一核多元——政府购买服务中的部门间网络关系与行动逻辑

One Core and Multiple Actors:Interdepartmental Network Relations and Action Logic in the Government Purchase of Services

【问题】政府购买服务作为转变政府职能的重要方式,鲜有研究整体审视政府在购买服务中的内部运作机制。政府购买服务的权责、资源在部门间如何分配并形成了怎样的关系形态?其中隐含了政府购买服务怎样的行动逻辑?【方法】基于社会网络方法,绘制政府购买服务中的部门间关系网络,分析其结构特征、趋势演变和地域性差异,并构建“强度-广度”二维分析框架,分析部门网络位置的类型,进而从微观层面揭示政府内部机构在购买服务中的互动关系,并解释关系网络背后隐含的政府购买服务逻辑。【发现】整体上,部门间形成了“一核多元、两极分化”的星形关系网络,政府内部对财政部门具有强依赖性,但没有形成广泛的协作关系;时间上,部门间关系网络呈现“先扩张后收缩”的趋势,政府购买服务的热情逐渐冷却并回归理性;地域上,东中西部的部门间关系网络呈现非常规性地区差异,制度性因素很大程度上影响了政府购买服务的进程。【贡献】论文以部门间关系作为切入点,打破了以往“政社关系”和“成本-效益”的研究范式,弥补了政府购买服务研究中对政府内部行为和运作机制分析的不足。研究发现为进一步完善政府服务中的内部制度安排、提升购买服务的实际效能提供了参考依据。

Motivation: Although a strategic function that can help change government operations,the mechanisms of purchasing services are rarely studied. How are the powers,responsibilities, and resources of purchasing services allocated among government departments and what relationships have been formed? What kind of action logic does it imply for the government to purchase services?Methodology: Using the social network method, this study mapped an interdepartmental relationship network for the purchase of services, analyzed its structural characteristics, observed its trend evolution and regional differences,constructed a ‘strength-breadth’ two-dimensional analysis framework,and analyzed the location of the department network. This revealed the interactive relationships of the government’s internal institutions from the micro level and explained the logic of government purchasing behind the relationship networks.Findings: A ‘star shaped network’ of ‘one core, multiple subjects, and bipolar distribution’ had formed among departments. Funds dominated the government’s purchasing actions. The government depended on the financial sector but had not formed a wide range of collaborative relationships. Over time,the interdepartmental relationship networks trended towards ‘expansion before contraction ’, with the government’s enthusiasm for purchasing services gradually cooling down and returning to reason.Regionally,the interdepartmental relationship networks had unconventional differences,with institutional factors greatly affecting the governmental process of purchasing services.Contribution: Taking interdepartmental relationships as its focus,this paper breaks with the previous research paradigms of ‘government-social relations’ and ‘costeffectiveness’,and instead analyzes the government’s internal behaviors and operation mechanism in the study of services purchasing. Its findings provide a reference for further improving the internal institutional arrangements of government services and improving the efficiency of purchasing services.