Outsourcing and the efficiency of public administration: the case of social protection in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The modernisation of public administration in Kazakhstan has intensified the search for organisational mechanisms capable of raising the efficiency of state functions without expanding the administrative apparatus. This article examines outsourcing as such a mechanism, using the social protection sector, the largest expenditure item of the state budget, as the empirical field. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the conditions under which the transfer of supporting and service-delivery functions to non-state providers improves the efficiency of public administration, and to develop a conceptual model of outsourcing-based enhancement of state functions. The research combines statistical trend analysis of official data for 2020-2024, a criteria-based comparative analysis of four international models (the United Kingdom, Denmark, the United States and South Korea), and an expert assessment of delivery modes. The expert survey involved twelve specialists representing central and local executive bodies, non-state providers and academia, who scored in-house and outsourced provision against six criteria on a five-point scale; the criteria weights were derived by the ranking method, the scores were aggregated into a weighted integral efficiency index, and the consistency of expert judgements was verified using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W = 0.61-0.67; p < 0.001). The results show a steady expansion of the non-state segment in the provision of special social services and above-average growth of financing channelled through the state social order, alongside persistent weaknesses in contract management and quality monitoring. Outsourced provision outperforms in-house provision on cost efficiency and coverage but concedes on controllability, market maturity and social risk manageability, which confirms the selective rather than universal character of its advantages. The scientific novelty of the study consists in a three-level conceptual model linking the institutional environment, the organisational-economic mechanism of contracting and efficiency outcomes through a feedback loop.

Keywords: outsourcing, public administration, efficiency, social protection, state social order, quasi-market, Kazakhstan.