公共私营合作制的契约前关系治理:事前关系治理如何促进智慧城市外包项目的正式签约?

Pre-contractual relational governance for public-private partnerships:how can ex-ante relational governance help formal contracting in smart city outsourcing projects?

有关关系治理的文献通常假定,关系治理主要出现在正式签约之后,作为正式合同的功能性补充。本文指出,关系治理可以以建立信任、交换资源、培育灵活性等形式出现在正式合作关系开始之前,特别是在面对深度不确定性时。基于一项智慧城市外包项目案例研究,本文引入了一个向前延展的关系治理框架,重点抓取关系培育的契约前维度及其对促进正式签约的作用。本研究发现,契约前关系治理通过降低项目中实质的、评估的、技术的和过程的不确定性促进了合作双方的正式签约,并有助于双方设计精细化合同、经历省心省力的磋商、采用短期合同以及运用简单的监测和评估方法。因此,本文主张,单凭对契约后关系治理的理解不足以探究正式签约和关系治理之间的关系;面对深度不确定性,有必要认识公共和私营部门是如何发展契约前关系并在正式签约前降低不确定性的。

In the literature on relational governance,it is often assumed that relational governance emerges primarily after formal contracting and acts as a functional supplement to a formal contract In this article,we show that especially facing deep uncertainties,relational governance can emerge before the start of formal partnerships,in the form of trust-building,exchanging resources,and fostering flexibility.Based on a case study of a smart city outsourcing project,this article introduces a forward-extended framework of relational governance that captures the pre-contractual dimensions of relationship cultivation and their role in facilitating formal contracting.The study finds that pre-contractual relational governance facilitates formal contracting by reducing substantive,evaluative,technological,and procedural uncertainties in the project and helps the partners to design an elaborative contract,undergo an easy negotiation,adopt short-term contracts,and use simple monitoring and evaluation methods.The article thus argues that only understanding post-contractual relational governance is insufficient for exploring the relation between formal contracting and relational governance;facing deep uncertainties,it is necessary to understand how public and private parties develop their pre-contractual relationship and reduce the uncertainties before a formal contract can be signed.