A replication of “exploring and explaining contracting out: Patterns among the American states”

Abstract

Abstract This manuscript conducts both a narrow and wide replication of Brudney et al. (2005, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15[3], pp. 393–419), focusing on the scope, perceived effectiveness, and antecedents of contracting out. The replication joins the original study in indicating that state agencies widely used contracting out in service delivery, but their perceived effects on service costs and quality were mixed. The replication coincides with the original study in suggesting that contracting out was an agency‐specific practice driven more by pragmatic factors but reports some divergences in the effects of individual factors. Overall, our replication concurs with the original study in many aspects, but also adds new nuances. There seems to be no single pattern underlying the use of contracting out, and thus no single factor could determine contracting out under all circumstances. Rather, contracting is a dynamic practice used by agencies for certain contingencies.

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