Sector Choice: Its Role in Explaining Contracting Performance

37 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2009 Last revised: 4 Sep 2009

See all articles by Jeffrey L. Brudney

Jeffrey L. Brudney

Cleveland State University - Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

Chung-Lae Cho

Ewha Womans University - Public Administration

Deil S. Wright

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - Department of Political Science

Date Written: September 1, 2009

Abstract

Voluminous literature examines contracting out or “outsourcing” by government agencies for the delivery of services. Despite the great interest in contracting, the research literature remains sparse for one level of government: the states. In addition, although theoretical inquiry has described the presumed effects of government contracting with organizations from the different sectors - for-profit, nonprofit, and public - little empirical work has been undertaken in this area. The present inquiry addresses these lacunae. First, based on surveys conducted in 1998, 2004, and 2008 in the American State Administrators Project, the article examines trends in contracting by state agencies and the extent and consequences for service delivery at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Second, the article presents and tests a model of contracted service delivery and explores the effects of sector of vendor on the results obtained by state government agencies with respect to service cost and quality. Findings show that state agencies that contract with organizations from multiple sectors are more likely to achieve desired results from contracting, and that contracting exclusively with private sector firms is least likely to yield those results.

Keywords: contracting,outsourcing,privatization,state government

Suggested Citation

Brudney, Jeffrey L. and Cho, Chung-Lae and Wright, Deil S., Sector Choice: Its Role in Explaining Contracting Performance (September 1, 2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1450674

Jeffrey L. Brudney (Contact Author)

Cleveland State University - Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs ( email )

1717 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
United States

Chung-Lae Cho

Ewha Womans University - Public Administration ( email )

11-1 Daehyun-Dong
Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul 120
Korea

Deil S. Wright

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - Department of Political Science ( email )

361 Hamilton Hall
CB#3265
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
United States

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