• Future research
• Current Initiatives
• Ongoing research
• Completed research
• Search Projects

PIQUE - Privatisation of Public Services and the Impact on Quality, Employment and Productivity

PIQUE develops a survey-based dataset on assessment of quality of different public services (including health care and social services) by their users for the following countries: Austria, United Kingdom, Poland, Belgium, Germany and Sweden). In each country, the survey is conduced by telephone on a fully representative sample of approximately 1000 citizens.

Description

PIQUE will address the issues of service quality, productivity and the quality of work and employment. The proposal is based on the assumption that the impact of liberalisation and privatisation of public services depends, first, on the form of liberalisation and privatisation and the mode of market regulation and, second, on the strategies companies pursue in their reaction to the opportunities and challenges involved. Company strategies and processes of change, in turn, are shaped by the institutional context of the national employment model. While the various forms of liberalisation and privatisation have attracted great scientific attention, business strategies, restructuring, work organisation and human resource policies so far have remained outside the focus of the research on liberalisation and privatisation. Yet, the impact on productivity, employment and the quality of public services depends on the answers companies find for new opportunities and challenges as well as on organisational restructuring, use of technology, labour relations and work design.

PIQUE will study the form of regulation of liberalisation and privatisation in six countries and four sectors. It will explore changes in work, employment and labour relations as well as the productivity and quality of service provision. Special attention will be paid to the company level and the question of how liberalisation and privatisation impact on company management and organisation and on the provision of high-quality services at affordable prices. PIQUE project phases include: describing national modes of liberalisation and privatisation; assessing the impact on employment, labour relations and productivity through secondary analysis; understanding restructuring processes and the management of change through company case studies; assessing quality and accessibility by way of a quantitative users¿ survey; integrating results, developing policy recommendations and disseminating research findings.