Employee Benefits In Transition: Building Administrative Resilience Through Institutional Integrity And Human Resource Development: Evidence From Romanian Local Public Administration

This study examines the gap between the formal institutionalisation of integrity mechanisms and their effective functioning in Romanian local public administration, together with human resource management and development practices and perceived administrative capacity constraints. Using a quantitative, observational and crosssectional survey of 973 administrative-territorial units from 41 counties, the analysis distinguishes between the formal presence of integrity mechanisms and their implementation in organisational practice. The findings show that formal institutionalisation is widespread, while effective implementation is less consistent, particularly in the case of the ethics adviser. In the multivariate analysis, the effective application of internal procedures and the consideration of integrity in professional promotion are positively associated with perceived institutional integrity, whereas staff and administrative resource constraints are negatively associated with it. These associations remain broadly stable after controlling for institutional size. The study contributes by showing that formal integrity arrangements and their actual functioning should be analysed separately and in relation to HRM practices and implementation capacity. Administrative resilience is used as a theoretical lens for interpreting these relationships, rather than as an outcome measured directly.