What Determines the Quality of Job Training Services? A Multi-Level Analysis for Austria.

Within the last few decades, the provision of social services was and still is changing in many ways: due to ideological changes and cost containment efforts, the public sector has been gradually withdrawing from his dual role as financier and provider of social services. The public sector now prefers acting as a financier rather than a provider. It purchases services on behalf of service users, while private sector organizations assume the responsibility for service provision. Recently, European rules for public procurement policies and the efforts to liberalize service markets have promoted changes in the funding relationship between public entities on the one hand and nonprofit or forprofit organisations on the other hand. Increasingly, in terms of instruments the public sector follows a contractual approach to managing its relationship with private and nonprofit organizations. Performance related forms of funding are becoming gradually more important whereas funding via grants is on the decline. Moreover, modes of public procurement are relying more heavily on competitive processes. (...)