The impact of NPM on the job satisfaction of a range of Australian public sector employees

Abstract

Most western democracies have undertaken significant public sector reform with the aim of getting their public sector organisations to adopt new public management (NPM) reforms. NPM refers to the adoption of private sector management tools by public sector organisations and its implementation has led to change in the work environment of most public sector employees - both professional and other employees. This paper compares the level of satisfaction with the work experiences of three groups of public sector employees: nurses (N = 91), police (N = 178) and administrative employees (N = 115). The findings suggest that professional employees have a significantly different work experience compared with other public sector employees. Moreover, the research findings suggest that recent reforms have led to breaches in the professional dimension of professional employees delivering essential social services. These breaches are likely to impact negatively on their productivity, thereby negating the stated official goals associated with implementing public sector reforms.