The state as a ‘socially responsible customer’? Public procurement between market-making and market-embedding

Jaehrling, Karen

doi:10.1177/0959680114535316

Cited by 36 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The regulatory architecture further places through best value reviews parameters around the price and quality compromises that can be reached by service commissioners and providers. Meanwhile, the scope given to providers to cut their employment costs, has to be seen in the context of labour market regulatory changes and local authorities not having any legally binding obligations to fully fund service delivery on a reasonably long-term basis.These observations not only fit well with the arguments of MacKenzie and Martinez Lucio but receive reinforcement from recent comparative analyses of the employment-related effects of public service contracting that show them to vary as a result of differences in the way that national frameworks regulate the relevant employment and production regimes (Jaehrling, 2015). It seems reasonable to argue therefore that an important function of empirical studies of public service outsourcing should be to provide detailed and critical examinations of the influence exerted by such regulatory infrastructures and how they can potentially be better designed to support the achievement of intended, and important, social objectives.…”

supporting

confidence: 56%

Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective

Cunningham

James

2016

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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This article draws on findings from two longitudinal case studies of voluntary organisations engaged in delivering social care services via purchaser -provider relations with local authorities. The study focuses on changes to contractual relations, employment conditions in provider organisations and service quality. The article argues the influence of the market on these changes can only be adequately comprehended by rooting the analysis in an understanding of the way in which surrounding regulatory frameworks shape its structure and operation. In doing so, it reveals how in an era of shifting market conditions characterised by greater competition and dramatic local authority cuts, a 'soft' regulatory framework offers little support to partnership relations between voluntary organisations and local authorities.Instead, the regulatory environment undermines financial security among voluntary organisations, degrades employment conditions in them and raises concerns regarding their service quality. Regulation, social care, outsourcing, employment conditions, voluntary organisations IntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to explore the way in which regulatory frameworks shape the structure and operation of the Scottish social care market place and hence influence purchaser -provider relations between local authorities and voluntary sector providers of social care.Previous studies have pointed towards how New Public Management (NPM) has shaped social care markets and thereby prompted detrimental changes to the terms and conditions of 2 employment of workers in voluntary sector providers due to competition and pressures on public sector budgets and price. The same studies have highlighted more tentatively subsequent detrimental consequences for service quality outcomes (Baines, 2004: Cunningham, 2008: Cunningham and James, 2011.Using a longitudinal analysis of two voluntary sector organisations, this paper provides a different conceptual lens through which to explore the employment outcomes flowing from purchaser-provider relations in social care. In particular, it adopts a framework of analysis under which public service outsourcing is conceptualised as a 'regulatory', as well as a 'market', process. That is an approach which recognises the value of theoretical perspectives which acknowledge that the advance of the market does not wholly replace state regulation but rather involves a reconfiguration of regulatory roles, forms and relationships in a way that enhances the position of some (market-based) actors and reduces that of others Martinez-Lucio, 2004 and2005). In adopting this conceptual framework, the paper has three main concerns. The first is to explore how market mechanisms and regulation have changed the economic fortunes of voluntary sector organisations. The second is to investigate the implications of these changing fortunes for employment relationships in voluntary organisations. Finally, the last is to examine the degree to which they are associated with detrimental changes to service quality...

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supporting

confidence: 56%

Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective

Cunningham

James

2016

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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“…The role played by the state remains relevant in shielding industrial relations from the disintegrating effect of market forces (Jaehrling, 2015), in conjunction with specific legal protections and prerogatives attached to public employment (Della Rocca, 2013). Nevertheless, the findings make it possible to qualify and nuance such arguments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such national differences in employment relations systems and institutional frameworks help to shape market-driven transformations, absorbing economic and organizational shocks and adapting to major changes. In particular, the effects of outsourcing can be mediated by the forms of labour market regulation, the strength of industrial relations institutions and the coverage collective agreements, as well as the extent to which regulatory processes extend job protections to both public and private sectors and the institutional interplay between the two (Jaehrling, 2015). The comparison among three 'most-different' models enables a better appreciation of the influence of national institutional frameworks interacting with similar market forces.…”

Section: Methods and Case Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Diverse combinations of these dimensions lead to different configurations across countries, more or less employee-friendly according to the limitations these regulatory constraints impose on job deterioration during restructuring. The different configurations of the national procurement systems can be 'market-making' or 'market-embedding' (Jaehrling 2015).…”

Section: Public Sector Employment Relations: Between Enduring Cross-cmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

Mori

2017

European Journal of Industrial Relations

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This article examines the impact of outsourcing of public services on employment relations and working conditions in three countries: Italy, the UK and Denmark. It presents six matched case studies and investigates whether contracting out by public administrations causes a market-driven convergence across national boundaries or whether cross-country differences endure. Though outsourcing blurs the organizational boundaries between public and private sectors everywhere, making terms and conditions of employment fragmented and less protected, distinct structures and legacies of national employment relations institutions result in differences between national trajectories.

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“…However, an employer may choose to pay a living wage without seeking accreditation, and there are no mechanisms by which the accreditation obligations can be enforced. The issue of extending the living wage to contracted staff is particularly relevant for the public sector where declining budgets may constrain the ability of the state to act as a "socially responsible customer", and where outsourcing and work reorganisation are de facto leveraged to drive down unit costs ( Jaehrling, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing the living wage in UK local government

Johnson

2017

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. Implementing the living wage in UK local government Mathew JohnsonAlliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Abstract Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of living wages on organisational pay systems. Design/methodology/approach -The research draws on 23 semi-structured interviews with HR managers, trade union representatives, and politicians at four UK local government case study sites. Findings -The findings suggest that living wages can have a positive impact on directly employed workers in cleaning, catering and care services, but the research also finds that the localised adoption of living wages can lead to significant wage compression, resulting in a broad band of "low skill-low wage jobs". Originality/value -The theoretical contribution is twofold. In-line with earlier research the "first-order" effects of living wages are clear: hourly wages for a large number of women in part-time roles increased sharply. However, this is only part of the story as "second-order" effects such as ripples and spill-overs are less extensive than suggested by other studies. This is due to the limited scope for trade unions to restore wage differentials through collective bargaining, the slow progress in extending the living wage to contracted staff, and parallel processes of downsizing and outsourcing.

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The state as a ‘socially responsible customer’? Public procurement between market-making and market-embedding

Cited by 36 publications

References 15 publications

Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective

Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective

The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

Implementing the living wage in UK local government

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