Abstract: Social service assessment is a performance evaluation method for government-purchased social services, aiming to optimise the quality of social services. In the process of social service assessment, multiple actors are involved, and these actors are all in a specific institutional environment, with their own institutional logics that are changing. Hence, this study situates institutional logics and their evolution at the focal point of analysis. It is found that under the effect of multiple institutional logic changes, social service evaluation will encounter autonomy, publicity dilemma, and credibility dilemmas. To address these challenges, it is crucial to find ways to promote the reproduction of autonomy in social service evaluation, enhance the evaluation control of service users, and reshape the credibility of each evaluation subject.

Key words: multiple institutional logics, social service assessment, government purchase of social services, assessment dilemma