Public Policy and Administration

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 0952-0767

Issue Number

No. 39-2, April 2024

Latest documents

Capable supervision, pragmatic engagement, and hands-off steering: Three preferences of Chinese government officials for governing non-profit organizations in public service delivery
Governments’ preferences for governing non-profit organizations (NPOs) are a relevant but understudied issue for governance scholars. Using Q methodology, this study investigates Chinese government officials’ preferences for governing NPOs that deliver public services. We identified three government preferences: capable supervision, pragmatic engagement, and hands-off steering. We found different theoretical perspectives identified in the literature combine with one another to formulate these government preferences for governing NPOs. A key implication is that the Chinese state predominantly prefers the traditional public administration perspective, although it pragmatically borrows useful ingredients from other steering perspectives simultaneously. We recommend that governments, when governing NPOs, seriously address the configurations of governance strategies.
Contextualising co-production and complex needs: Understanding the engagement of service users with severe and multiple disadvantages
Much has been written about co-production in mainstream services but less is known about its applicability to service users with severe and multiple disadvantages (SMD). Given the sometimes-precarious relationship between providers and users with SMD, the paper argues that co-production should not be approached in the same way as conventional user engagement because of the degree of marginalisation, stigma and exclusion users with SMD face. Through a thematic analysis of evidence systematically collated via a rapid evidence assessment, the author proposes a co-production framework comprising a series of organisational principles to create an enabling environment for co-production with vulnerable service users. The application of the model is encouraged across a range of sectors and settings so that all service users can become empowered participants in the design and delivery of services that affect their lives.
Varieties of governance versatility and institutions: Comparing the governance of primary care performance in six jurisdictions
Research on governance often assumes that governance requires combinations of hierarchical, market and network co-ordination. However, governance versatility – understood as the existence of a repertoire of different modes of coordination – is not a characteristic of all instances of governance. The aim of this paper is to offer a more thorough analysis by exploring existing levels of governance versatility and how these are influenced by institutional profiles. Our comparative study of primary care performance across six jurisdictions suggests that higher levels of governance versatility can be shaped by very different institutional profiles. Our analysis raises important questions for future studies of governance versatility.
Economics, ideas or institutions? Agencification through government-owned enterprises in illiberal contexts: The case of Hungary
Corporate state agencies (CSAs) are government/state-owned enterprises (GOEs) that perform public tasks. The main objective of this article is to better understand the drivers of governments’ changing reliance on CSAs in performing public tasks. We pursue this ambition in a particular context: one characterized by the illiberal transformation of political and state institutions. Based on a review of the applicable but thus far largely disconnected streams of research we proposed and subsequently tested several hypotheses using a unique data set of Hungarian corporate state agencies that existed between 1995 and 2014. The empirical analysis revealed, firstly, that in line with theories rooted in mainstream economics, economic factors do affect governments’ reliance on this type of agencies (albeit to a limited extent). Secondly, we conclude that organizational myths such as the “myth of central control” of Viktor Orbán’s governments explain a large proportion of changes in our outcome of interest. However, notably, we found no direct empirical support for either the effect of illiberal transformation of government or administrative reform doctrines.
Not the usual suspects: creating the conditions for and implementing co-production with marginalised young people in Glasgow
Co-production is now an established part of public service delivery. Despite its popularity, there is only a limited understanding about how co-production works in practice, particularly with marginalised groups. This paper identifies and explores insights from three case studies of a successful co-productive approach in Glasgow, Scotland. Operation Modulus is a criminal justice initiative involving public and third sector partners in the co-production of services with marginalised young people to reduce their involvement in crime and antisocial behaviour. The data highlighted the importance of leadership, the role of public service professionals and the process of working with marginalised young people; these are explored, all within the context of the authorising environment created at the level of a collaborative governance body. The findings underscore, first, the importance of distributed leadership and process in developing trust amongst partners and in turn in the relationships of partners with young people. Second, the essential role of effective co-management amongst service providers in creating the requisite conditions for meaningful co-production with marginalised citizens. Third, the potential for and importance of shared management to facilitate changes in professional relationships and ways of working, even if these do not lead to organisational systems change. Fourth, the significance of public service professionals having the authority and agency to explore collaborative ways of working.
Multiple pathways to solve urban challenges: A shared portfolio approach towards smart city development
Municipalities often collaborate with other stakeholders in smart city projects to develop and implement technological innovations to address complex urban issues. We propose the shared portfolio approach as an alternative way of collaborating, because we have identified possible limitations when the commonly used single-project approach is adopted in complex contexts, such as the smart city context. The portfolio approach enhances flexibility, an embedded focus and cross-project learning, because partners work on multiple projects – either in parallel or in succession – to develop multiple solutions to a specific problem. An in-depth case study is used to illustrate how the shared portfolio approach works. In practice, these insights can be used by public bodies who aim to collaborate in smart city development or by partners who work on smart city projects and wish to continue their collaboration in a portfolio setting. Conceptually, our paper develops a connection between cross-sector partnership literature and smart city literature by revealing how the shared portfolio approach could be an effective way to deal with the complexities of innovation in the smart city context.
The democratic quality of co-creation: A theoretical exploration
This article aims to initiate a conversation about the democratic quality of co-creation. There is growing interest in co-creation as a tool for mobilizing societal resources, enhancing creative problem-solving, and building broad-based ownership for public solutions. While researchers have focused on the contribution of co-creation to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public governance, few researchers have discussed the democratic quality of co-creation. This lacuna is filled by exploring the democratic contribution of co-creation through a comparison with well-known forms of democracy. The claim is that the democratic quality of co-creation lies in its ability to empower lay actors to take part in cross-boundary collaboration that may lead to creative problem-solving and to the exercise of a shared power based on joint agreements about innovative public value outcomes. The article is mainly theoretical and engaged in prospective analysis but also draws on empirical examples to illustrate the theoretical points.
How street-level bureaucrats exercise their discretion to encourage clients’ political participation: A case study of Israeli LGBTQ+ teachers
Do street-level bureaucrats exercise discretion to encourage clients’ political participation? If so, how, and in what way is it demonstrated? This study examines these questions empirically through 36 semi-structured in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) teachers in Israel. Findings reveal that these street-level bureaucrats encourage clients to participate politically through strategies they adopt both inside and outside the work environment. In the classroom their lessons contain political content and expressions of political protest. Outside school they employ digital media to influence students. Clients’ political participation is manifested both jointly with street-level bureaucrats and independently of them.
Public sector accountability styles in Europe comparing accountability and control of agencies in the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK
This paper develops and applies the concept of accountability styles for analyzing and comparing accountability practices in different countries. This is relevant as there is considerable scholarship on public sector accountability but only very few comparative studies. Extant studies have shown that national styles of accountability are both marked by convergence as well as the resilience of national differences. The concept of accountability style is adopted to describe and interpret how and why accountability practices differ between administrative systems. It does so by analyzing practices of accountability of public sector agencies in four European democracies with different state traditions: the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. These countries vary with regards to state strength (interventionist propensity) and administrative concentration (high or low centralization). The analysis focuses on the accountability of arms’ length agencies which lends itself for comparisons across counties. The paper shows that the national political-administrative context crucially shapes practices of accountability and accountability regimes of agencies. The Norwegian accountability style is characterized as ‘centralized and convenient’. The UK-style is equally centralized yet not so convenient as it incurs high accountability-process costs on agencies. Switzerland is marked by limited hierarchical accountability. And the Dutch accountability style is comparatively ‘broad and informal’. State strength and administrative concentration explain some of the variance while historical legacies explain additional national variations.
Opening the ‘black box’: Organisational Adaptation and Resistance to institutional isomorphism in a prime-led employment services programme
The UK’s Work Programme (2012-18) was a major employment services programme, inspired by new public management principles. A relatively small number of directly commissioned ‘prime providers’ were paid by the central Government largely according to the number of job-outcomes their service users achieved but were given a ‘black box’ to design their own services and subcontracting arrangements. Drawing on an empirical study of subcontracted service providers, and focusing on those from the third sector, the paper shows that within this prime-led commissioning model, subcontractors came under sustained pressure to adjust their operational practices. We draw on institutional isomorphism to show that isomorphic pressures were experienced because of both the design and implementation of the Work Programme. Although there were strong pressures pushing towards convergence, however, the different starting positions of subcontractors meant that these changes were not entirely deterministic and some attempts at resistance were observed amongst third sector providers. Their diverse institutional contexts, including positioning and wider interest in the field, shaped how they navigated and responded to isomorphic pressures, ultimately mitigating homogenisation. The paper contributes a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which provider organisations experience, interpret and respond to structural pressures within an evolving quasi-market. The findings have implications for public service reform programmes featuring quasi-markets that are intended to encourage innovation and a diversity of provision, particularly when promoting mission-led, third sector organisations (TSOs).