IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v31y2025i2p197-213.html

Public procurement and job quality in the Netherlands: institutions, actors and experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Tros

    (AIAS-HSI, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

  • Maarten Keune

    (AIAS-HSI, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

  • Simon Kuijpers

    (University of Utrecht, the Netherlands)

Abstract

Dutch public procurement practices have led to problems with high workloads, low wages, low job autonomy and job insecurity. With reference to four sectors – construction, home care, cleaning and regional bus transport – we discuss two main explanatory dimensions: (i) the financial and institutional context; and (ii) the ideas shaping the normative and cognitive frames of actors that influence their policy-making. Procurers (a) prioritise the cheapest procurement contracts; (b) accept no, or only limited, responsibility for workers’ job quality; and (c) show limited knowledge of or at best uncertainty about how public procurement rules allow more attention to be paid to job quality and social aspects. Providers focus mainly on cost competitiveness. Finally, even dominant ideas are not shared by all, and there is (still limited) re-politicisation of job quality issues. This sometimes results in experiments that run counter to the dominant cost-efficiency objective and pay attention to job quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Tros & Maarten Keune & Simon Kuijpers, 2025. "Public procurement and job quality in the Netherlands: institutions, actors and experiments," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(2), pages 197-213, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:31:y:2025:i:2:p:197-213
    DOI: 10.1177/10242589251360667
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10242589251360667
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10242589251360667?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregor Murray & Christian Lévesque & Glenn Morgan & Nicolas Roby, 2020. "Disruption and re-regulation in work and employment: from organisational to institutional experimentation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 135-156, May.
    2. Jonneke Bolhaar & Marloes Graaf-Zijl & Bas Scheer, 2018. "Three Perspectives on the Dutch Growth of Flexible Employment," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(4), pages 403-432, December.
    3. Anna Mori, 2020. "Employment Relations in Outsourced Public Services," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-24627-3, January.
    4. Beatrice Carella, 2023. "Latest developments in Social Europe: Promising steps in need for future monitoring," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(S1), pages 125-135, September.
    5. Peer Hull. Kristensen & Glenn Morgan, 2012. "From Institutional Change to Experimentalist Institutions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 413-437, April.
    6. Maarten Keune & Philippe Pochet, 2023. "The revival of Social Europe: is this time different?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 173-183, May.
    7. Saskia Boumans, 2022. "Neoliberalisation of industrial relations: The ideational development of Dutch employers’ organisations between 1976 and 2019," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1610-1631, November.
    8. Schulten, Thorsten & Schulze-Buschoff, Karin, 2015. "Sector-level strategies against precarious employment in Germany: Evidence from construction, commercial cleaning, hospitals and temporary agency work," WSI Working Papers 197, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    9. Wouter Zwysen, 2024. "Working apart: Domestic outsourcing in Europe," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(2), pages 221-241, June.
    10. Jolien Grandia & Dylan Voncken, 2019. "Sustainable Public Procurement: The Impact of Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity on the Implementation of Different Types of Sustainable Public Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karen Jaehrling, 2025. "Introduction: Quiet and noisy politics in the ‘interregnum’. The case of public procurement," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(2), pages 141-159, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maxime Bellego & Virginia Doellgast & Elisa Pannini, 2023. "From Taylorism to teams: organisational and institutional experimentation at France Télécom," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 355-370, August.
    2. Lisa Dorigatti & Anna Mori, 2025. "The role of trade union power resources in experimenting with ‘buying decent work’: the case of the Italian public procurement protocols," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(2), pages 215-232, May.
    3. Theofanis Exadaktylos & Emanuele Massetti, 2023. "The EU at Crossroads: 2022 as a Turning Point Year?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(S1), pages 5-13, September.
    4. Greve, Jan & Ax, Christian & Bedford, David S. & Bednarek, Piotr & Brühl, Rolf & Dergård, Johan & Ditillo, Angelo & Dossi, Andrea & Gosselin, Maurice & Hoozée, Sophie & Israelsen, Poul & Janschek, Ott, 2017. "The impact of society on management control systems," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 253-266.
    5. Klinker, Iris & ter Weel, Bas, 2024. "Wages and Employment in the Netherlands, 2017-2023," IZA Discussion Papers 17049, IZA Network @ LISER.
    6. Cindy Biesenbeek & Maikel Volkerink, 2023. "The price of flexible jobs: Wage differentials between permanent and flexible jobs in The Netherlands," Working Papers 779, DNB.
    7. Peter Gahan & Peter Turnbull, 2025. "Employment systems in the twenty‐first century," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 63(1), pages 71-87, March.
    8. André Luiz Trajano Santos & Augusto Cunha Reis, 2025. "Public procurement from the triple bottom line lens: the identification of sustainability criteria from the international literature review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 9805-9840, May.
    9. Isabelle Ferreras & Ian MacDonald & Gregor Murray & Valeria Pulignano, 2020. "Introduction: institutional experimentation for better (or worse) work," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 113-118, May.
    10. Giulia Mascagni, 2022. "DSocial services in Italy tested by the Pandemic: New challenges and scenarios," Sociology and Social Work Review, International Society for projects in Education and Research, vol. 6(2), pages 37-50, December.
    11. Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau & Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray & Nicolas Roby, 2023. "Introduction. Making work better," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 277-284, August.
    12. Nikolaus Hammer, 2023. "Searching for institutions: upgrading, private compliance, and due diligence in European apparel value chains," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 371-386, August.
    13. Tony Edwards & Rocío Sánchez-Mangas & Patrice Jalette & Jonathan Lavelle & Dana Minbaeva, 2016. "Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(8), pages 997-1021, October.
    14. Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau & Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray & Nicolas Roby, 2023. "Introduction : Améliorer le travail," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 285-294, August.
    15. Rana, Mohammad B. & Morgan, Glenn, 2019. "Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 513-532.
    16. Rouvroye, Lin & van Dalen, Hendrik Peter & Henkens, C.J.I.M. & Schippers, J.J., 2022. "Employers’ views on flexible employment contracts for younger workers: Benefits, downsides and societal outlook," Other publications TiSEM e059584d-cfb1-4319-b09e-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Lin Rouvroye & Hendrik P van Dalen & Kène Henkens & Joop J Schippers, 2022. "Employers’ views on flexible employment contracts for younger workers: Benefits, downsides and societal outlook," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1934-1957, November.
    18. Schulten, Thorsten & Seikel, Daniel, 2018. "Upgrading German public services: The role of trade union campaigns and collective bargaining with regard to working conditions in day care centres, primary education and hospitals," WSI Studies 12, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    19. Phil Almond & Maria C. Gonzalez & Jonathan Lavelle & Gregor Murray, 2017. "The local in the global: regions, employment systems and multinationals," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 115-132, March.
    20. Plaček, Michal & Valentinov, Vladislav & del Campo, Cristina & Vaceková, Gabriela & Ochrana, František & Šumpíková, Markéta, 2021. "Stewardship and administrative capacity in green public procurement in the Czech Republic: Evidence from a large-N survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 33.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:31:y:2025:i:2:p:197-213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.