지방공기업 기관장에 대한 인사청문회 도입이 지방공기업 경영성과에 미친 영향에 관한 연구

The amendment of the Local Autonomy Act in February 2023 established a legal foundation for the confirmation hearing system, which had long been a key issue for local governments. Previously, in the absence of a legal foundation, confirmation hearings for the appointment of leaders of local public enterprises were not mandated by local laws; instead, they were conducted on the basis of agreements between mayors and local councils. The existing literature on local government confirmation hearings has primarily focused on the current state of the system and the associated legal issues, with relatively little attention paid to its effects. This study examined the impact of local government confirmation hearings has affected the performance of local public enterprises. The performance of local public enterprises is assessed using management evaluation scores, return on total assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and debt ratio. The relationship between the introduction of confirmation hearings and the performance of local public enterprises was analyzed using a panel fixed effects model. The results showed that the ROA and ROE of local public enterprises whose leaders were appointed through confirmation hearings declined, and this effect was significant only in urban development and urban rail institutions. The finding that the confirmation hearing system has no positive impact on the performance of local public enterprises suggests that, as the system is set to expand nationwide, further discussions on its design and implementation are necessary.