Publication: THE EFFECT OF PERCEIVED SERVICE EFFICIENCY, PRODUCTIVITY, PARTICIPATION AND ECONOMIC-PHYSICAL SUFFICIENCY ON THE ATTITUDES AGAINST MUNICIPAL AMALGAMATION
Abstract
2012 yılında yayımlanan 6360 sayılı Kanun kapsamında Türkiye'deki belde belediyelerinin birçoğunu ilgilendiren önemli bir yerel yönetim reformu gerçekleştirilmiştir. Belde belediyelerinin tüzel kişilikleri kaldırılarak ölçek ekonomisi gerekçesiyle ilçe belediyelerine mahalle olarak bağlanmıştır. Etkinlik ve verimlilik, katılım ile mali ve fiziki yeterlilik konuları, Kanun'da belde belediyelerinin kapatılmasını destekleyici bir unsur olarak ele alınan ölçek ekonomisinin alt başlıklarını oluşturmaktadır. Bu çerçevede araştırmanın amacı; Gümüşlük halkının belde belediyesini, 6360 sayılı Kanun'un gerekçesinde kapatılma için birer neden olarak yer verilen, etkin-verimli hizmet, katılım ile mali-fiziki yeterlilik unsurları açısından nasıl algıladığını ve bu unsurların belediyenin kapatılmaması konusundaki tutumlarını ne yönde etkilediğini ortaya koymaktır. Çalışmada kullanılan veri toplama yöntemi ise, ankettir ve evrenden rastgele örneklem yöntemine göre seçilen 409 kişiye uygulanmıştır. Ankete katılanların belediyenin kapatılmamasına yönelik bir tutum sergilediği tespitinde bulunulmuştur. Etkin-verimli hizmet, katılım ve mali-fiziki yeterlilik algısı artarsa belediyenin kapatılmaması yönündeki tutumların da arttığı saptanmıştır. Araştırmanın hipotezini test etmek için çoklu regresyon analizi yapılmış, etkin-verimli hizmet, katılım ve mali-fiziki yeterlilik algısının belediyenin kapatılmamasına yönelik tutum üzerindeki etkisini açıklamaya çalışan model bir bütün olarak anlamlı çıkmış ve hipotez kabul edilmiştir. Çalışma, idari dönüşüm öncesi durumu bir belde özelinde incelediği için, yapılacak alan araştırmaları ile dönüşüm sonrası hedeflere değerlendirilmesine kaynaklık edebilecektir. Bu kapsamda elde edilen bulguların hem kamu yöneticileri hem de akademisyenler için yol gösterici olacağı söylenebilir
The local government reforms of the last decade in Turkey resulted in continuous growth, expansion, and rescaling of larger municipalities in favor of larger administrative units. With the latest Act No 63601, announced in 2012, there happened to be an important reform regarding local administration which applies to most of the town municipalities in Turkey. 30 special provincial administrations, 1.591 smaller municipalities, and 16.082 villages were dissolved as a result of the expansion of the 30 metropolitan municipalities to provincial borders in 2014. The town municipalities’ current statue as legal entities abated and instead they centralized to district municipalities as neighborhoods showing the reason of economics of scale. The factors of efficiency, productivity, participation and, physical and financial sufficiency, are asserted in relation to the economics of scale while the reforms on the basis of local administration are at stake in Turkey. Furthermore, these factors are presented as the main reasons of administrative transitions in the law’s preambles. It is accepted that these factors are not sufficiently met by the small-sized municipalities so the legal entities of the town municipalities should be transferred as its neighborhoods to bigger municipalities. In other words, it is assumed that the community of the town municipality will be ruled by more participated *Bu makale Crosscheck sistemi tarafından taranmış ve bu sistem sonuçlarına göre orijinal bir makale olduğu tespit edilmiştir. ** Yrd.Doç.Dr., Marmara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi/Yerel Yönetimler Bölümü, ruveyda.kizilboga@gmail.com *** Yrd.Doç.Dr., Nevşehir Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi/Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü, husniyeakilli@nevsehir.edu.tr **** Doktora Öğrencisi, Marmara Üniversitesi Mahalli İdareler ve Yerinden Yönetim Bilim Dalı, kamil.ozaslan@hotmail.com 1 The Law Regarding the Foundation of Twenty Seven Districts and Fourteen New Metropolitan and The Law regarding Changes in Delegated Legislation (Official Gazatte, date: 06.12.2012, number: 28489). 612 Rüveyda KIZILBOĞA ÖZASLAN – Hüsniye AKILLI – Kamil ÖZASLAN Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/2 Winter 2015 management, so they will have a financially and physically more equipped municipality. The pathway of local government reforms in Turkey follows the international examples towards municipal amalgamation to benefit scale economies. Municipal amalgamation has been a common policy in local government reforms around the world (Reingewertz, 2012: 240; Calciolari, et al., 2013: 565). Academic debate has taken place for years regarding the best methods to organize municipalities (Spicer, 2012). The studies about the economic achievements of these reforms have produced mixed results. The discussion on optimal size of local government usually focuses on economic efficiency, democracy, distribution and development dimensions (Swianiewicz, 2002). However the complexity of municipal restructuring allows no easy answer as to whether amalgamation will lead to effectiveness and efficiency improvements in service delivery and financial situation or municipal governance (Vojnovic, 1998). According to Kjaer, et al. (2010) changes in municipal size are often considered as a balancing of two opposites, namely economy and democracy the larger the municipality, the greater the economies of scale, but the harder conditions for a well-functioning local democracy. It could be claimed that those who emphasize the existence of various administrative units in local governments hold a perspective which advocate local democracy, while those who support amalgamation of fragmented structures base their arguments in terms of efficiency and functional capacity. The consequences of municipality amalgamation/abolition is an unresolved issue. So it is important to track the route of recent administrative reform in Turkey with empirical research findings. Because this topic, which is frequently studied in terms of economics and democracy, is a multi-dimensional process which involve legal, political, administrative, socio-cultural, demographic, ecological and even daily life issues aside from purely technical problems. Thus, it is important to understand the public perception about this reform. Administrative transition towards the abolishment of the town municipalities is a difficult one because it will not be very well responded by the community and administrators. As the previous factors show, it is more difficult for the community to accept the transition if they have a perception that the current administration satisfies their needs. Hence, the research of Aktel et al. (2009) “the perception of communities who live in the small-sized municipalities in Isparta towards the decree about the municipalities’ abolishment” regarding the law no: 5747 asserts that “the reason put forward by the central administration is not interiorized by the local community and so they are against the abolishment.” Similarly, the aim of this study is looking at the community of Gümüşlük whose town municipality will be closed regarding the law no: 6360, in order to understand the reactions of the community towards the conditions of the subclauses (efficiency and productivity in addition to the participation and, physical and financial sufficiency) set forth by the authorities as a reason to close the municipalities. Hence, “efficient and productive ministration” and “physical and financial sufficiency” are determined as independent variables and these independent The Effect of Perceived Service Efficiency, Productivity, Participation, and… 613 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/2 Winter 2015 variables are considered to be dependent variable of the research, “the negative attitude towards the abolishment of the town municipality.” In this context the following hypothesis is developed to inspect in this study: “The perception that Gümüşlük Municipality’s efficiency and productivity in addition to the participation and, physical and financial sufficiency affects positively the negative attitude towards the abolishment of the town municipality.” The research population is the residents of Gümüşlük. Our data gathering technique is a survey. The questionnaire is applied in November and December 2013 to 409 people who are picked randomly from the population according to the technique. In the research, we take advantage of Aktel et al.’s sample (2009) developed in “Showing residents’ perception about abolishment of local municipalities in Isparta” under the law no: 5747. Questions are mostly overhauled in accordance with the aim of the research. 12 statements and total 43 statements are prepared for the “participation”; variable 8, for the “effective and productive service”; 14, for the “economic and physical sufficiency”; 9, for the dependent variable “the attitude for the abolishment of Gümüşlük Municipality”. The scale that enables us to understand participants’ attitudes and perceptions is a five point Likert scale. The data acquired are analyzed through the medium of SPSS2. Correlation and regression analysis are done to test the hypothesis and to show the relation between research variables. It is established that there is a certain attitude towards keeping the current municipal system against centralization. It is confirmed that if the perception of efficient-productive service, physical and financial sufficiency increases, then the tendency towards not to lose the current system increases either. To test the hypothesis of the research, multiple regressions are analyzed and our model is determined to be meaningful and our hypothesis is verified. It was concluded that among the three perceptions, the perception of effective-productive service seems to be the dimension that explains the effect most. The data gathered showed similarities with the result of the study held by Aktel et al. (2009). Since this study examines the conditions of towns before their transition, it is possible that it will be sourceful to compare the transition’s success with fieldworks. For this study is examined the condition before the transition focusing on a town, it is possible that it is going to be sourceful to inspect comparatively the transition’s success with fieldworks. The data to be collected this way would be instructive for both academicians and the government executives.
The local government reforms of the last decade in Turkey resulted in continuous growth, expansion, and rescaling of larger municipalities in favor of larger administrative units. With the latest Act No 63601, announced in 2012, there happened to be an important reform regarding local administration which applies to most of the town municipalities in Turkey. 30 special provincial administrations, 1.591 smaller municipalities, and 16.082 villages were dissolved as a result of the expansion of the 30 metropolitan municipalities to provincial borders in 2014. The town municipalities’ current statue as legal entities abated and instead they centralized to district municipalities as neighborhoods showing the reason of economics of scale. The factors of efficiency, productivity, participation and, physical and financial sufficiency, are asserted in relation to the economics of scale while the reforms on the basis of local administration are at stake in Turkey. Furthermore, these factors are presented as the main reasons of administrative transitions in the law’s preambles. It is accepted that these factors are not sufficiently met by the small-sized municipalities so the legal entities of the town municipalities should be transferred as its neighborhoods to bigger municipalities. In other words, it is assumed that the community of the town municipality will be ruled by more participated *Bu makale Crosscheck sistemi tarafından taranmış ve bu sistem sonuçlarına göre orijinal bir makale olduğu tespit edilmiştir. ** Yrd.Doç.Dr., Marmara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi/Yerel Yönetimler Bölümü, ruveyda.kizilboga@gmail.com *** Yrd.Doç.Dr., Nevşehir Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi/Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü, husniyeakilli@nevsehir.edu.tr **** Doktora Öğrencisi, Marmara Üniversitesi Mahalli İdareler ve Yerinden Yönetim Bilim Dalı, kamil.ozaslan@hotmail.com 1 The Law Regarding the Foundation of Twenty Seven Districts and Fourteen New Metropolitan and The Law regarding Changes in Delegated Legislation (Official Gazatte, date: 06.12.2012, number: 28489). 612 Rüveyda KIZILBOĞA ÖZASLAN – Hüsniye AKILLI – Kamil ÖZASLAN Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/2 Winter 2015 management, so they will have a financially and physically more equipped municipality. The pathway of local government reforms in Turkey follows the international examples towards municipal amalgamation to benefit scale economies. Municipal amalgamation has been a common policy in local government reforms around the world (Reingewertz, 2012: 240; Calciolari, et al., 2013: 565). Academic debate has taken place for years regarding the best methods to organize municipalities (Spicer, 2012). The studies about the economic achievements of these reforms have produced mixed results. The discussion on optimal size of local government usually focuses on economic efficiency, democracy, distribution and development dimensions (Swianiewicz, 2002). However the complexity of municipal restructuring allows no easy answer as to whether amalgamation will lead to effectiveness and efficiency improvements in service delivery and financial situation or municipal governance (Vojnovic, 1998). According to Kjaer, et al. (2010) changes in municipal size are often considered as a balancing of two opposites, namely economy and democracy the larger the municipality, the greater the economies of scale, but the harder conditions for a well-functioning local democracy. It could be claimed that those who emphasize the existence of various administrative units in local governments hold a perspective which advocate local democracy, while those who support amalgamation of fragmented structures base their arguments in terms of efficiency and functional capacity. The consequences of municipality amalgamation/abolition is an unresolved issue. So it is important to track the route of recent administrative reform in Turkey with empirical research findings. Because this topic, which is frequently studied in terms of economics and democracy, is a multi-dimensional process which involve legal, political, administrative, socio-cultural, demographic, ecological and even daily life issues aside from purely technical problems. Thus, it is important to understand the public perception about this reform. Administrative transition towards the abolishment of the town municipalities is a difficult one because it will not be very well responded by the community and administrators. As the previous factors show, it is more difficult for the community to accept the transition if they have a perception that the current administration satisfies their needs. Hence, the research of Aktel et al. (2009) “the perception of communities who live in the small-sized municipalities in Isparta towards the decree about the municipalities’ abolishment” regarding the law no: 5747 asserts that “the reason put forward by the central administration is not interiorized by the local community and so they are against the abolishment.” Similarly, the aim of this study is looking at the community of Gümüşlük whose town municipality will be closed regarding the law no: 6360, in order to understand the reactions of the community towards the conditions of the subclauses (efficiency and productivity in addition to the participation and, physical and financial sufficiency) set forth by the authorities as a reason to close the municipalities. Hence, “efficient and productive ministration” and “physical and financial sufficiency” are determined as independent variables and these independent The Effect of Perceived Service Efficiency, Productivity, Participation, and… 613 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/2 Winter 2015 variables are considered to be dependent variable of the research, “the negative attitude towards the abolishment of the town municipality.” In this context the following hypothesis is developed to inspect in this study: “The perception that Gümüşlük Municipality’s efficiency and productivity in addition to the participation and, physical and financial sufficiency affects positively the negative attitude towards the abolishment of the town municipality.” The research population is the residents of Gümüşlük. Our data gathering technique is a survey. The questionnaire is applied in November and December 2013 to 409 people who are picked randomly from the population according to the technique. In the research, we take advantage of Aktel et al.’s sample (2009) developed in “Showing residents’ perception about abolishment of local municipalities in Isparta” under the law no: 5747. Questions are mostly overhauled in accordance with the aim of the research. 12 statements and total 43 statements are prepared for the “participation”; variable 8, for the “effective and productive service”; 14, for the “economic and physical sufficiency”; 9, for the dependent variable “the attitude for the abolishment of Gümüşlük Municipality”. The scale that enables us to understand participants’ attitudes and perceptions is a five point Likert scale. The data acquired are analyzed through the medium of SPSS2. Correlation and regression analysis are done to test the hypothesis and to show the relation between research variables. It is established that there is a certain attitude towards keeping the current municipal system against centralization. It is confirmed that if the perception of efficient-productive service, physical and financial sufficiency increases, then the tendency towards not to lose the current system increases either. To test the hypothesis of the research, multiple regressions are analyzed and our model is determined to be meaningful and our hypothesis is verified. It was concluded that among the three perceptions, the perception of effective-productive service seems to be the dimension that explains the effect most. The data gathered showed similarities with the result of the study held by Aktel et al. (2009). Since this study examines the conditions of towns before their transition, it is possible that it will be sourceful to compare the transition’s success with fieldworks. For this study is examined the condition before the transition focusing on a town, it is possible that it is going to be sourceful to inspect comparatively the transition’s success with fieldworks. The data to be collected this way would be instructive for both academicians and the government executives.