had a higher response rate than elected officials. Members of municipal boards or committees responded less frequently than other groups in the survey. Municipality-specific fluctuations of response rate were remarkable.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

66.6

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

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The variable indicating municipality has been removed from the data.

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

Grönholm, Sam (Åbo Akademi University) & Helander, Voitto (Åbo Akademi University) & Pikkala, Sari (Åbo Akademi University) & Sandberg, Siv (Åbo Akademi University): Finnish Local Government 2004: Office-Holders and Elected Officials 1999 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2007-11-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2264

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 Materials

Helander, Voitto & Pikkala, Sari & Sandberg, Siv & Grönholm, Sam (2003): Päättäjien areenat ja yhteydet. Helsinki: Suomen Kuntaliitto. KuntaSuomi 2004 -tutkimuksia nro 42 & Acta nro 161.

Suomen Kuntaliitto : KuntaSuomi 2004 [verkkodokumentti]. KuntaSuomi 2004 : tutkimusmodulit [viitattu 21.11.2007]. Saatavissa: http://www.kunnat.net/kuntasuomi

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