Replication Data for: A replication of “Exploring and explaining contracting out: Patterns among the American states”

This manuscript conducts both a narrow and wide replication of Brudney et al. (2005, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15(3), pp. 393-419), focusing on the scope, perceived effectiveness, and antecedents of contracting out. The replication joins the original study in indicating that state agencies widely used contracting out in service delivery, but their perceived effects on service costs and quality were mixed. The replication coincides with the original study in suggesting that contracting out was an agency-specific practice driven more by pragmatic factors but reports some divergences in the effects of individual factors. Overall, our replication concurs with the original study in many aspects, but also adds new nuances. There seems to be no single pattern underlying the use of contracting out, and thus no single factor could determine contracting out under all circumstances. Rather, contracting is a dynamic practice used by agencies for certain contingencies.本研究对Brudney等人（2005年发表于《公共行政研究与理论杂志》(Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory)第15卷第3期，第393-419页）的成果分别开展狭义与广义重复验证，聚焦于服务外包的覆盖范围、感知效能及其前因变量。本次重复验证与原研究结论一致，均发现州级行政机构在服务交付环节广泛采用外包模式，但各方对其在服务成本与质量维度的实际效果评价存在分歧。本次重复验证同样印证了原研究的核心观点：外包是一种机构专属的实践行为，更多由务实性因素驱动，但在部分个体因素的影响效应上存在差异。总体而言，本次重复验证在诸多维度上与原研究结论相符，同时也补充了新的细微见解。目前尚未发现统一的外包使用模式，因此不存在能够在所有情境下决定外包采用情况的单一因素。相反，外包是行政机构针对特定偶发情境所采用的一种动态实践模式。