Suchergebnisse

Local governments increasingly create and use corporate forms of organization to provide public services. While there is growing evidence on the factors influencing such corporatization, less is known about what leads some local governments to bring corporatized services back in-house. This paper investigates financial, socioeconomic, political and organizational drivers of reverse corporatization among 62 Arms-Length Management Organizations (ALMOs), wholly owned nonprofit organizations created by local governments in England to provide social housing services. Survival analysis for the period 2003–2019 suggests that reverse corporatization is more likely to occur in left-wing local governments and in those with more financial reserves, but is less likely if ALMOs have operated for a longer time and have a large board of directors. Points for practitioners Understanding of the drivers of reverse corporatization can help local politicians and public managers improve their decisions about the appropriate mode of delivery for local public services. This paper highlights that good fiscal health may be essential for efforts to bring corporatized service back in-house, but that well-established municipal corporations may be better left to continue operating. It is also important for policymakers to recognize the role that political ideology (and socioeconomic circumstances) can play in shaping a commitment to reversing corporatization.

It is often asserted that the representation of women in leadership positions within public service organisations is likely to result in improved outcomes for other women within those organisations. However, there has been little systematic research devoted to understanding whether this argument holds for the nonprofit organisations that now provide many public services. To cast light on this important issue, this article presents an analysis of the representation of women in leadership roles and the gender pay gap in Welsh housing associations – registered societies responsible for providing more than half of the social housing within Wales. The findings show that nonprofit service providers led by women in the most senior organisational positions may be more likely to have a lower gender pay gap, confirming arguments about the importance of actively representing female interests. At the same time, it seems that representation in the upper echelons in general is not likely to influence gender pay equality, which raises questions about whether a glass ceiling may be present, as has been observed in state-led public service provision. These findings suggest a need for more in-depth, multi-method research which systematically evaluates the way in which female leaders actively represent women's interests in the myriad organisations that provide public services. This article has important implications given a renewed period of austerity in the public sector, which, as in the past, may threaten further progress on equality for those women who provide and receive public services.

Organization theory suggests that the strength of the ties between employees is likely to be weaker in large organizations, but that decentralization of decision making can help generate norms of collaboration, trust, and shared mission. This article explores the separate and combined effects of size and decentralization on perceptions of organizational social capital in central government agencies in Europe. The statistical results suggest that there is a negative relationship between organization size and organizational social capital and a contrasting positive relationship between decentralized decision making and social capital. Further analysis revealed that decentralization of key decisions can overcome the internal social dysfunctions associated with being a big organization. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Proponents of the vertical consolidation of lower-tier units into a smaller number of single-tier local governments suggest that it improves the financial sustainability of governments by generating economies of scale and scope. However, critics suggest that such structural change is beset with disruptive and unanticipated costs that outweigh any potential efficiency savings. I investigate the validity of these contrasting arguments by analysing the expenditure and fiscal health of English county councils before and after the consolidation of the lower-tier units within several counties that took place in 2009. Levels of financial sustainability are modelled using a difference-in-difference estimator for the years 2003–2012. The results suggest that in the short run the consolidated governments have been able to realize administrative economies, but their fiscal health has weakened. These findings appear to be robust to the possibility of selection effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

AbstractReligious communities are important sources of bridging and bonding social capital that have varying implications for perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas. In particular, as well as cultivating cohesiveness more broadly, the bridging social capital associated within mainline religious communities may represent an especially important source of support for the social integration of new immigrant groups. Although the bonding social capital associated with evangelical communities is arguably less conducive to wider social cohesion, it may prompt outreach work by those communities, which can enhance immigrant integration. This article examines these assumptions by exploring the relationship between mainline and evangelical religious communities, immigration, and residents' perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas in England. I model the separate and combined effects of religious communities and economic in‐migration on social cohesion using multivariate statistical techniques. The analysis suggests that mainline Protestant communities enhance social cohesion in rural England, while evangelical communities do not. The social integration of immigrants appears to be more likely where mainline Protestant and Catholic communities are strong, but is unaffected by the strength of evangelical ones.

The social capital present within local communities is increasingly viewed as an important source of co-productive capacity for delivering better public services. However, to date, research in the field of public administration has paid scant attention to the links between structural and attitudinal components of social capital, such as community organizational life, political engagement and levels of interpersonal trust, and the performance of public services. In this article, the relationship between social capital and public service performance is explored by reviewing the available empirical evidence on this topic. The existing evidence suggests that the strength and direction of the social capital performance relationship may vary by the different dimensions of social capital. Thus, further research in this area would have theoretical and practical benefits.

Civic-republican theories of democracy assume high levels of social capital within the community and within public bureaucracies will be associated with better government performance. This article tests these assumptions by analyzing the impact of community and organizational social capital on the achievements of English local governments. The interdependence between social capital and performance is modeled using a range of primary and secondary data. The statistical results suggest that both community and organizational social capital are positively related to government performance. However, further analysis revealed that the combined effects of these two forms of social capital are not beneficial for performance. Adapted from the source document.

Civic-republican theories of democracy assume high levels of social capital within the community and within public bureaucracies will be associated with better government performance. This article tests these assumptions by analyzing the impact of community and organizational social capital on the achievements of English local governments. The interdependence between social capital and performance is modeled using a range of primary and secondary data. The statistical results suggest that both community and organizational social capital are positively related to government performance. However, further analysis revealed that the combined effects of these two forms of social capital are not beneficial for performance.