Privatization and Industry Reform: an historical case study of British rail 1960 - 1980

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Abstract

Drawing on institutional perspective – institutional change, institutional legitimacy and the three institutional pillars – this doctoral study is developed to disentangle a complexity of successive industry reforms that have shaped a development of British railways in general and a growing idea of a railway privatization in particular. This adds to the body of knowledge, which so far has tended to focus on enhancing the sector’s performance outcomes, by arguing that performance improvement is not a whole story of the railway’s privatization. Indeed, as an archival research in British railway’s reform (1960s - 1980s) has revealed, a growing idea of a private sector’s involvement was constructed as the governments at the times sought to draw and (re-) draw boundaries among interest groups in order for British railways to de-lock from a historical development path of nationalization industry. Furthermore, the study also found that the idea of privatization was dynamically legitimized and maintained by the government’s reform agenda that blended a performance rationale with political and socio-economic conditions of British railway at the times. Indeed, this historical-institutional analysis in British railway’s reform suggests that a privatization of British railways is more socially and politically complex than generally understood as the government’s attempt in making an efficient railway sector. As such, in order to advance this field of study both academic scholars and the industry practitioners should pay more attention on the influence of institutional dynamics that shapes a performing of British railway rather than narrowly focusing a performance improvement issue.

Keyword(s)

Archival research, British railways, Institutional theory, Privatization and Industry reform

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