The Logics of Hybrid Accountability: When the State, the Market, and Professionalism Interact

Abstract

The delivery of public services increasingly operates under hybrid accountability regimes, but we have much to learn about how these regimes interrelate. I develop a framework for systematic analysis of hybrid public, market, and professional accountability arrangements, looking at the compatibility of their content, steering mechanisms, and relationships. The analysis is informed and illustrated by empirical studies on accountability in welfare state services, which offer evidence on hybrid accountability arrangements. The article concludes by discussing the interplay between accountability regimes and the conditions in which they undermine or reinforce each other. I argue that compatibility between regimes depends on the content of accountability rather than on the accountability mechanisms, and I highlight the importance of the trust between the parties entering into accountability relations and the proximity of their institutional logics.