The growing use of external management consultancy services by public sector organizations has generated controversy. Some claim that users have become overreliant on, or even addicted to, this source of knowledge. However, our understanding of this phenomenon and the precise nature of its risks is underdeveloped. In this article, we address these concerns by focusing on whether using consulting services inflates future demand and on its consequences for efficiency. This is examined in the context of the English National Health Service and the adoption of New Public Management practices such as outsourcing and private finance initiative contracting. Based on an analysis of four years of data, the results suggest that using consulting services is associated with demand inflation and has negative implications for client organizational efficiency. These findings reveal a strong management consultancy effect, emphasizing the risks associated with demand inflation, with implications for both theory and policy.

中文翻译：

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管理咨询效应：需求膨胀及其对外部知识采购的影响

公共部门组织越来越多地使用外部管理咨询服务引起了争议。一些人声称用户已经过度依赖，甚至沉迷于这种知识来源。然而，我们对这种现象及其风险的确切性质的理解尚不成熟。在本文中，我们通过关注使用咨询服务是否会增加未来需求及其对效率的影响来解决这些问题。这是在英国国家卫生服务和采用新的公共管理实践（如外包和私人融资倡议合同）的背景下进行的。根据对四年数据的分析，结果表明使用咨询服务与需求膨胀有关，并对客户组织效率产生负面影响。