ABSTRACT

Extant research explains why municipalities choose certain service delivery modes over others, but that research is mostly static and pays little attention to the impact of central governmental policy. This study aims to overcome these limitations by employing a longitudinal multiple-case study design and bringing in new institutional theory. This research uncovers and explains delivery modes used for household waste collection in nine Flemish municipalities from the 1960s onwards. It builds on well-known public choice and transaction cost motives on alternative delivery modes, but expands the set by looking at coercive isomorphism for additional explanatory power. The analysis reveals that, in addition to the importance of fiscal and economic efficiency motives, the choices made by the municipalities over time are profoundly influenced by (the evolution of) coercive pressures from the central government on the service characteristics.

摘要

现有研究解释了为什么市政当局选择某些服务提供模式而不是其他模式，但该研究大多是静态的，很少关注中央政府政策的影响。本研究旨在通过采用纵向多案例研究设计并引入新的制度理论来克服这些限制。这项研究揭示并解释了自 1960 年代起在九个佛兰芒城市收集生活垃圾的交付模式。它建立在替代交付模式的众所周知的公共选择和交易成本动机的基础上，但通过查看强制同构来扩展集合以获得额外的解释力。分析表明，除了财政和经济效率动机的重要性之外，