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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) on the provision of social services, as well as the moderating effect of institutional quality on the relationship between ICT and the provision of social services for 31 low-income countries.

This study is based on panel data from World Development Indicators and Worldwide Governance Indicators spanning 1996 to 2020 for 31 low-income countries. To analyze the data, the study uses cross-sectional dependence tests, slope heterogeneity tests, panel unit root tests, panel cointegration tests and cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) analysis.

The results overwhelmingly show that ICT has a significant positive effect on the provision of social services in both the short- and long-run. Also, the study reveals that institutional quality has a significant positive impact on the provision of social services in the short- and long-run. The results further provide empirical evidence of the positive and significant moderating effect of institutional quality on the relationship between ICT and the provision of social services.

This study points out the significant potential of identifying appropriate scales of ICT infrastructure and institutional quality needed to support the various governments in low-income countries to improve social services delivery mechanisms and outreach efficacy and impact. The study can be invaluable for ICT innovators and policymakers in promoting the provision of social services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to determine the effect of ICT on the provision of social services, as well as the moderating effect of institutional quality on the relationship between ICT and the provision of social services, especially for low-income countries using CS-ARDL.

Charitable Choice Policy, the heart of President Bush’s Faith‐Based Initiative, is the direct government funding of religious organizations for the purpose of carrying out government programs. The Bush presidential administration has called for the application of Charitable Choice Policy to all kinds of social services. Advocates for child‐abuse victims contend that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy would further dismantle essential social services provided to abused children. Others have argued Charitable Choice Policy is unconstitutional because it crosses the boundary separating church and state. Rather than drastically altering the US social‐policy landscape, this paper demonstrates that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy already is in place for childabuse services across many of the fifty states. One reason this phenomenon is ignored is due to the reliance on the public‐private dichotomy for studying social policies and services. This paper contends that relying on the public‐private dichotomy leads researchers to overlook important configurations of actors and institutions that provide services to abused children. It offers an alternate framework to the public‐private dichotomy useful for the analysis of social policy in general and, in particular, Charitable Choice Policy affecting services to abused children. Employing a new methodological approach, fuzzy‐sets analysis, demonstrates the degree to which social services for abused children match ideal types. It suggests relationships between religious organizations and governments are essential to the provision of services to abused children in the United States. Given the direction in which the Bush Charitable Choice Policy will push social‐policy programs, scholars should ask whether abused children will be placed in circumstances that other social groups will not and why.

The provision of facilities management (FM) services, facilitated by a well-suited sourcing strategy, significantly influences the optimization of dwelling unit performance, augmentation of occupants’ living experiences and the establishment of a secure and comfortable environment. Consequently, this study aims to examine the sourcing approach used for delivering FM services in social housing within Nigeria’s semi-arid climate and to assess the effectiveness of the chosen sourcing approach in the provision of FM services.

Data collection involved one-on-one interviews conducted with five principal/senior staff members of the Borno State Housing Corporation in Maiduguri, Northern Nigeria. For data analysis, the NVivo R1 software package and Stata 13.0 were used. Thematic analysis was applied to the data, and the findings were presented through narrations and direct quotes from participants. Logistic regression analysis was subsequently used to assess the effectiveness of the adopted in-house approach in providing FM services in the context of social housing.

Administrators of social housing in the semi-arid climate of Nigeria exclusively adopted an in-house sourcing approach for providing FM services. Nevertheless, the in-house approach was conclusively determined to be ineffective in delivering FM services within the specific context of social housing in the semi-arid climate of Nigeria.

This investigation centred on examining the sourcing strategy used by social housing administrators for delivering FM services in social housing within a semi-arid climate of Nigeria. Additionally, the study delved into evaluating the efficacy of the chosen sourcing approach in the actual provision of FM services.

This article aims to discuss the individualisation trend in the provision of social services, focusing on activation services specifically.

The individualisation trend in the provision of activation services is analysed against the background of public sector as well as social sector as well as social policy reforms: the introduction of new modes of governance and the rise of the active welfare state respectively.

Concrete manifestations of individualised service provision are often based on various interpretations of individualisation and reflect different meanings of citizens’ participation, and refer to different modes – or rather, mixes of different modes – of governance. The general argument of the article is illustrated and elaborated by analysing three national case studies of individualised service provision in the context of activation: the UK, The Netherlands and Finland.

The trend that is analysed in the article – individualised service provision – is very clearly present in welfare state reforms, but has thus far not received much attention in academic literature.

The paper examines the different trajectories of externalisation and the development of different kinds of welfare mix in three different sub-sectors of socio-educational services: long-term care for the elderly, early childhood services and kindergartens. By integrating the industrial relations and comparative public administration literatures, it analyses the different rationales underpinning contracting-out decisions of Italian local governments.

The paper adopts a multi-method, multi-level approach: quantitative data on the provision of socio-educational services and the nature of the providers are combined with the analysis of 12 case studies of municipalities through 80 semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis.

The paper argues that differentials in labour regulation across the public/private divide and the consequent possibility to access labour markets characterised by cheaper labour and higher organisational flexibility are a key explanation in local governments' decisions to outsource. Despite labour market factors playing a prominent role, their relevance is significantly tempered by political and social factors and particularly by the strong opposition of citizens, personnel and trade unions to pure market solutions in the provision of such services. However, the centrality of these factors depends on the nature of the services: political sensibility against privatisation proved to be stronger in kindergartens, while services for the elderly were more frequently and less contentiously privatised.

The main contribution is the integration of the two research traditions to analyse patterns of outsourcing in the socio-educational services in Italy, showing that neither of them is able, alone, to explain the different private/public mix characterising different social and educational services.

Offers a general historical analysis of the development of public service provision in Britain. First discusses the slow emergence of industrialism in Britain, then discusses the development of social services in this context. Suggests that there are three significant stages in development: local public administration, 1870‐1950; central Welfare State, 1950‐1980; and decentralized provision, 1980‐1995. Goes on to argue that, in order to understand this sequence, and especially the emergence of centralized public provision, it is necessary to discuss modes of delivery of services within these institutional frameworks of provision. Examines different stages in patterns of organization for delivery of services which overlap with stages of provision. Suggests that the recent re‐emergence of decentralized provision has a certain inevitability, but that it is important that this takes an appropriate form. Identifies this form as a participative management

This study aims to enhance the understanding of the nature of collaboration between public and nonpublic actors in delivering social services and achieving social innovation in a fragile context, with an emphasis on the role of civil society organisations (CSOs). The paper focuses on Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Southeastern European country which has faced a turbulent post-conflict transition and experienced challenges in its social welfare policy and practice.

This study uses institutional theory, particularly new institutionalism and institutional networking, as a lens through which to understand public and nonpublic collaboration and social innovation within a fragile context. This study adopts a sequential mixed-method approach. Data were derived from 15 semi-structured interviews with representatives from local CSOs, international donors and public institutions, as well as a survey of 120 CSO representatives.

The collaboration and social innovation in a fragile welfare context have been initiated primarily by nonpublic actors and developed within the triple context of relations between public, civil and foreign donors’ organisations. In such a context, coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphisms act as leading drivers, but also as potential barriers of public–nonpublic collaboration and social innovation. They are triggered by influences from multiple actors, challenging power relations and external pressures on local CSOs.

The paper contributes to the growing research interest in the role of nonpublic actors in the provision of public services and public social innovation, but examines these issues from the perspective of a fragile context, which has thus far been overlooked in the literature.

In this paper a sector will be dealt with, which is lately characterized by an increase in decision‐making in a scientific rationalized way, i.e. the sector of personal social services. Decision‐making is in many cases closely related and attributable to the fact that the social services are increasingly availing themselves of personal computers. An innovation which is most often discussed in terms of technological rationalization and facilitation for the provision of personal social services. This may be the case as long as the computer is used as just another, be it a different, mode, to provide services, e.g. to do away with routine, administrative, and management tasks, such as record keeping (Bloom 1975), information retrieval systems (Rubin 1976), fiscal management (Mutschler 1983), etc.

This editorial aims to introduce the first of a set of two special issues on New modes of governance in activation policies.

The article explores the concept of governance, distinguishing a broad and more narrow use of the concept. Then, it argues that issues of governance should be an integral part of studies of welfare state transformations. Not in the last instance, because governance reforms do have an impact on the content of social policies and social services such as activation. The article continues by discussing three models of the provision of social services.

The article states that the development of the modes of governance in activation in various countries reveals that a mix of service provision models is being used.

The article introduces the articles of the special issue.

The purpose of this paper is to review how the role of the local authority archive service in the UK has developed, and the implications of the requirement for public sector bodies to demonstrate value in relation to concepts such as social capital, for the way in which services are promoted, evaluated and delivered.

A range of literature (1919‐2006) is synthesized to provide a perspective on archive service development, theories of social capital and public value, and government policy, as a means of identifying the implications of current government agendas for archive service delivery. The findings are presented in sections addressing: the context of archive service provision; social capital and government policy; the role of the archive service in meeting government agendas; and the need for services to demonstrate public value.

Provides information about the context of archive service provision, and how services have responded to government agendas within an operational environment which has seen a renewed emphasis on the archive domain within government policy and in terms of structural development since 1997. Considers the applicability of thinking on social capital and public value to service provision. Recognises the implications of the low profile of the archive domain to the capacity of services to demonstrate public value in these terms.

Commentary focuses on the local authority context of archive service provision, within England and Wales.

Brings together information from different sources in making explicit the need for archive services, as with libraries and museums, to respond to government priorities.