Understanding Social Impact Bonds from the public administration perspective: how and why? Case study of Finland
Sladakovic, Sara (2023)
Sladakovic, Sara
2023
Master's Programme in Global Society
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-06-06
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305195927
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305195927
Tiivistelmä
Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have been a growing phenomenon in the last years. Developed in the United Kingdom as a response to the social issue of reoffending, during times of economic crisis, they have quickly been accepted in other countries around the world. They represent a financial tool where private capital is used to bring welfare to the people. Based on a strict contract and involving different actors, SIBs do remain a trouble to define.
In this research, I have studied the phenomena in the Finnish context, understanding the motivation and experiences of the public administration employees working on the SIB projects. Even though the perspective of the public administration employees presents only a small fragment of the whole SIB picture in Finland, it serves as a good basis to contribute to the literature body on the topic, in the case of Finland. Moreover, another reason to conduct a study on this topic presents the understanding that the already implemented SIB projects in Finland have not been characterized as successful, but only as bringing a positive impact in the society. Thus, the question of why the Finnish public administration is still implementing this tool rises.
Using narrative interviews, I was able to approach the topic more in-depth and collect the necessary data. I interviewed eight public administration workers that still are or previously have been involved in a total of three SIB projects. Moreover, the respondents come from different public administration entities and have overseen different phases of the project, either planning and modeling, or implementation.
To make a conclusion, I used thematic narrative analysis. In a nutshell, this means I have established the main themes occurring in the narratives and identified them over the interviews. Secondly, I analyzed deeper each of the themes, extracting sub-themes. Consequently, I compare the themes across the interviews and literature before presenting the findings of this study.
The data focuses on personal experiences and opinions on the matter and tries to capture all the important segments of the SIB implementation in Finland. The results resemble their stories divided into two major parts - motivation and experiences, and two following ones – SIB background and establishment in Finland and it's future. Moreover, in each of these segments, there is one specific theme that has emerged and provided contributions.
The main conclusion could be summed up as follows: SIBs in Finland had a curvy path of establishment, but the implementation continued and has been growing ever since. The main motivations to implement such an approach have been diving/avoiding risks and providing prevention services for people. When it comes to experiences, the approach has good and bad sides, in addition to a specific way of implementation that differs from other countries. Finally, to have SIBs in Finland in the future is certain, but they will not become the main tool. Moreover, to be more successful, different segments of the implementation need to be changed.
In this research, I have studied the phenomena in the Finnish context, understanding the motivation and experiences of the public administration employees working on the SIB projects. Even though the perspective of the public administration employees presents only a small fragment of the whole SIB picture in Finland, it serves as a good basis to contribute to the literature body on the topic, in the case of Finland. Moreover, another reason to conduct a study on this topic presents the understanding that the already implemented SIB projects in Finland have not been characterized as successful, but only as bringing a positive impact in the society. Thus, the question of why the Finnish public administration is still implementing this tool rises.
Using narrative interviews, I was able to approach the topic more in-depth and collect the necessary data. I interviewed eight public administration workers that still are or previously have been involved in a total of three SIB projects. Moreover, the respondents come from different public administration entities and have overseen different phases of the project, either planning and modeling, or implementation.
To make a conclusion, I used thematic narrative analysis. In a nutshell, this means I have established the main themes occurring in the narratives and identified them over the interviews. Secondly, I analyzed deeper each of the themes, extracting sub-themes. Consequently, I compare the themes across the interviews and literature before presenting the findings of this study.
The data focuses on personal experiences and opinions on the matter and tries to capture all the important segments of the SIB implementation in Finland. The results resemble their stories divided into two major parts - motivation and experiences, and two following ones – SIB background and establishment in Finland and it's future. Moreover, in each of these segments, there is one specific theme that has emerged and provided contributions.
The main conclusion could be summed up as follows: SIBs in Finland had a curvy path of establishment, but the implementation continued and has been growing ever since. The main motivations to implement such an approach have been diving/avoiding risks and providing prevention services for people. When it comes to experiences, the approach has good and bad sides, in addition to a specific way of implementation that differs from other countries. Finally, to have SIBs in Finland in the future is certain, but they will not become the main tool. Moreover, to be more successful, different segments of the implementation need to be changed.