In a neo-liberal approach, the need to increase levels of cost saving, effectiveness and quality in producing local public services is correlated to awareness of the limited resources available and is an economic issue that has been much debated in recent decades. Ways of measuring and evaluating public services have stimulated academic interest for several years now. In this context, evaluating the levels of performance of public services provided by non-profit organizations (NPOs) as a consequence of contracting-out by public administration is an essential variable in rationalizing - both in terms of quantity and quality – public expenditure. The aim of this paper is to measure multidimensional aspects of nursery school services offered by Italian municipalities and to verify whether using different management models makes a difference to the results obtained. We examine data contained in final accounts of main Italian municipalities in order to evaluate effectiveness, cost saving and quality aspects of the nursery school service supplied. Regarding overall performance, the distinction between direct management and contracting-out has not brought out significant differences in terms of effectiveness and cost saving, even if the direct management solution is better than the externalized one. By contrast, as previous researches showed, quality levels for externalized services are on average lower than for directly managed services.

The performance of nursery schools in Italian municipalities / E.Gori;S.Fissi;G.Manetti. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. - ISSN 0190-0692. - STAMPA. - 35(14):(2012), pp. 959-975. [10.1080/01900692.2012.696295]

The performance of nursery schools in Italian municipalities

GORI, ELENA;FISSI, SILVIA;MANETTI, GIACOMO
2012

Abstract

In a neo-liberal approach, the need to increase levels of cost saving, effectiveness and quality in producing local public services is correlated to awareness of the limited resources available and is an economic issue that has been much debated in recent decades. Ways of measuring and evaluating public services have stimulated academic interest for several years now. In this context, evaluating the levels of performance of public services provided by non-profit organizations (NPOs) as a consequence of contracting-out by public administration is an essential variable in rationalizing - both in terms of quantity and quality – public expenditure. The aim of this paper is to measure multidimensional aspects of nursery school services offered by Italian municipalities and to verify whether using different management models makes a difference to the results obtained. We examine data contained in final accounts of main Italian municipalities in order to evaluate effectiveness, cost saving and quality aspects of the nursery school service supplied. Regarding overall performance, the distinction between direct management and contracting-out has not brought out significant differences in terms of effectiveness and cost saving, even if the direct management solution is better than the externalized one. By contrast, as previous researches showed, quality levels for externalized services are on average lower than for directly managed services.
2012
35(14)
959
975
E.Gori;S.Fissi;G.Manetti
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/627640
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