The mandate states that the committee shall evaluate three models:
- Public ownership and operation
- Non-profit operation
- Stronger regulation of commercial actors
In assessing alternative measures and models, the committee shall particularly evaluate:
- Implications for users, including the quality, diversity, and freedom of choice in service provision
- Implications for service personnel, including wages, pensions, and working conditions
To provide the best possible basis for such assessments, it is necessary to rely on existing research on differences in quality and impacts for users and personnel between the public, non-profit, and commercial sectors. The most relevant research comes from the Nordic countries, as other countries have different welfare models, and the findings may not be directly transferable to the Norwegian context. However, it may be useful to consider the relevance of comparative studies from other countries.
The goal of the project is to present recent studies from the Nordic countries that are suitable for demonstrating differences between non-profit, commercial, and public sectors regarding quality and their impacts on users and personnel. This can include quality in terms of structure, such as resources in the form of workforce and expertise; process, including how services are delivered and how users and their families are involved; and outcomes, encompassing the consequences for users, personnel, and society resulting from the services provided.
The project will be carried out by conducting searches in international databases for social science research (e.g., Web of Science Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Scopus) for studies analyzing quality differences among welfare services provided by non-profit, commercial, and/or public actors in the service areas included in the committee's mandate:
- Daycare for children
- Schools (compulsory and upper secondary schools)
- Child and family protection
- Elderly care (both institutional and home-based services)
- Specialized healthcare services
- Asylum and refugee reception centers
- Labor market measures
The findings will be sorted to select studies designed to demonstrate differences between the sectors. The key conclusions will be summarized, and conclusions will be drawn regarding whether the studies indicate differences in quality (structure, process, and outcomes) between the sectors, and if so, which sectors perform better and which quality aspects differ between the sectors. Factors that may influence quality measures will also be assessed, such as general satisfaction with services expected to be high among users when there is limited access and waiting lists, or the impact of additional services beyond publicly financed ones on overall quality assessment. Quality aspects may also be influenced by how public commissioners outsource and manage services to reduce sectoral differences, such as through fierce competition for tenders or users, or through strong public control of various quality aspects. The goal of the review is to determine if there is any systematic pattern in how the quality of the three sectors is reflected in the existing studies in the mentioned service areas.
