Mixed Welfare Systems and Hybrid Organizations: Changes in the Governance and Provision of Social Services

Abstract

The provision and governance of personal social services is nowadays often thought as a matter of finding the right balance between market principles and state regulation. However often, personal social services depend as well from a third resource and mechanism of governance: It is the impact of the social capital of civil society, which makes itself felt not only by resources such as grants, donations, and volunteering, but as well by networking and social partnerships. A number of crucial changes in welfare and service provision have led to a situation, where service systems and service units, rather than being part of a clear-cut sector, have increasingly to be seen as hybrids, combining varying balances of resources and mixes of governance principles usually associated with the market, the state, and the civil society.

Taking Your Eyes Off the Objective: The Relationship Between Income Sources and Satisfaction with Achieving Objectives in the UK Third Sector

“…Haugh and Kitson (2007) suggest there is a danger that TSOs could be used to marketise the welfare state by the government, and where economically successful get drawn into becoming fully privatised. Others, such as Evers (2005) and Harris (2010), note the pressure for TSOs to hybridise as governments reconceptualise what constitutes public services.…”

User co-production of public service delivery: Effects on trust

“…Hence, it also includes private companies that are carrying out certain services, or third sector organizations that collaborate with government. Increasingly, nonprofit or so-called hybrid organizations are involved in service provision too (Evers, 2005).…”

Social Policies and Governance in Geneva: What About Social Innovation?

“…Since 2008, the City of Geneva has for example set up some "district" or "neighbourhood contracts" that enable people from the area to express themselves in working groups or neighbourhood assemblies. 74 Or social innovation is linked to citizens' everyday lives, to their active involvement, which is part of the design of the local welfare state and has to be included in the analysis of the governance (Evers 2005). It is not surprising that Geneva has the lowest rate of formal and informal volunteering in Switzerland (Gundelach et al 2010;Kettenacker and Cattacin 2008; Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS) 2011, pp.…”

“…Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to clearly define the border separating the state from non-profit organisations, whose intertwined nature contributes to the blurring of that border. For Evers (2000Evers ( , 2005, the borders between the different providers of social services have to be questioned and newly defined, because changes in the development of welfare states (such as trends towards more autonomy of single service organizations and an increasing intertwining between state and market spheres), linked with a stronger impact of new forms of participation in civil society, have led to a hybridization process in many organizations that provide social services.…”