Institutional sources of trust in government contracting: a comparison between home-based and residential social services in Spain

This interview-based study explores trust in public-private cooperation by addressing the research questions: what are the main sources of distrust in public-private contracting? And why? We compare two Spanish social services subfields: one with high levels of cross-sector distrust and another one with no distrust between public and private sectors. The sources of the identified cross-sector distrust are institutional: insufficient regulation and legislation, lack of business certification, and low local government administrative capacity. The article is a pioneering exploration of the under-researched theme of institutional distrust and its effect on public-private cooperation management. This research is a product of the Research Group on Innovation and Leadership in Public Management and has counted with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC SEJ2006-00961).