Purpose – The range and configuration of public services depend on needs expressed by society, and the responsibility for the implementation of these needs within a given territory lies with basic public administration bodies. The provision of public services within the idea of sustainable local governance is possible as a result of cooperation between the public and private partners, business environment institutions and society. In this paper, we adopted definition of sustainable local governance as a process run by local governmental bodies within inter-organizational collaborative networks aimed to socially and economically boost a specific region, while respecting environmental protection and land development.
Design/methodology/approach – An approach based on both in-depth literature studies and empirical research was proposed. Two main types of public services were analysed: social (health care, education, culture, recreation, social care, housing, public safety) and technical (public transport, waste management, water management, recreation areas). The research was conducted from 2011 to 2013 in Poland, among privately-owned and state-owned enterprises in the range of the research project, entitled “Technological Foresight of Public Service Sector Development within the Silesian Metropolis”. After the project had been completed, these analyses were complemented as a result of in-depth literature studies and direct structured interviews with experts.
Originality/value – The study was conducted from the perspective of local authorities, of experts operating within the public sector, and finally from the perspective of enterprises. The use of studied mechanisms was identified, and the needs in terms of their development were analysed. In addition, the solutions for the elimination of restrictions concerning the cooperation between public administration and enterprises in the provision of public services were proposed. An innovative methodology, which includes opinions from the perspective of public administration, representatives of enterprises, and is additionally supplemented by the interviews with experts, enabled the analysis of the issue in a comprehensive manner.
Practical implications – Public administration needs information regarding the possibilities of involving enterprises in the process of providing public services within the idea of sustainable development. These analyzes enabled us to achieve the following results:
1. We identified the mechanisms motivating enterprises to participate in the public services provision.
2. We estimated scope of using and utility of enterprises’ participation mechanisms.
3. We analysed the needs and methods of increasing enterprises’ participation mechanisms in the public services provision.
These results were based on the statistical analysis.
Keywords – Sustainable local governance, Public services, Participation mechanisms, Collaboration, Public management