The impact of management consultants on public service efficiency

Public sector organisations often make use of management consultants in policy implementation, but we know little about the outcomes. The paper reports one of the first quantitative evaluations of the impact of consulting advice on efficiency of public sector organisations. We employ an extensive da...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy and politics 2019-01, Vol.47 (1), p.77-95
Main Authors: Kirkpatrick, Ian, Sturdy, Andrew J, Alvarado, Nuria Reguera, Blanco-Oliver, Antonio, Veronesi, Gianluca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute services
Consultants
Efficiency
Healthcare
Management
Management Consultancy
Management consultants
Policy implementation
Public sector
Public Sector Organisations
Quantitative analysis
Service Improvement
Trusts
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Public sector organisations often make use of management consultants in policy implementation, but we know little about the outcomes. The paper reports one of the first quantitative evaluations of the impact of consulting advice on efficiency of public sector organisations. We employ an extensive dataset covering English NHS acute care hospital trusts over a four-year period. Based on PCSEs estimations, the findings show a significantly positive relationship between consulting expenditure and organisational inefficiency. These results lend support to critical accounts of management consulting, highlighting the need for organisations to be circumspect in deciding whether and how to use these services.
ISSN:0305-5736
1470-8442
DOI:10.1332/030557318X15167881150799