Governance reform, decentralization, and teamwork in public service delivery: Evidence from theHonduranhealth sector
通过行为博弈实验，发现洪都拉斯分权改革降低了卫生部门公务员的团队合作效率，尤其是原有员工之间的协作受损，提示政策制定者需防范治理改革对现有团队的负面影响。
Abstract Public service delivery improves when civil servants work together effectively as teams. While decentralization reforms are common strategies for enhancing the delivery of health services in developing countries, most studies emphasize their effects through rational‐choice mechanisms. Fewer studies consider the behavioral implications of decentralization and its potential to improve or hinder the day‐to‐day work environment for health sector staff. We use an incentivized behavioral game to assess the effectiveness of teamwork among civil servants in decentralized and comparable centrally administered municipal health systems in Honduras. We find that teams from decentralized municipalities are less effective at working together and that this is driven by the adverse effects of the reform among existing staff: new staff pairs are relatively effective, while existing staff do not work as well with each other and in mixed teams. Our findings suggest that policymakers should take measures to help ensure that governance reforms do not undermine the effectiveness of existing staff.