Purpose: Public management researchers have successfully leveraged theory to advance the understanding of contracts and the different governance structures that underpin contract relationships. Yet there is still much to learn about the implications for different governance structures. Applying...

Purpose: This article provides a snapshot of several innovative and underused methodological approaches employed by scholars from across public management. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative review of methodological approaches to public management research is used. Findings: The authors...

The article reviews the relevant theory and research linking information and bargaining efficiency and presents results of an analysis of negotiation times associated with 290 franchise renewal agreements. Data reveal three main findings: (1) Information revealing a history of poor performance...

We rely on transaction cost economics and the contingency stream of organization theory to answer two related questions. First, when contracting for complex services, do governments design contracts for flexibility? Second, is the contingency perspective relevant to understanding contract...

Employing a resource-dependence theoretical framework, we analyze a set of recently awarded contracts between the Environmental Protection Agency and various suppliers to determine how joint dependence, supplier dependence, and government dependence affect contract design, and specifically the...

There is widespread agreement on the value of competition in the delivery of public goods and services. In some markets competition is naturally limited and thus various mechanisms have been utilized to bolster competition, including franchise bidding and auctions. In this article, we examine...

What would a "smart government" look like? Political philosophers have spent entire careers trying to answer that question, which obviously implicates wide-ranging cultural and political values far beyond the purview of this paper. For purposes of the following discussion, however, the term...