lnu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Bandwagoning municipal enterprises: institutional isomorphism and the search for the Third Way
University of Turku, Finland.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4923-6706
University of Turku, Finland.
2013 (English)In: Policy Studies, ISSN 0144-2872, E-ISSN 1470-1006, Vol. 34, no 1, p. 19-35Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

During the last decade, the number of municipal enterprises in Finland has almost tripled. This paper attempts to understand the phenomenon related to the recent mushrooming of municipal enterprises. This is done by three empirical case analyses of university hospital laboratories. In two of the three case organisations, there is very little indication that any strategy or other rational reasoning would explain the adoption of municipal enterprise form, and the analysis suggests that institutional isomorphism plays an essential role in the adoption of the municipal enterprise form. Moreover, there are signs that the search for the Third Way’ of some local politicians, especially in the case of some early mover organisations, like the third case organisation of this study, might have triggered the development which has led to the bandwagon effect. The popularity of New Public Management (NPM) and the promises of the NPM mantra, suggesting, e.g. efficiency, cost-effectiveness and more flexible management, might lead the public administration decision-makers to believe in the superiority of certain business-like organisational forms. However, the decision-makers themselves might be surprised to learn how thin the evidence to back up the expectations concerning NPM reforms might be. The organisational transformation, such as the adoption of the municipal enterprise form, might lead to an outcome where public organisations become increasingly similar without necessarily becoming more efficient.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2013. Vol. 34, no 1, p. 19-35
Keywords [en]
municipal enterprise, isomorphism, public organisations, New Public Management, Third Way, efficiency
National Category
Economics and Business
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-68750DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2012.731842ISI: 000315691000003OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-68750DiVA, id: diva2:1157275
Available from: 2017-11-15 Created: 2017-11-15 Last updated: 2021-09-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Kallio, Tomi J.

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Kallio, Tomi J.
In the same journal
Policy Studies
Economics and Business

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 40 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf