Understanding Local Service Delivery Arrangements: Are the ICMA ASD Data Reliable?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lamothe, Meeyoung; Lamothe, Scott; Bell, Elizabeth
• 署名单位: University of Oklahoma System; University of Oklahoma - Norman
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12939
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 613-625
• 关键词: kansas-city region; metropolitan governance; interlocal agreements; transaction costs; urban america; GOVERNMENT; privatization; DYNAMICS

摘要

The authors utilize the two latest ICMA Profile of Local Government Service Delivery Choices surveys to investigate whether the service provision and delivery arrangement information reported in the surveys accurately represents reality and, if not, what factors contribute to generating incorrect or unreliable survey responses. Interviews with practitioners are used to better understand both the accuracy of the survey responses and improvements that could be made to the survey instrument. Results suggest that the ICMA ASD survey data are highly erratic, with more than 70 percent of the cases (N=70) investigated containing some inaccuracies. A qualitative analysis shows that the majority of the errors appear to be caused by the lack of a clear definition of service provision or by the service titles being too vague or too broad, both of which likely lead to discretion in interpreting survey questions and thus inconsistent answers by individual respondents over time. Evidence for Practice Contracting is only one of many policy tools that local public managers utilize to deliver local services; this finding highlights the need for future endeavors to identify the wide variety of innovative delivery arrangements that practitioners adopt to meet citizen demands. Collaboration among local governments for service delivery is a widespread practice and takes a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, joint service delivery, consortia, and special districts. Local nonprofit organizations, whether in human services or the arts, are often partners rather than contract agents in local service delivery, operating autonomous programs and providing essential services to local residents with government support. The ICMA ASD data, if improved in accuracy and equipped with greater details regarding the wide array of production modes that locales utilize, can serve as a useful source to inform public managers about local innovations in service delivery.