The Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) has announced that the 2020 Sam Richardson Award for the most influential paper published in the Australian Journal of Public Administration in 2019 has been awarded to Associate Professor Jeannette Taylor (pictured) from the University of Western Australia.
Associate Professor Taylor’s award-winning paper entitled What causes employees to whistle while they work? Factors affecting internal whistle-blowing in the Australian Public Service was published in December 2019 and examines the impact of the nature of corruption, organisational culture and employees’ work attitudes and actions on internal whistle-blowing in the APS.
Professor Taylor’s paper was assessed by a judging panel which included leading public administration academics, representatives of IPAA and young professionals from across the IPAA Divisions.
National President of IPAA, Gordon de Brouwer said Professor Taylor’s paper was original, innovative, topical and well-crafted.
“It speaks to real-life work problems for those in the public sector and is also an excellent, well-grounded paper with good empirical work and strong academic credentials,” Dr Brouwer said.
Organisers declared panel members were unanimous in their decision, believing the work made an important scholarly contribution to theory as well as a practical contribution to public administration.
Member of the judging panel who assessed six short-listed papers for the Award was Policy Officer with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Aashna Rampal.
Ms Rampal said one didn’t need to belong to the Australian Public Service or the public sector to be able to absorb the paper’s content, the data, the discussion and the evidence that’s backing it up.
“Wherever you work, culture is so important and its focus on culture is readily transferrable,” Ms Rampal said.
She said it was expected Professor Taylor’s award-winning paper would have a significant and positive impact on public sector leaders and public servants across Australia.
Professor Taylor’s 18-page article can be accessed on the Wiley website at this PS News link.
