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

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Názov: Efficiencies of and Motivations for Contracting Out in the Public Sector: The Case of Social Services in Spain.
Autori: Chow, Danny1 (AUTHOR), Garrido‐Rodríguez, Juan Carlos2 (AUTHOR) jcgarrido@ugr.es, Zafra‐Gómez, José Luis2 (AUTHOR)
Zdroj: Public Administration. Sep2025, Vol. 103 Issue 3, p693-706. 14p.
Predmety: *CONTRACTING out, *SOCIAL services, *STRATEGIC sourcing, *STAKEHOLDER analysis, *MUNICIPAL government, *PUBLIC sector, *ECONOMIC efficiency, SPANIARDS
Geografický termín: ANDALUSIA (Spain), SPAIN
Abstract (English): 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Abstract (Spanish): Resumen: Los debates sobre la contratación externa en el sector privado se centran principalmente en la rentabilidad de su prestación, a raíz de experiencias con servicios duros o técnicos como la gestión de residuos y del agua. Este artículo se centra en el creciente interés por el papel y el impacto de las decisiones de externalización en servicios más blandos o centrados en el ser humano, como los servicios sociales, en los que las decisiones de externalización son más complejas o polifacéticas. Utilizando datos de costes reales, obtenidos de fuentes gubernamentales de libre acceso sobre los servicios sociales en España, el primer objetivo consiste en comparar las eficiencias en costes de diferentes formas de gestión, a través de los Technology Gap Ratio de diferentes municipios, obtenidos mediante un análisis de Orden‐ M con datos de Panel. El segundo objetivo analiza las motivaciones para la contratación externa a través de una encuesta a gestores municipales en Andalucía, utilizando el análisis de componentes principales combinado con regresiones logit multinomial. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, aunque la contratación externa con el sector privado es, en términos relativos, la más eficiente en términos de costes, la mayoría de los municipios han decidido mantener la prestación de servicios dentro de la empresa. La decisión de externalizar servicios sociales no se basa únicamente en el coste, sino que también incorpora otras consideraciones, como el tamaño de la población del municipio, las expectativas de las partes interesadas y otras complejidades asociadas a la prestación de servicios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Databáza: Business Source Index
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Abstrakt: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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:00333298
DOI:10.1111/padm.13047