What happens when municipalities run corporations? Empirical evidence from 290 Swedish municipalities

Bergh, Andreas; Erlingsson, Gissur Ó; Wittberg, Emanuel

doi:10.1080/03003930.2021.1944857

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…Constituting only 10.5% of the 573 identified antecedents, scholars have primarily focused on community characteristics, comprising about 90.0% of the environmental antecedents (refer to Table 5 and Appendix 1). Generally, the empirical results indicate a mixed and inconsistent effect of community characteristics on citizen satisfaction, suggesting that the impacts of environmental factors may be highly context-specific (Amirkhanyan et al, 2014; Bergh et al, 2022; Brown, 2007; Drew & Dollery, 2016; Van Ryzin, 2004). For instance, concerning the population size, Drew and Dollery's (2016) study found an insignificant impact in the context of Australia, whereas Bergh et al (2022) observed that a larger population increases the level of citizen satisfaction in the Sweden setting.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Kim,

Rho,

Teo

2024

The American Review of Public Administration

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This study presents a systematic review of the 122 studies on citizen satisfaction in the field of public administration. The research aims to identify the current state of knowledge on citizen satisfaction by drawing on existing empirical results and conceptual arguments, highlighting research gaps, and developing a heuristic framework to guide future research. Based on a literature search of 12 major public administration journals, our findings indicate that citizen satisfaction has gained significant academic attention as a performance measure to monitor and assess public service delivery, particularly at the local level. Despite substantial scrutiny in diverse research contexts, quantitative studies still predominate, mainly using secondary survey data in their research. Furthermore, we observed an absence of an agreed-upon definition for citizen satisfaction and an over-emphasis on the expectancy-disconfirmation model to explain the satisfaction process, highlighting the need for scholars to move beyond the performance-expectation dyad. While reviewing a set of environmental, organizational, and individual-level antecedents and outcomes, we noticed few scholars have considered the effects of moderating variables on citizen satisfaction. As such, our paper concludes by identifying a few underexplored research themes that could facilitate knowledge-building regarding citizen satisfaction.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…0%) Contract characteristics(Amirkhanyan et al, 2014) Ownership(Bergh et al, 2022;Carvalho & Brito, 2012;De Vries & Van der Hooft-Van der Zijl, 2003;Hodgkinson et al, 2017;Kisida & Wolf, 2015) (continued)…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Kim,

Rho,

Teo

2024

The American Review of Public Administration

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“…First, the lack of data meant that our sample did not include other organizations providing public services at the municipal level, such as municipally owned companies (MOCs). This is important because municipalities increasingly rely on MOCs to provide public services (Bergh et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corruption spreads: understanding interorganizational corruption contagion in municipal governments

Monteduro,

D'Onza,

Mussari

2023

IJPSM

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PurposeCorruption is a major social problem, and scholars have devoted considerable attention to this phenomenon. However, less attention has been paid to how corruption spreads among organizations and what factors can make its spread more likely. This study aims to fill the gap by modelling corruption as an interorganizational contagion.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used social contagion theory to model corruption as an interorganizational contagion, influenced by the susceptibility of organizations and the strength of contagion sources. The study analysed 736 medium and large Italian municipalities over a five-year period, with 3,146 observations (excluding missing data). The authors conducted a longitudinal analysis using panel logistic regression techniques and performed robustness and endogeneity checks through a dynamic panel data model.FindingsThe authors found that municipalities with a higher percentage of corrupt neighbouring municipalities were more likely to experience corruption. The probability of experiencing corruption was also significantly higher for municipalities with weaker organizational resistance to corruption contagion.Originality/valuePrevious studies have not clearly explained the organizational mechanisms behind the spread of corruption at the interorganizational level. The study suggests that corruption contagion at the municipal level occurs via reduced uncertainty in decision-makers and is influenced by the prevalence of corruption locally. The spread can be driven by conscious or unconscious mechanisms. This study challenges the idea that corruption contagion is immediate and inevitable. Organizational resistance to corruption can affect the risk of contagion, highlighting the importance of anti-corruption controls and ethical systems in preventing it.

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“…However, Stiel (forthcoming) finds that municipally owned utilities in Germany perform no better or worse than other organizational forms. Similarly, Bergh et al (forthcoming) analysis of Swedish municipalities suggests that corporatization has no effect on citizen's satisfaction with local public services and may even lead to higher levels of taxes and increased corruption.…”

Section: Current State Of Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

Corporatization of public services

Andrews

Clifton

Ferry

2022

Public Administration

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The corporatization of public services by moving services previously provided in‐house into various types of arms‐length corporate forms of organization is becoming an important trend at multiple levels of government. Although the use of such corporate forms to deliver public services is not a new phenomenon, evidence on the impact of corporatization on public services provision is only slowly emerging. In this symposium, we aim to advance our understanding of the theoretical and practical implications of corporatization through empirical analyses of its dynamics in a range of different settings. In this introductory article, we begin by explaining what is meant by the corporatization of public services and the different forms that it can take, before summarizing the existing evidence on the governance, accountability, and performance of corporatized public services. We then describe the articles included in the symposium and conclude by outlining a future research agenda for studying corporatization.

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What happens when municipalities run corporations? Empirical evidence from 290 Swedish municipalities

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Corruption spreads: understanding interorganizational corruption contagion in municipal governments

Corporatization of public services

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