Putting the Pieces Together: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding the Decision to Contract Out and Contractor Performance

Abstract

Contracting out is currently one of the most prevalent mechanisms of the privatization movement. Understanding its trends and rigorously analyzing its implications is an increasingly salient issue for public management research. This article builds a multi-stage theoretical framework addressing two broad research questions. The first is to identify the array of economic, political, organizational, and institutional factors that may impact a government agency's decision to contract out. The second is to detail the various organizational and environmental factors influencing contractor performance. Particular attention is paid to effective contract monitoring and its relationship to contractor performance.

Keywords:

• contract monitoring
• contracting decision
• contracting out
• contractor performance

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Stuart Bretschneider, Particia Ingraham, and Brinton Milward for useful comments on an earlier draft.