Epistemic communities and service delivery choices in Spanish municipal administrations

Abstract

This article contributes to the debate on the use of alternative formulas for public service provision with arguments related to epistemic communities' influence. Drawing on the literature on models of local public service delivery, the role of internal epistemic communities is discussed and tested through the consideration of two different communities related to specific municipal areas such as personal and urban services. The results demonstrate that the association of urban services' epistemic communities with alternative formulas for direct provision to deliver services is greater than in the case of personal services' epistemic community. Those findings contribute to the academic debate not only with arguments and evidence that reinforces the role of variables included in previous research but also by introducing the role of epistemic communities in determining some policy options (as the use of local public-service delivery formulas).