The survey and the sampleIn order t

The survey and the sample
In order to explore our research questions, we chose
Swedish local government organizations (municipalities)
for study. In Sweden, the municipalities are responsible
for important welfare services such as health care,
social care and education as well as community planning,
maintenance of local roads and waste disposal.
Swedish municipalities have far-reaching autonomy and
their directly elected politicians make decisions about
taxes, fees, organizational forms and the extent to which
services are performed by in-house personnel or by
external suppliers (outsourcing). In recent years, Swedish
municipalities have been more inclined to use external suppliers
for performing and procuring services (Johansson,
2008).
The data for this study are a small part of a larger survey
distributed to every chief financial officer (via e-mail) in
each municipality (N = 290) in Sweden. The survey in general
aimed at studying a wide range of matters concerning
the fiscal situation, financial accounting, and management
accounting and control in the municipalities.9 A special
section of the 2008 survey was designed for collection
of information about the degree to which the financial
departments are involved in planning for and controlling
the municipalities’ external suppliers in health care,
social care and education, and the ways the management
control of these inter-organizational relationships
are designed and executed.10 As such, the survey did not
aim at gathering data at the single transaction level but
rather at obtaining an overview of the governance of interorganizational
relationships with suppliers (outsourced
services/transactions). Thus the analysis in this study is
not of the single, microanalytic transaction, but rather of
the clusters of transactions (Williamson, 2002) that would
otherwise have been managed in-house.
While both our study and the survey questions connected
to the management of outsourced transactions are
exploratory in nature, we were aware, a priori, that not
all financial departments have an important role in these
transactions or are informed about the governance of suppliers.
The financial officers’ roles in such matters mainly
depend on how their municipalities are internally orga-
9 The survey, consisting of a number of fixed questions and a number of
yearly themes, was sent on an annual basis beginning in 2005. Since 2007,
the survey has been web-based and distributed by e-mail. The questionnaire
was originally pre-tested on experts and practitioners to ensure a
good response rate and reliable answers.
10 This part of the questionnaire contained two major sections: (1) questions
about the nature of the local market and relationships with suppliers
and (2) questions about the management and reporting in the interorganizational
control of suppliers.
nized and governed. However, the financial officers who
play an important role are well situated for answering
a wide range of questions related to the governance of
these relationships. They are the people in the municipalities
who generally coordinate and are responsible for
the management control; that role makes them an interesting
target population for study. Since some financial
officers may not be involved in the governance of suppliers,
and we did not want to ‘force’ them to answer questions
they have little knowledge of or risk a large number of
non-responses, our questionnaire allowed them to mark
‘not relevant/lacking knowledge’. Thus, in this study we
only focus on the governance of outsourcing relationships
in those municipalities where the financial officers have
knowledge of the governance practices. Inference to the
general population should therefore be made with care
and our results should be seen as indicative and tentative
when and if generalized (cf. Van der Stede et al.,
2005).
The response rate for the survey in general was 81
per cent (234 out of 290) after two email follow-ups. We
observed no indications of non-response biases regarding
organizational characteristics such as size (number of
inhabitants), financial situation or individual characteristics
of respondents (such as age and sex) in comparisons of
late and early responses. The list-wise deletion of a small
portion of missing values (max 3.5 per cent per item) and
of observations marked ‘not relevant/lacking knowledge’
(i.e., related to the management control of outsourcing relations)
resulted in a complete data set of 71 observations.
We used list-wise deletion to produce a complete data
set because we use cluster techniques for analysing the
data. The list-wise deletion is warranted by Little’s MCAR
test being insignificant (0.314) (Hair et al., 1995). For a
more thorough discussion of the sample see The method
appendix.
A factor analysis (untabulated) of all items in the study
(N = 71 sample) results in seven factors, and explains 72.78
percent of the total variance. The first factor only accounts
for 13.38 per cent of the variance

ผลลัพธ์ (ไทย) 1:

การสำรวจและตัวอย่างเพื่อสำรวจคำถามการวิจัยของเรา เราเลือกองค์กรท้องถิ่นรัฐบาลสวีเดน (เทศบาล)สำหรับการศึกษา สวีเดน เทศบาลรับผิดชอบสำหรับสวัสดิการที่สำคัญเช่นการดูแลสุขภาพสังคม และการศึกษา ตลอดจนการวางแผน ชุมชนบำรุงรักษาถนนในท้องถิ่นและการกำจัดของเสียเทศบาลเมืองที่สวีเดนมีอิสระกว้างขวาง และนักการเมืองรับเลือกตั้งโดยตรงของพวกเขาตัดสินใจเกี่ยวกับภาษี ค่าธรรมเนียม รูปแบบองค์กร และขอบเขตที่บริการดำเนินการ โดยบุคลากรภายในองค์กรผู้ผลิตภายนอก (เอาท์ซอร์ส) ในปีล่าสุด สวีเดนเทศบาลมีแนวโน้มมากกว่าที่จะใช้ผู้ผลิตภายนอกสำหรับการดำเนินการ และจัดหาบริการ (Johansson2008)ข้อมูลสำหรับการศึกษานี้เป็นส่วนเล็ก ๆ ของการสำรวจขนาดใหญ่กระจายไปทุกประธานเจ้าหน้าที่บริหารการเงิน (ทาง e-mail) ในแต่ละเทศบาล (N = 290) ในสวีเดน การสำรวจทั่วไปมุ่งศึกษาความหลากหลายของเรื่องที่เกี่ยวข้องกับในสถานการณ์ทางการเงิน การเงิน การบัญชีและการควบคุม municipalities.9 พิเศษส่วนของการสำรวจ 2008 ถูกออกแบบมาสำหรับคอลเลกชันข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับระดับที่การเงินหน่วยงานเกี่ยวข้องในการวางแผน และควบคุมผู้ผลิตภายนอกของเทศบาลในการดูแลสุขภาพสังคม และการศึกษา และวิธีการบริหารจัดการการควบคุมความสัมพันธ์เหล่านี้ inter-organizationalare designed and executed.10 As such, the survey did notaim at gathering data at the single transaction level butrather at obtaining an overview of the governance of interorganizationalrelationships with suppliers (outsourcedservices/transactions). Thus the analysis in this study isnot of the single, microanalytic transaction, but rather ofthe clusters of transactions (Williamson, 2002) that wouldotherwise have been managed in-house.While both our study and the survey questions connectedto the management of outsourced transactions areexploratory in nature, we were aware, a priori, that notall financial departments have an important role in thesetransactions or are informed about the governance of suppliers.The financial officers’ roles in such matters mainlydepend on how their municipalities are internally orga-9 The survey, consisting of a number of fixed questions and a number ofyearly themes, was sent on an annual basis beginning in 2005. Since 2007,the survey has been web-based and distributed by e-mail. The questionnairewas originally pre-tested on experts and practitioners to ensure agood response rate and reliable answers.10 This part of the questionnaire contained two major sections: (1) questionsabout the nature of the local market and relationships with suppliersand (2) questions about the management and reporting in the interorganizationalcontrol of suppliers.nized and governed. However, the financial officers whoplay an important role are well situated for answeringa wide range of questions related to the governance ofthese relationships. They are the people in the municipalitieswho generally coordinate and are responsible forthe management control; that role makes them an interestingtarget population for study. Since some financialofficers may not be involved in the governance of suppliers,and we did not want to ‘force’ them to answer questionsthey have little knowledge of or risk a large number ofnon-responses, our questionnaire allowed them to mark‘not relevant/lacking knowledge’. Thus, in this study weonly focus on the governance of outsourcing relationshipsin those municipalities where the financial officers haveknowledge of the governance practices. Inference to thegeneral population should therefore be made with careand our results should be seen as indicative and tentativewhen and if generalized (cf. Van der Stede et al.,2005).The response rate for the survey in general was 81per cent (234 out of 290) after two email follow-ups. Weobserved no indications of non-response biases regardingorganizational characteristics such as size (number ofinhabitants), financial situation or individual characteristicsof respondents (such as age and sex) in comparisons oflate and early responses. The list-wise deletion of a smallportion of missing values (max 3.5 per cent per item) andof observations marked ‘not relevant/lacking knowledge’(i.e., related to the management control of outsourcing relations)resulted in a complete data set of 71 observations.We used list-wise deletion to produce a complete dataset because we use cluster techniques for analysing thedata. The list-wise deletion is warranted by Little’s MCARtest being insignificant (0.314) (Hair et al., 1995). For amore thorough discussion of the sample see The methodappendix.A factor analysis (untabulated) of all items in the study(N = 71 sample) results in seven factors, and explains 72.78percent of the total variance. The first factor only accountsfor 13.38 per cent of the variance