The impact of the control function on the effectiveness of policy implementation

• Published date: 01 November 2023
• Author: Rick Anderson
• Date: 01 November 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2875

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The impact of the control function on the effectiveness of

policy implementation

Rick Anderson

1,2

1

Faculty Governance and Global Affairs,

Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

2

EIFFEL NV, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Correspondence

Rick Anderson, Stinzenlaan 237, 3621 TC

Breukelen, The Netherlands.

Email: rick.anderson@planet.nl

This contribution concerns a study that aims to trace factors that determine the

effectiveness of policy implementation. To this end, a case study was conducted in

two municipalities. In both municipalities, a random sample was drawn of 100 activi-

ties in the cultural field carried out in the year 2021. Based on this, the effectiveness

of the implementation of subsidy provision was examined for both municipalities.

This effectiveness has been operationalised to the percentage of correct

non-applications, the percentage of rightly approved subsidy applications and the

percentage of rightly rejected subsidy applications. A comparison between these

municipalities, based on an analysis of the documents and 22 interviews, then pro-

vided an opportunity to explain differences in effectiveness. It turns out, that the

control function provides the decisive explanation for the difference in effectiveness.

This control function is not only about monitoring and controlling the implementa-

tion, but also about facilitating and optimising the process of providing subsidies.

Although previous research highlights the importance of an adequate monitoring and

control for implementation, the control function can be defined in a broader way.

Besides overseeing proper implementation, the control function in this broader view

also plays a facilitating role towards the implementers. This broader control function

specifically has not often been the explicit object of implementation research. It

should be noted, however, that this study is based on only two municipalities, which

only examined the subsidisation of cultural activities. Therefore, no general conclu-

sions can be drawn on this basis.

KEYWORDS

implementation, municipalities, policy implementation, public control, subsidy policy

1|INTRODUCTION

This study aims to trace factors that determine the effectiveness of

policy implementation, based on the following question: How can the

effectiveness of subsidy policy implementation within municipalities

be traced and explained?

Many studies have been published on policy implementation and

these studies have highlighted numerous variables that can influence

implementation (Hill, 2003; O'Toole, 1986). Some authors have

formulated conditions that can ensure successful implementation or

focus on how control over implementers can be exercised

(Sabatier, 1986). Often, the idea is that implementation is more suc-

cessful the better it is in relation to the formally adopted policy,

although some studies also advocate a broader assessment framework

(Hudson et al., 2019). Previous research points to the importance of a

proper monitoring for adequatepolicy implementation (Sabatier, 1986).

Received: 22 January 2023 Revised: 4 June 2023 Accepted: 6 June 2023

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2875

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2023 The Author. Journal of Public Affairs published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2875