Standing on the shoulders of giants: Public-private sector differences

There are several manuscripts that have tried to encompass the public-private distinction by reviewing the empirical works on public-private differences (Boyne, 2002; Perry and Rainey, 1988; Rainey, Backoff, and Levine, 1976; Rainey and Bozeman, 2000). With almost one decade having passed since the publication of the last reviews, it is worth examining how the public-private literature has been evolving since and see not only the development of the two sectors, but also how researchers have considered the propositions of the above three cited articles in those ten years filled with proposals to modernize public management. As a result of this, the present article seeks to clarify the status quo of the public-private distinction by reviewing the main publications addressing this topic that have accumulated over the last two decades. Finally, we propose various considerations that highlight a main opportunity for improvement in public-private differences research.