Does Cross-Sectoral Partnership Deliver? An Empirical Exploration of Public Service Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity

Abstract

Cross-sectoral partnerships are increasingly seen as a solution to the most pressing social problems facing contemporary societies. Sectoral rationales for partnership suggest that public, private, and nonprofit organizations each possess distinctive advantages that can enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of public agencies’ efforts to address social issues. We present an exploratory quantitative examination of this argument, using primary and secondary data from 46 UK local government service departments. The results indicate that public-public partnership is positively associated with effectiveness, efficiency, and equity, but that public-private partnership is negatively associated with effectiveness and equity. Public-nonprofit partnership is unrelated to performance. Our study therefore suggests that cross-sectoral partnership does deliver, but that the prospects of public service improvement may depend on the sectoral choice that organizations make.