UK employment services: understanding provider strategies in a dynamic strategic action field

What is it about?

UK employment services are increasingly delivered by public, private and third sector organisations at arms length from Government. The paper argues that these publicly funded programmes can be understood as 'fields' with actors (providers) competing for resources and position. Drawing on research the paper shows how providers with different resources made sense of this period, employing strategies to manage challenger and incumbent roles and maintain their position in the field.

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Why is it important?

There is still widespread misunderstanding of how many contemporary public services function in practice. A particular gap concerns empirically rich understandings of how providers make sense of these new environments. The paper employs recent insights derived from work on strategic action fields. The findings contribute to both field theory and our theoretical understanding of employment services.