The market of personal assistance in Scandinavia: hybridization and provider efforts to achieve legitimacy and customers

Abstract

The hybridization of the welfare services has resulted in the emergence of a market of service providers for personal assistance in the Scandinavian countries. We describe and analyse two different aspects of the market development. First, we consider the development of the providers' market and the different regimes of regulations in the three countries. Second, we examine how the providers handle the multiplicity of claims and expectations in order to attract potential customers in competition with each other. We analyse the different types of organizational identities the providers develop by studying their expressed core values. The findings are presented in the form of three types of values: the value of empowerment, the value of flexibility and the value of professionalism. The differences in organizational values may suggest that the providers direct their services towards different segments of users.

Keywords:

• personal assistance
• assistance providers
• hybridization