Do Partners in PPPs view Public and Private Management Differently?

• Published in: Australian journal of public administration 2018-06, Vol.77 (2), p.294-308
• Main Authors: Reynaers, Anne‐Marie, der Wal, Zeger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hypotheses; Management styles; Perceptions; private management; Private sector; public management; Public private partnerships; Qualitative research; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0313-6647; 1467-8500
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8500.12254

Differences between public and private management have been studied extensively by comparing sectors, but not within cross‐sectoral collaborative arrangements. As participants in such arrangements have actually experienced both management styles, examining their perceptions of how these styles differ may contribute innovatively to existing literature. This paper compares such perceptions between public and private sector project members (N = 63) involved in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We assess (1) to what extent and under which conditions these project members view public and private management differently and (2) how they evaluate these differences. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative interview data, we examine Boyne's classical hypotheses and find that more than two‐thirds of the statements making reference to these hypotheses offer support for them; more so, the vast majority of such statements evaluate sectoral differences negatively. Intriguingly, type of PPP is a stronger determinant of perceived differences than the manager's sector of origin. This paper compares perceptions of public and private management from public and private sector project members (N = 66) involved in four PPPs in the Netherlands. The majority of project members view both sectors as different and evaluate sectoral differences negatively. The type of PPP they partake in affects perceptions more than sector of origin.