Public Services: Exit and Voice as a Means of Enhancing Service Delivery: Phase II, 2005-2009

The study's research applies the ideas expressed in Albert Hirschman's book, <i>Exit, Voice and Loyalty</i>. He argued that there is a trade-off between exit and voice, which may decrease efficiency because the voice of consumers keeps organisations responsive whereas exit leaves the poor performers behind. In public services, citizens may exit from public provision by moving across jurisdictions and/or moving to other private sector providers. Citizens may use collective voice through voting and pressure group activity or private voice by personal complaints and comments to public officials. <br> <br> The aims were as follows: <br> To test whether the possibility of exit makes voice less likely, which suggests that the greater complexity at the local level and new provision introducing more choice, allowing for greater exit opportunities, should cause the quality of local participation to suffer; whether loyalty in the form of the level of social investment in a community or social capital should increase the probability of voice over exit; and whether the possibility of exit makes voice less likely, which suggests that the greater complexity at the local level and new provision introducing more choice, allowing for greater exit opportunities, should cause the quality of local participation to suffer. <br> <br> A panel survey of a representative group of 4,000 internet users were used, asking questions about service satisfaction, use of private services, other exit opportunities, social investment into the local community, and the level of participation, over (in total) a five-year period.<br> <br> Further information can be found at the project's <a href=" http://www.publicservices.ac.uk/index.php/research/exit-and-voice-as-a-means-of-enhancing-service-delivery/" title="Exit and Voice as a Means of Enhancing Service Delivery">web site</a> or funding award <a href=" http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-166-25-0012/read/" title="Exit and Voice as a Means of Enhancing Service Delivery">web page</a>.<br> <br>