When municipalities outsource services, gender bias and distrust become hidden costs
A new study reveals that local governments struggle to trust small business partners—especially when those providers belong to multiple social categories that carry their own stigma. The finding matters to procurement officers and policymakers: hidden biases in these relationships can undermine outsourcing programs and ultimately affect citizen confidence in public services.
Originaltitel: No Longer So Strange? (Dis)Trust in Municipality-Small Business Relationships
<p>In this article, a trust perspective is applied to the relationship between local government and their alternative service providers in the era of new public management. The importance of category-based (dis)trust is highlighted, as well as the complications occurring when service providers belong to several categories, all of which are in some respect distrusted. More specifically, the article illustrates how gender and professional hierarchies influence municipal trust in service providers. The complexities of trust in public sector outsourcing relationships are highlighted, as the trust that citizens' show in the service providers also affects the trust of the municipality.</p>