Nicolette Van Gestel
Biographic Data
| ID | 4128765 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nicolette Van Gestel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nicolette |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Gestel |
| SIGNATURE | VAN GESTEL N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tilburg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3968-3198 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 108 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Challenging Common Assumptions in Explaining Welfare Administration Reform: A Three-Decade Analysis of The Netherlands and Norway
This article examines whether New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) models are evident in administrative reforms related to social policy and employment services. Using a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of reforms in Norway and the Netherlands, the study challenges key theoretical assumptions. It finds that NPG may actually precede, rather than follow, NPM in some contexts. Additionally, the commonly used explanation of p…
Strategizing and collaborating in the digital transformation of public administration
The purpose of this special issue is to deepen our theoretical understanding and empirical exploration of the interrelations of digital transformation, collaborative governance and how government strategies at multiple levels address and shape these interrelationships. The special issue is based on an open call for papers and also brings together selected research findings from three EU-funded research projects (TROPICO, Co-VAL, and COGOV). All t…
The contested nature of New Public Governance as a third governance model
A persistent ideal of public services networks amid alternative reform strategies: A study over three decades
This article analyses how public service networks have evolved over three decades amid alternative reform strategies based on hierarchy or market principles.The longitudinal study of social and employment services in the Netherlands, based on 186 documents and 137 interviews, reveals an intriguing pattern of network rise and fall, repeating over time, with alternative reform strategies being crucial in network dissolution.This study contributes t…
Engaging professionals in the strategic renewal of public services: A literature review and research agenda
Based on an extensive literature review, this article explores the impact of strategic renewal in the public sector on the roles and skills of public professionals. Findings show that successive reforms of New Public Management and New Public Governance have resulted in hybrid role requirements that go beyond the often-debated dichotomy between professionalism and management. Based on our review, we could distinguish four sets of skills for profe…
The Changed Role and Position of Professionals in the Welfare State Across Europe
This chapter offers a broad overview of the changing role and position of professionals in European welfare states, where successive reforms have made professionals’ jobs more diverse, dynamic, and demanding. The resulting multifaceted job of professionals goes beyond combining professional work and management tasks and includes at least three different roles—being an expert, a service provider, and a network partner. Simultaneously, with growing…
Strategies and transitions to public sector co-creation across Europe
This article analyses 14 co-creation cases in six European countries from macro and meso theoretical perspectives on strategic public management. The comparative case study includes focus group sessions and interviews with 107 professionals and 26 managers. Findings show, first, that co-creation is not limited to countries with a strong affinity to new public governance, but also occur in more traditional public administration – or new public man…
Collaborative governance and innovation in public services settings
Collaborative governance is believed to lead to more innovative solutions to complex problems in public services. This article analyses whether this hypothesis applies in the case of decentralisation of labour market policy to regional networks of various actors in the Netherlands. We first develop a theoretical argument that integrates theories of collaborative governance with theories of innovation, distinguishing between a wide and a small opt…
(Mis)taking social responsibility? Implementing welfare state reform by private and non-profit organizations
This article relates institutional theory to the concept of organizational legitimacy with cognitive, moral, and pragmatic dimensions, to analyse how a Dutch national policy reform – aimed at expanding the social responsibility for sick leave and disability toward non-state organizations – is understood and enacted locally. Based on interviews in 52 organizations, the study highlights that implementing welfare state reform is predominantly based …
From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services
This article explores the implications of creating a role for private‐sector partners in public employment services (PES), rather than creating quasi‐markets. It focuses on how the engagement of employers in public–private networks with local government can enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged welfare recipients but may require a further shift in local public services. The theory relates to contractual arrangements versus network mo…
Explaining the Policy Process Underpinning Public Sector Reform: The Role of Ideas, Institutions, and Timing
This article provides theoretical elaboration of the policy process underpinning the emergence of public sector reform. It reviews the three predominant models for understanding, namely the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), Institutional Theory Approaches (ITA), and the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF). Rather than treating these frameworks as competing, the article identifies their complementary and interdependent contributions to explaining t…
Understanding Hybridity in Public Organizations
This article explores and extends the concept of hybridity to understand current changes in public services organizations, notably as seen from an organizational studies perspective. The notion of hybridity has become more important, given that the public sector increasingly blurs with other sectors and more social actors. Previous reliance on the use of ideal‐types in characterizing public services reforms has masked expanding heterogeneity. We …
Professionals without a profession? Redesigning case management in Dutch local welfare agencies: Professionals zonder professie? Klantmanagement in Nederlandse sociale diensten
This article explores the new roles of frontline workers in Dutch local welfare agencies against the background of recent active welfare state reforms, with a specific focus on frontline workers involved in activating social assistance recipients. The results presented in the article come from case studies in four local welfare agencies. The article investigates how active welfare state reforms have influenced the room for discretion of frontline…
Het hervormingsmoeras van de verzorgingsstaat: Veranderingen in De Organisatie Van De Sociale Zekerheid
Changing modes of governance in activation policies in France and The Netherlands: Common path or countermodel
Purpose To explore and explain differences in reform of activation policies, comparing the shifts in governance in France and The Netherlands from the 1990s onwards. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on in‐depth case studies of the reform process in activation policies, using documentary sources and interviews with several stake‐holders. The theoretical scope is the debate on institutional change, path‐dependency and convergence. Fin…
Symposium on Changing Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations: Action and Rhetoric
This symposium grew out of the sub‐theme, ‘New Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations’, of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference held in Ljubljana in July 2004. Our aim was to provide a forum to discuss the policy and practice and the space between in public sector management and governance within Europe
Understanding Hybridity in Public Organizations
This article explores and extends the concept of hybridity to understand current changes in public services organizations, notably as seen from an organizational studies perspective. The notion of hybridity has become more important, given that the public sector increasingly blurs with other sectors and more social actors. Previous reliance on the use of ideal‐types in characterizing public services reforms has masked expanding heterogeneity. We …
Professionals without a profession? Redesigning case management in Dutch local welfare agencies: Professionals zonder professie? Klantmanagement in Nederlandse sociale diensten
This article explores the new roles of frontline workers in Dutch local welfare agencies against the background of recent active welfare state reforms, with a specific focus on frontline workers involved in activating social assistance recipients. The results presented in the article come from case studies in four local welfare agencies. The article investigates how active welfare state reforms have influenced the room for discretion of frontline…
Collaborative governance and innovation in public services settings
Collaborative governance is believed to lead to more innovative solutions to complex problems in public services. This article analyses whether this hypothesis applies in the case of decentralisation of labour market policy to regional networks of various actors in the Netherlands. We first develop a theoretical argument that integrates theories of collaborative governance with theories of innovation, distinguishing between a wide and a small opt…
Symposium on Changing Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations: Action and Rhetoric
This symposium grew out of the sub‐theme, ‘New Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations’, of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference held in Ljubljana in July 2004. Our aim was to provide a forum to discuss the policy and practice and the space between in public sector management and governance within Europe
From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services
This article explores the implications of creating a role for private‐sector partners in public employment services (PES), rather than creating quasi‐markets. It focuses on how the engagement of employers in public–private networks with local government can enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged welfare recipients but may require a further shift in local public services. The theory relates to contractual arrangements versus network mo…
Strategies and transitions to public sector co-creation across Europe
This article analyses 14 co-creation cases in six European countries from macro and meso theoretical perspectives on strategic public management. The comparative case study includes focus group sessions and interviews with 107 professionals and 26 managers. Findings show, first, that co-creation is not limited to countries with a strong affinity to new public governance, but also occur in more traditional public administration – or new public man…
Changing modes of governance in activation policies in France and The Netherlands: Common path or countermodel
Purpose To explore and explain differences in reform of activation policies, comparing the shifts in governance in France and The Netherlands from the 1990s onwards. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on in‐depth case studies of the reform process in activation policies, using documentary sources and interviews with several stake‐holders. The theoretical scope is the debate on institutional change, path‐dependency and convergence. Fin…
Changing modes of governance in activation policies in France and The Netherlands: Common path or countermodel
Purpose To explore and explain differences in reform of activation policies, comparing the shifts in governance in France and The Netherlands from the 1990s onwards. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on in‐depth case studies of the reform process in activation policies, using documentary sources and interviews with several stake‐holders. The theoretical scope is the debate on institutional change, path‐dependency and convergence. Fin…
Symposium on Changing Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations: Action and Rhetoric
This symposium grew out of the sub‐theme, ‘New Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations’, of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference held in Ljubljana in July 2004. Our aim was to provide a forum to discuss the policy and practice and the space between in public sector management and governance within Europe
Het hervormingsmoeras van de verzorgingsstaat: Veranderingen in De Organisatie Van De Sociale Zekerheid
Professionals without a profession? Redesigning case management in Dutch local welfare agencies: Professionals zonder professie? Klantmanagement in Nederlandse sociale diensten
This article explores the new roles of frontline workers in Dutch local welfare agencies against the background of recent active welfare state reforms, with a specific focus on frontline workers involved in activating social assistance recipients. The results presented in the article come from case studies in four local welfare agencies. The article investigates how active welfare state reforms have influenced the room for discretion of frontline…
Understanding Hybridity in Public Organizations
This article explores and extends the concept of hybridity to understand current changes in public services organizations, notably as seen from an organizational studies perspective. The notion of hybridity has become more important, given that the public sector increasingly blurs with other sectors and more social actors. Previous reliance on the use of ideal‐types in characterizing public services reforms has masked expanding heterogeneity. We …
Explaining the Policy Process Underpinning Public Sector Reform: The Role of Ideas, Institutions, and Timing
This article provides theoretical elaboration of the policy process underpinning the emergence of public sector reform. It reviews the three predominant models for understanding, namely the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), Institutional Theory Approaches (ITA), and the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF). Rather than treating these frameworks as competing, the article identifies their complementary and interdependent contributions to explaining t…
From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services
This article explores the implications of creating a role for private‐sector partners in public employment services (PES), rather than creating quasi‐markets. It focuses on how the engagement of employers in public–private networks with local government can enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged welfare recipients but may require a further shift in local public services. The theory relates to contractual arrangements versus network mo…
(Mis)taking social responsibility? Implementing welfare state reform by private and non-profit organizations
This article relates institutional theory to the concept of organizational legitimacy with cognitive, moral, and pragmatic dimensions, to analyse how a Dutch national policy reform – aimed at expanding the social responsibility for sick leave and disability toward non-state organizations – is understood and enacted locally. Based on interviews in 52 organizations, the study highlights that implementing welfare state reform is predominantly based …
Collaborative governance and innovation in public services settings
Collaborative governance is believed to lead to more innovative solutions to complex problems in public services. This article analyses whether this hypothesis applies in the case of decentralisation of labour market policy to regional networks of various actors in the Netherlands. We first develop a theoretical argument that integrates theories of collaborative governance with theories of innovation, distinguishing between a wide and a small opt…
The Changed Role and Position of Professionals in the Welfare State Across Europe
This chapter offers a broad overview of the changing role and position of professionals in European welfare states, where successive reforms have made professionals’ jobs more diverse, dynamic, and demanding. The resulting multifaceted job of professionals goes beyond combining professional work and management tasks and includes at least three different roles—being an expert, a service provider, and a network partner. Simultaneously, with growing…
Strategies and transitions to public sector co-creation across Europe
This article analyses 14 co-creation cases in six European countries from macro and meso theoretical perspectives on strategic public management. The comparative case study includes focus group sessions and interviews with 107 professionals and 26 managers. Findings show, first, that co-creation is not limited to countries with a strong affinity to new public governance, but also occur in more traditional public administration – or new public man…
A persistent ideal of public services networks amid alternative reform strategies: A study over three decades
This article analyses how public service networks have evolved over three decades amid alternative reform strategies based on hierarchy or market principles.The longitudinal study of social and employment services in the Netherlands, based on 186 documents and 137 interviews, reveals an intriguing pattern of network rise and fall, repeating over time, with alternative reform strategies being crucial in network dissolution.This study contributes t…
Engaging professionals in the strategic renewal of public services: A literature review and research agenda
Based on an extensive literature review, this article explores the impact of strategic renewal in the public sector on the roles and skills of public professionals. Findings show that successive reforms of New Public Management and New Public Governance have resulted in hybrid role requirements that go beyond the often-debated dichotomy between professionalism and management. Based on our review, we could distinguish four sets of skills for profe…
Challenging Common Assumptions in Explaining Welfare Administration Reform: A Three-Decade Analysis of The Netherlands and Norway
This article examines whether New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) models are evident in administrative reforms related to social policy and employment services. Using a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of reforms in Norway and the Netherlands, the study challenges key theoretical assumptions. It finds that NPG may actually precede, rather than follow, NPM in some contexts. Additionally, the commonly used explanation of p…
Strategizing and collaborating in the digital transformation of public administration
The purpose of this special issue is to deepen our theoretical understanding and empirical exploration of the interrelations of digital transformation, collaborative governance and how government strategies at multiple levels address and shape these interrelationships. The special issue is based on an open call for papers and also brings together selected research findings from three EU-funded research projects (TROPICO, Co-VAL, and COGOV). All t…
The contested nature of New Public Governance as a third governance model
Political science (13 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (10 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Corporate governance (7 works) · Economics (7 works) · Healthcare innovation and challenges (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Public sector (6 works)