Abstract Despite widespread support for integrated service delivery (ISD), the challenges of making ISD a sustainable feature of the public sector remain unresolved. This article offers new insights to this persistent challenge by developing a novel theoretical framework, inspired by the perspective of institutional complexity, and applying it to the...

Public Administration, EarlyView.

Abstract The theory of symbolic representation expects that passive representativeness of bureaucrats can heighten agencies' perceived legitimacy and enhance citizen outcomes. Empirical evidence on the consequences of symbolic representation, however, is mixed. By performing a meta-analysis of 286 effect sizes, this study finds a significantly positive,...

Abstract This article explores the conditions that underpin networks as enduring collaborative relationships. To identify key features that sustain long-term collaboration, we use the Norwegian system of emergency management as our empirical case. Norway is characterized by the important role played by volunteers and voluntary organizations as partners...

Abstract Inter-municipal cooperation is often regarded as an alternative to privatizing local public services. But cooperation and privatization can also be combined into a dual reform package in which several municipalities jointly issue contracts relating to multiple jurisdictions. Evaluation of these mixed cooperation-privatization reforms rests...