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THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION – THE EXAMPLE OF THE TAX ADMINISTRATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to present the role of education in the professionalization of public administration, based on which the hypothesis was set that ethics education increases the professionalization of public administration. The methodology used in the paper to verify the hypothesis includes scientific methods of deduction and induction, methods of analysis and synthesis, and mathematical-statistical methods in the processing and presentation of the research results. Special emphasis is placed on the case study method based on the example of the Tax Administration of the Republic of Croatia regarding education carried out in the field of ethics and fight against corruption as part of the Anti-Corruption Strategy. The education was carried out live during 2018 and 2019 for 413 Tax Administration employees, while for all other employees it was organized in the form of E-learning seminars. Education participants’ questionnaires were used in this paper as well as data of the Ministry of Justice and Administration on complaints filed about unethical behavior of civil servants, data of ethical commissioners of the Tax Administration and the Ministry of the Interior, and Tax Administration data. The statistical data analysis shows the trend of complaints filed about unethical behavior of Tax Administration employees after the education and it was compared with the Ministry of the Interior, in which there no education was carried out. Data on the identification of conflicts of interest as a potential form of corruption were also analyzed by comparing them before and after the education. The research results confirm the basic hypothesis that ethics education increases the professionalization of public administration. This research is also an important basis for future research that should find an appropriate hybrid model of live learning and online learning, especially in the pandemic conditions caused by the COVID-19 virus that has accelerated the existing processes and forced the implementation of new forms of learning and business.
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