Abstract
This study explores the relationship between social performance and the sector providing the water service. The empirical analysis demonstrates that public property, the management model (in this case bureaucracy and municipal corporations), and lower organizational costs for public property and public management models do present higher social performance (lower user prices and higher quality water levels, with exceptions) levels than private firms. Policy implementations are clear: cease private firms' entrance into public services delivery until lower organizational costs, higher quality services and lower user prices are secured. This also raises discussions about neo-bureaucracies as the ideal management model for public services provision.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1012662