Local institutions and public service outsourcing: Managerial professionalism, mayoral strength, and electoral rules

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wei, Wenchi; Zhang, Zhiwei; Yang, Kaifeng
• 署名单位: Renmin University of China; Kansas State University; Renmin University of China
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.13525
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 1095-1123
• 关键词: city-managers; Transaction cost; fiscal stress; interlocal cooperation; GOVERNMENT; privatization; delivery; PRIVATE; determinants; ECONOMICS

摘要

This research examines how institutional contexts matter for US municipalities' service outsourcing decisions, deriving data from the ICMA's multiple rounds of surveys concerning local institutions and service delivery choices. We focus on seven pivotal local institutions that address managerial professionalism, mayoral strength, and electoral rules. Moreover, a composite index measuring the general nature of the municipal structure on a political-administrative scale is constructed based on the local institutions examined. The empirical estimations use the existence of initiatives and popular referenda allowing citizen voters to adjust local statutes as instrumental variables for local institutions. We find that municipalities with a council-manager municipal form, a professional manager, a weak mayor, and nonpartisan and at-large elections of council members outsource less services. Professional managers can moderate the effects of contextual factors on government outsourcing decisions. Moreover, municipalities with a more political or a less administrative municipal structure outsource a larger portion of services. Evidence for Practice The statutory council-manager municipal form, the existence of a professional manager, a weak mayor, and nonpartisan and at-large elections of council members have negative effects on the degree of government service outsourcing. Professional managers within municipalities can moderate the influence of key contextual factors, such as population size and fiscal stress, on local outsourcing decisions. A municipal structure that is more political or less administrative in nature positively affects government service outsourcing, especially outsourcing through interlocal cooperation. The driving factors are distinct across different forms of public service outsourcing, including outsourcing to private firms, nonprofit organizations, and other governments.