Privatization and Citizen Preferences

Abstract

Privatization has been championed as a means for improving accountability in the public sector. Yet, relatively little is known empirically about how citizens from different countries evaluate private versus public provision of services. Using a framework established by Durant and Legge (2001, 2002), the research here furthers their country-specific findings by employing an initial empirical model to examine the formation of citizen preferences in a multinational context. Citizens in developed market economies (DMEs) are examined by utilizing a heteroskedastic probit analysis to measure opinion direction, certainty, and indecision for conflicted respondents. The results suggest that both industry and national contexts are important in explaining the choice between private or public provision of services. In addition, individuals are influenced by utilitarian concerns, party preferences, and value orientations. In terms of political interest, respondents expressing greater levels are more certain in their policy choices, suggesting consistency behind their opinions about privatization.