Abstract
This study focuses on private intermediaries in the course of public service delivery. Typically, intermediaries facilitate the matching process between citizens or companies that have to fulfill certain obligations to governments and government agencies. Therefore, intermediaries can contribute fundamentally to bypassing red tape. In this study, we go beyond improving service to explore the role of ICT on private intermediaries and their relation to public administration. In particular, we aim to clarify how private intermediaries act and whether information technology can strengthen or weaken their roles.
Methodologically, we use a single case because this issue is still unexplored and therefore open for investigating intermediaries at their interface with public administration. Specifically, we chose the case of plant approval procedures under the German Federal Control of Pollution Act because plant approval is characterized by high complexity and private intermediaries have been active in that area for many years. Regarding our chosen theoretical lens, we go beyond a narrow focus on the economic theories that are often used in the business administration literature in intermediary research. Instead, we frame intermediaries as boundary spanners and ICTs as boundary objects.