{"title":"Fixing big government or feeding private contractors? Empirical evidence from the case of municipal solid waste management","authors":"Seejeen Park, M. Jae Moon","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12579","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <p>The assumption of new public management (NPM) that governments can lower costs and improve service quality through a market mechanism, such as competition, has been under debate over several decades. To test the NPM assumption, this study investigates the effects of contracting out on cost savings by analysing municipal solid waste management data collected in 25 local governments in the Republic of Korea over a period of 14 years. Contrary to the NPM assumption, this study suggests that contracting out does not necessarily result in cost savings but rather causes additional financial burden on citizens.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\n \n <div>\n <ul>\n \n <li>Government officials are strongly encouraged to critically review market-based managerial reforms.</li>\n \n <li>Government officials need to assess both benefits and costs of contracting-out practices prior to any outsourcing or privatisation decisions.</li>\n \n <li>Government officials need to make evidence-based policy decisions and long-term financial implications from the perspective of citizens.</li>\n </ul>\n </div>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"82 1","pages":"116-132"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8500.12579","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The assumption of new public management (NPM) that governments can lower costs and improve service quality through a market mechanism, such as competition, has been under debate over several decades. To test the NPM assumption, this study investigates the effects of contracting out on cost savings by analysing municipal solid waste management data collected in 25 local governments in the Republic of Korea over a period of 14 years. Contrary to the NPM assumption, this study suggests that contracting out does not necessarily result in cost savings but rather causes additional financial burden on citizens.
Points for practitioners
Government officials are strongly encouraged to critically review market-based managerial reforms.
Government officials need to assess both benefits and costs of contracting-out practices prior to any outsourcing or privatisation decisions.
Government officials need to make evidence-based policy decisions and long-term financial implications from the perspective of citizens.
期刊介绍:
Aimed at a diverse readership, the Australian Journal of Public Administration is committed to the study and practice of public administration, public management and policy making. It encourages research, reflection and commentary amongst those interested in a range of public sector settings - federal, state, local and inter-governmental. The journal focuses on Australian concerns, but welcomes manuscripts relating to international developments of relevance to Australian experience.