<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The quality of public organisations, which is highly dependent on the institutional quality, is one of the fundamental factors determining policy effectiveness and socio-economic growth trajectories in a long-term perspective. The article provides an insight into the topic of the informal institutions characterising Polish public organisations by paying special attention to informal institutions referring to the awareness of the need for sustainability and an attitude towards Cohesion Policy implementation in the field of environmental protection. Therefore, the main research goal was to verify the following hypothesis: “The staff of Polish public organisations are characterised by the awareness of the need for sustainability and a positive attitude towards Cohesion Policy implementation in the field of environmental protection”. To this end, a direct research technique (e-questionnaire) involving representatives of organisations responsible for Cohesion Policy implementation and for natural environment protection was applied. This made it possible to gather unique data and to elaborate the structure indicators describing the beliefs of staff employed in public organisations. Overall, their positive attitude towards the directions and assumptions of Cohesion Policy in the field of environmental protection was proved. The examined groups of organisations were characterised by a similar way of thinking about Cohesion Policy funds as an environmental protection factor, which seems to be an important institutional building block affecting Cohesion Policy effectiveness. Some of the respondents demonstrated critical thinking, and they developed their own ideas regarding the most important environmental protection factors including mainly both formal and informal institutional elements, such as legal regulations or ecological education.</p>
</abstract>

The quality of public organisations, which is highly dependent on the institutional quality, is one of the fundamental factors determining policy effectiveness and socio-economic growth trajectories in a long-term perspective. The article provides an insight into the topic of the informal institutions characterising Polish public organisations by paying special attention to informal institutions referring to the awareness of the need for sustainability and an attitude towards Cohesion Policy implementation in the field of environmental protection. Therefore, the main research goal was to verify the following hypothesis: “The staff of Polish public organisations are characterised by the awareness of the need for sustainability and a positive attitude towards Cohesion Policy implementation in the field of environmental protection”. To this end, a direct research technique (e-questionnaire) involving representatives of organisations responsible for Cohesion Policy implementation and for natural environment protection was applied. This made it possible to gather unique data and to elaborate the structure indicators describing the beliefs of staff employed in public organisations. Overall, their positive attitude towards the directions and assumptions of Cohesion Policy in the field of environmental protection was proved. The examined groups of organisations were characterised by a similar way of thinking about Cohesion Policy funds as an environmental protection factor, which seems to be an important institutional building block affecting Cohesion Policy effectiveness. Some of the respondents demonstrated critical thinking, and they developed their own ideas regarding the most important environmental protection factors including mainly both formal and informal institutional elements, such as legal regulations or ecological education.

Cohesion Policy and Environmental Protection: The Attitude of Polish Public Organisations

Quaestiones Geographicae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The quality of public organisations, which is highly dependent on the institutional quality, is one of the fundamental factors determining policy effectiveness...

Public organisation			Main characteristics and competencies	No. of respondents (pers.)	Share (%)
Group 1	Organisations responsible for regional policy implementation	Marshal Offices	– Regional government – Regional development policy planning and implementing – Regional programmes financed by Cohesion Policy funds implementation	27	39.1
Group 1		Regional Funds for Environmental Protection and Water Management	– Regional public finance institution involved in regional development policy – Co-financing activities and investments for environmental protection	10	14.5
Group 2	Organisations responsible for environmental protection	Regional Directorates for Environmental Protection	– Implementation of environmental protection policy in the field of nature conservation management – Assessment of investment projects impact on environment	12	17.4
Group 2	Organisations responsible for environmental protection	Voivodeship Inspectorates for Environmental Protection	– State of natural environment inspection and monitoring – Controlling of entities using environment	20	29.0

Cohesion Policy and Environmental Protection: The Attitude of Polish Public Organisations

Publié en ligne: 27 juin 2023

Pages: 85 - 95

Reçu: 12 janv. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2023-0017

© 2023 Tomasz Herodowicz, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

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Fig. 5.

Structure and characteristics of respondents by groups of Polish public organisations operating at regional level.