IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/flgsxx/v46y2020i2p228-252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contracting dynamics and unionisation: managing labour, contracts and markets

Author

Listed:
  • Mildred E. Warner
  • Amir Hefetz

Abstract

What is the impact of unionisation on contracting dynamics? Using a panel of 523 US local governments from 2007 to 2012, we find the level of new contracting out is equal to contract reversals (re-municipalisation) among sampled municipalities. Interestingly, new contracts are higher among unionised municipalities, while reversals are higher among non-unionised municipalities. While public administration theory would expect the opposite results, we draw from industrial relations and pragmatic municipalism theory to explain these differences. Our regression models find unionised municipalities are better able to balance political and labour interests with contract and market management. Labour opposition has no effect on contracting dynamics, but unionised localities give more attention to contract monitoring and service characteristics. Unionised municipalities ensure the core features for successful contracting (monitoring, balancing interests, managing markets), but reverse contracts when those standards are not met. Thus, unionised localities represent better the institutional arrangements necessary for effective contracting.

Suggested Citation

  • Mildred E. Warner & Amir Hefetz, 2020. "Contracting dynamics and unionisation: managing labour, contracts and markets," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 228-252, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:46:y:2020:i:2:p:228-252
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2019.1670167
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03003930.2019.1670167
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03003930.2019.1670167?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Hanna, Thomas M. & McDonald, David A., 2021. "From pragmatic to politicized? The future of water remunicipalization in the United States," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    More about this item

    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:taf:flgsxx:v:46:y:2020:i:2:p:228-252. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/flgs .

    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.