Skip to main content

Outsourcing Public Services: Process Innovation in Dutch Municipalities

  • Chapter
Organizational Innovation in Public Services

Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management ((GPM))

  • 325 Accesses

Abstract

Outsourcing by a government agency can loosely be defined as a contractual relation of the agency with an external vendor, in which the vendor provides activities that are part of the overall business process of the agency. If one takes a close look at the phenomena indicated by ‘outsourcing’, myriad variations come into view.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Albury, D. (2005) Fostering Innovation in Public Services, Public Money & Management 25(1): 51–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrighetti, A., Bachmann, R. and Deakin, S. (1997) Contract Law, Social Norms and Inter-Firm Cooperation, Cambridge journal of economics 21: 171–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, W. and Le Grand, J. (1993) Quasi-Markets and Social Policy. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowersox, D. J. and Closs, D. J. (1996) Logistical Management: The Integrated Supply Chain Process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyne, G. (1998) Competitive Tendering in Local Government: A Review of Theory and Evidence, Public Administration 76(4): 695–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. and Potoski, M. (2003) Transaction Costs and Institutional Explanations for Government Service Production Decisions, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13(4): 441–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. and Potoski, M. (2006) Contracting For Management: Assessing Management Capacity Under Alternative Service Delivery Arrangements, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25(2): 323–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T., Potoski M. and Van Slyke, D. (2006) Managing Public Service Contracts: Aligning Values, Institutions, and Markets, Public Administration Review 66(3): 323–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coase, R. H. (1937) The Nature of the Firm, Economica 4: 386–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, J. H., Schoorman, D. F. and Donaldson, L. (1997) Toward a Stewardship Theory of Management, The Academy of Management Review 22(1): 20–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Ridder, J. (1988) Toezicht: begripsvorming en analyse (Beleidsvoering door toezicht) in Handboek Beleidsvoering Overheid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, N. and Walsh, K. (1996) The Enabling State: The Role of Markets and Contracts, Public Administration 74(1): 33–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, S., Lane, C. and Wilkinson, F. (1994) Trust or Law? Towards an Integrated Theory of Contractual Relations Between Firms, Journal of Law and Society 21: 329–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deavers, K. (1997) Outsourcing: A Corporate Competitiveness Strategy, Not a Search for Low Wages, Journal of Labour Research 18(4): 503–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domberger, S. and Jensen, P. (1997) Contracting Out by the Public Sector: Theory, Evidence, Prospects, Oxford Review of Economic Policy 13(4): 67–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edler, J. and Georghiou, L. (2007) Public Procurement and Innovation - Resurrecting the Demand Side, Research Policy 36(7): 949–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edquist, C. and Hommen, L. (2000) Public Technology Procurement and Innovation, Theory, Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation 16: 5–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989) Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review, Academy of Management Review 14: 57–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faems, D., Janssens, M., Madhok, A. and Van Looy, B. (2008) Toward an Integrative Perspective on Alliance Governance: Connecting Contract Design, Trust Dynamics, and Contract Application, Academy Of Management Journal 51(6): 1053–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez, S. (2009) Understanding Contracting Performance: An Empirical Analysis, Administration & Society 41(1): 67–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez, S., Jay, E. R. and Brudney, J. L. (2008) Exploring Variations in Contracting for Services Among American Local Governments: Do Politics Still Matter? The American Review of Public Administration 38: 439–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B. and Jegen, R. (2001) Motivation Crowding Theory, Journal of Economic Surveys 15: 589–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B. and Oberholzer-Gee, F. (1997) The Cost of Price Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of Motivation Crowding-Out, The American Economic Review 87(4): 746–755.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. (2005) Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices, Academy of Management Learning and Education 4(1): 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. and Moran, P. (1996a) Bad for Practice: A Critique of the Transaction Cost Theory, The Academy of Management Review 21(1): 13–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. and Moran, P. (1996b) Theories of Economic Organization: The Case for Realism and Balance, Academy of Management Review 21: 58–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (1985) Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness, American Journal of Sociology 91: 481–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, B. and Kelley, M. R. (1993) Outsourcing and the Search for ‘flexibility’, Work Employment & Society 7(2): 213–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O. and Moore, J. (1999) Foundations of Incomplete Contracts, Review of Economic Studies 66: 115–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. W. (1997) The Proper Scope of Government: Theory and an Application to Prisons, Quarterly Journal of Economics 112(4): 1127–1161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, P. H. and Stonecash, R. E. (2005) Incentives and the Efficiency of Public Sector-Outsourcing Contracts, Journal o f Economic Surveys 19: 767–787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C., Hesterly, W. and Borgatti, S. (1997) A General Theory of Network Governance: Exchange Conditions and Social Mechanisms, The Academy of Management Review 22(4): 911–945.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kähkönen, L. (2004) Quasi-Markets, Competition and Market Failures in Local Government Services, Kommunal ekonomi och politik 8(3): 31–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laffont, J. and Martimort, D. (2001) The Theory of Incentives: The Principal-Agent Model. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamothe, M. and Lamothe, S. (2012) What Determines the Formal Versus Relational Nature of Local Government Contracting? Urban Affairs Review 48(3): 322–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lengel, R. H. and Daft, R. L. (1989) The Selection of Communication Media as an Executive Skill, The Academy of Management Executive 2(3): 225–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowery, D. (1998) Consumer Sovereignty and Quasi-Market Failure, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 8(2): 137–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macaulay, S. (1963) Non-Contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study, American Sociological Review 28: 55–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milward, H. and Provan, K. (2000) Governing the Hollow State, Journal Of Public Administration Research And Theory 10(2): 359–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Looney, J. (1998) Outsourcing State and Local Government Services: Decision Making Strategies and Management Methods. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panet, P. D. L., and Trebilcock, M. J. (1998) Contracting-Out Social Services, Canadian Public Administration 41: 21–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkhe A. (1993) Strategic Alliance Structuring: A Game Theoretic and Transaction Cost Examination of Interfirm Cooperation, The Academy of Management Journal 36 (4): 794–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peat, B. and Costley, D. (2001) Effective Contracting of Social Services, Nonprofit Management and Leadership 12(1): 55–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrow, C. (1972) Complex Organisations: A Critical Essay. Glenview Ill: Scott, Foresman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. (2011) Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis: NPM, Governance and the Neo-Weberian State. Third edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prager, J. (1994) Contracting out Government Services: Lessons from the Private Sector, Public Administration Review 54(2): 176–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prager, J. (2008) Contract City Redux: Weston, Florida, as the Ultimate New Public Management Model City, Public Administration Review 68: 167–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiesl, M. J. (1982) The Politics of Contracting: Los Angeles County and the Lakewood Plan, 1954–1962, Huntington Library Quarterly 45(3): 227–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1957) Administrative Behavior: a Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization. New York, NY: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1978) Rationality as Process and as a Product of Thought, American Economic Review: Proceedings 68: 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stinchcombe, A. L. (1985) Contracts as hierarchical documents. In: Stinchcombe, A. L. and Heimer, C. A. (eds) Organization Theory and Project Management: Administering Uncertainty in Norwegian Offshore Oil. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stmyven, L. and Steurs, G. (2005) Design and Redesign of a Quasi-Market for the Reintegration of Jobseekers: Empirical Evidence from Australia and the Netherlands, Journal of European Social Policy 15(3): 211–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Berkel, R. and Van Der Aa, P. (2005) The Marketization of Activation Services: A Modern Panacea? Some Lessons from the Dutch Experience, Journal of European Social Policy 15(4): 329–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Genugten, M. (2008) The Art of Alignment, Transaction Cost Economics and the Provision of Public Services at the Local Level. PhD thesis. University of Twente.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Slyke, D. M. (2003) The mythology of privatization in contracting for Social services, Public Administration Review 63(3): 296–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Slyke, D. M. (2006) Agents or Stewards: Using Theory to Understand the Government-Nonprofit Social Service Contracting Relationship, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 17: 157–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vlaar, P. W. L., Van den Bosch, F. A. J. and Volberda, H. W. (2006) Coping with Problems of Understanding in Interorganizational Relationships: Using Formalization as a Means to Make Sense, Organization Studies 27(11): 1617–1638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warner, M. and Hefetz, A. (2004) Privatization and Its Reverse: Explaining The Dynamics of the Government Contracting Process, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 14: 171–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1979) Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations, Journal of Law and Economics 22(2): 233–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1996) Economic Organization: The Case for Candor, Academy of Management Review 21(1): 48–57.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2013 Alex D. R. Corra and Jacobus de Ridder

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Corra, A.D.R., de Ridder, J. (2013). Outsourcing Public Services: Process Innovation in Dutch Municipalities. In: Valkama, P., Bailey, S.J., Anttiroiko, AV. (eds) Organizational Innovation in Public Services. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137011848_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics