Efficiencies of and Motivations for Contracting Out in the Public Sector: The Case of Social Services in Spain

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chow, Danny; Garrido-Rodriguez, Juan Carlos; Zafra-Gomez, Jose Luis
• 署名单位: University of Granada
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.13047
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 693-706
• 关键词: alternative management forms; inter-municipal cooperation; solid-waste; intermunicipal cooperation; cost efficiency; delivery forms; fiscal stress; privatization; CHOICE; ACCOUNTABILITY

摘要

Debates on contracting out to the private sector is primarily focused on the cost efficiency of its provision, drawing on experiences with hard or technical services such as waste and water management. This paper focuses on a growing interest in the role and impact of sourcing decisions in softer or more human-centered services, such as social services, where sourcing decisions are more complex or multifaceted. Using actual cost data obtained from open access government sources on social services in Spain, the first objective was to compare the cost efficiencies of different sourcing decisions using estimations of Technology Gap Ratios of different municipalities through Order-M Panel Data. The second objective analyzed motivations for contracting out through a survey of municipal managers in Andalusia using principal components analysis combined with multinominal logit regressions. Our findings suggest that while contracting out to the private sector is, relatively speaking, the most cost efficient, most municipalities have decided to keep service provision in-house. Decisions to contract out social services are not based only on cost but also incorporate a range of other considerations such as the municipalities' population size, its stakeholder expectations, and other complexities associated with service provision. Los debates sobre la contrataci & oacute;n externa en el sector privado se centran principalmente en la rentabilidad de su prestaci & oacute;n, a ra & iacute;z de experiencias con servicios duros o t & eacute;cnicos como la gesti & oacute;n de residuos y del agua. Este art & iacute;culo se centra en el creciente inter & eacute;s por el papel y el impacto de las decisiones de externalizaci & oacute;n en servicios m & aacute;s blandos o centrados en el ser humano, como los servicios sociales, en los que las decisiones de externalizaci & oacute;n son m & aacute;s complejas o polifac & eacute;ticas. Utilizando datos de costes reales, obtenidos de fuentes gubernamentales de libre acceso sobre los servicios sociales en Espa & ntilde;a, el primer objetivo consiste en comparar las eficiencias en costes de diferentes formas de gesti & oacute;n, a trav & eacute;s de los Technology Gap Ratio de diferentes municipios, obtenidos mediante un an & aacute;lisis de Orden- M con datos de Panel. El segundo objetivo analiza las motivaciones para la contrataci & oacute;n externa a trav & eacute;s de una encuesta a gestores municipales en Andaluc & iacute;a, utilizando el an & aacute;lisis de componentes principales combinado con regresiones logit multinomial. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, aunque la contrataci & oacute;n externa con el sector privado es, en t & eacute;rminos relativos, la m & aacute;s eficiente en t & eacute;rminos de costes, la mayor & iacute;a de los municipios han decidido mantener la prestaci & oacute;n de servicios dentro de la empresa. La decisi & oacute;n de externalizar servicios sociales no se basa & uacute;nicamente en el coste, sino que tambi & eacute;n incorpora otras consideraciones, como el tama & ntilde;o de la poblaci & oacute;n del municipio, las expectativas de las partes interesadas y otras complejidades asociadas a la prestaci & oacute;n de servicios.