Municipal Managers' Views on the Foundation for Municipal Development 1996

The study examined the perceptions and views of Finnish municipal managers on the Foundation for Municipal Development. The data comprises the responses of a hundred municipal managers to questions about the Foundation and material produced by it. First, notions of the Foundation's goals, sources of funding and total staff were charted. Further, perceptions of the publications and research by the Foundation were surveyed. The respondents were asked from which sources they had received information about the Foundation that had affected their perceptions of it, how they perceived the Foundation in general, and how familiar they were with the publications by the Foundation. Views were studied on how useful the Foundation's activities were for the development of municipalities and municipal research. Satisfaction with the Foundation in terms of visibility to the public, publications, and promotion of activities among municipal managers was charted. Finally, the respondents were asked how well a number of descriptions fit the Foundation (e.g. "behind its time", "socially responsible") and whether the Foundation was too oriented towards a certain political party. Background variables included the respondent's gender, municipality size and the region in which the municipality is located.