New Public Management Reforms Research Articles

Reproduction of efficiency through management accounting practices: Socio‐economic, environmental, and human consequences of NPM reforms

AbstractUsing Giddens (1984) structuration theory (ST), in this paper we illustrate how the efficiency‐driven approaches adopted by a large stated‐owned public company in Latin America (Latin American Multiutility Conglomerate [LAMC]) implicitly resulted in triggering a dam disaster with far‐reaching socio‐economic, environmental, and human consequences. Data for the study were derived through document analysis and conducting unstructured, semi‐structured, and email interviews. Our findings show that the internalization of efficiency as a corporate value at LAMC was further rationalized through the adoption of new public management (NPM)‐based management accounting practices (MAPs) embedded within the market‐led development approach. These MAPs connected agencies and structures in a dialectic way and continued reproducing efficiency through day‐to‐day operations and by enabling the company to champion itself as a successful NPM adopter. However, throughout this process, the socio‐environmental and human costs relating to “the dam project” were overlooked, making the disaster inevitable. The paper questions the market‐led development approach, and NPM‐based MAPs, and calls for further empirical work delineating how MAPs can be implicated in public value creation and promoting publicness in emerging economies. Such work is of paramount importance not only to prevent the “unexpected and unwanted effects of public sector accounting” under NPM and market‐led development but also to save the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable community members in emerging economies.

The impact of New Public Management reforms on the delivery of secondary education in Tanzania

This article discusses the impact of adopting New Public Management (NPM) reforms in the delivery of education services via a case study of the experience of Mwanza City, Tanzania. The case study reveals that NPM reforms, which came with new guidelines for the delivery of education services, have reduced the capacity and discretion of education officers and teachers in the delivery of education services. Furthermore, education services are confronted with scarcity of teaching and learning resources including classrooms, teachers, textbooks and laboratory equipment. Despite the good intentions of the NPM reforms in the education sector, the authors argue that the discretion of education officers and teachers should be protected as an essential tool to translate policies into reality.

Performance-oriented management and political appointment: the interaction effect on quality of government

ABSTRACT Previous studies suggest that reforms of public personnel administration, especially implemented under the initiatives of New Public Management (NPM), increase government efficiency, while bureaucratic politicization is negatively associated with organizational performance and expertise. Yet, few studies provide empirical evidence about the interaction effect between NPM reforms and bureaucratic politicization on government performance. This study focuses on performance-related pay (PRP) reforms in public personnel administration and examines how the relationship between PRP and quality of government changes depending on political appointment. Using cross-country data analysis, findings show that the adoption of PRP is associated with higher quality of government, but the effect is negatively conditioned on the level of political appointment. Where political appointment is low, countries with PRP reforms are more likely to be impartial, efficient, and responsive to changes, but PRP reforms may not be effective for quality of government, where political appointment is pervasive in the civil service.

It is still about bureaucracy in German faculties

One of the main discussions in higher education is whether universities have appropriately adapted their structures and processes in response to the New Public Management (NPM) reforms and the Bologna Process. There are no profound empirical investigations on the extent to which faculties take elements of the reforms into account in terms of administrative processes and organizational structure dimensions according to the bureaucracy approach. This article examines how German faculty managers perceive bureaucratization processes by evaluating organizational structure dimensions. For this, we interpret interviews with 16 experts of German faculties through qualitative content analysis to extract in-depth manifestations of these dimensions. Our results show that the dimensions formalization, standardization, specialization, configuration, internal support functions, team self-coordination, and (de)centralization reflect elements of the NPM and Bologna reforms in the perception of faculty staff. These dimensions are complemented by decoupling mechanisms, i.e., discrepancies between formal structure and common practice, which hinder reform implementation. Besides, we identify elements of post-NPM approaches like network governance and neo-Weberianism supplementing reform implementation. We highlight (dys)functional effects of the dimensions by assessing them with criteria of effectiveness. Our results foster a deeper understanding of faculty organization by demonstrating levels of bureaucratization using profound examples of the interviewed persons.

New public management reforms and industrial relations in the Italian education system. A cultural political economy approach

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the relation between new public management (NPM) reforms and changing patterns of industrial relations (IRs) and social dialogue in the Italian education system. Drawing on data from the research project ‘Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in Europe’ (IR-EDUREFORM), it uses cultural political economy to explore the effects of autonomy, evaluation, and management as policy technologies on teacher unions’ collective bargaining, workplace representation and industrial action. Through the Italian case, the study analyses how NPM reforms operated three distinctive transformations: decentralisation of bargaining to school level, juridification and individualisation of industrial action and a shift from collective to professional unions. Beyond critically exploring the implications of NPM reforms and the processes of decollectivation and individualisation of IRs and social dialogue in education, the study also highlights some potential for the emergence of novel sites for collective representation.

The implementation of PMS in Italian universities: A longitudinal analysis

Starting from the 1990s, the New Public Management (NPM) has been the most inspiring principle of public sector reforms in Europe. The Higher Education (HE) sector is among the different fields in which the implementation of NPM reforms have been controversial. Based on the NPM framework, most HE reforms have focused on enhancing universities' accountability and transparency through performance measurement and performance management (Rabovsky, 2014; Rebora and Turri, 2011). The effects of the implementation of this "calculative technologies" is, however, still under investigated (Arnaboldi et al., 2016). Using documentary analysis as research methodology, this paper investigates implementation trajectories of performance management system (PMS) in Italian universities (Marchi, 2015). Specifically, this is a longitudinal documentary analysis and it offers the results from a content analysis of the Performance Plan (PP) and the Performance Report (PR) of 66 Italian Universities in two periods, i.e. 2016 and 2018. Furthermore, the longitudinal documentary analysis adopts the matrix from a previous study (Dal Molin et al., 2017), which matches the "quality of PMS" and the "expected use of PMS". The main objective of this study is to investigate if the "implementation gap" (Ongaro and Valotti, 2008) highlighted in previous studies (e.g. Dal Molin et al., 2017) has been fulfilled and in which elements it is possible to observe such improvement. As main result, the study shows that the implementation gap is still strongly present, from 2012 until now, and a formal compliance with the law still persists (Allini et al., 2020). There are areas of improvement related to external accountability and compliance, however, this is not supported by an internal use based on internal accountability (Tieghi et al., 2018).

Public sector accounting in emerging economies: a review of the papers published in the first decade of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies

PurposeA review of papers on public sector accounting in emerging economies, as published in the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies' (JAEE) first decade.Design/methodology/approachA reflection on the issues covered and achievements made in the reviewed papers in the context of extant knowledge in this domain.FindingsA majority of the research in JAEE is dominated by accounting reforms inspired by New Public Management (NPM). Performance management, budgeting and accrual accounting are the main topics in the reviewed research. NPM claims, which can range from usability and use of a new accounting repertoire to desirable impacts on efficiency and service delivery, are often not fulfilled. Many papers attempt to explain failing accounting innovations by the local context in which they are embedded, including political instability, poor governance and a lack of capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper reviews research in a niche journal, but the findings are related to wider public sector accounting literature.Practical implicationsPublic sector practitioners, but also researchers, need to move away from a focus on public sector reforms due to contextual circumstances leading to built-in failures and concentrate instead on understanding how the accounting repertoire works in practice, including routes for improvements therein.Originality/valueAn original framework for analysing public sector accounting research in emerging economies is proposed, which, among others, distinguishes between various ambition levels for achieving NPM reforms.

The role of social innovation policy in social service sector reform: Evidence from Hong Kong

AbstractThis article illustrates how the term “social innovation” is used in the public policy domain in Hong Kong in relation to the new public management (NPM) reform of the social service sector, which originated in the early 2000s. Through document reviews and interviews, the role that social innovation policy has played in instigating changes in the contemporary social service field in the post-NPM era is identified. This includes facilitating emergence of “new” forms of social entrepreneurial activities to fill unmet social needs, empowering new actors in entering the social service sector, and reinforcing the government’s position in the NPM reform. Adopting historical institutionalism as the analytical framework, multiple path-dependent characteristics arising from the historical legacies of the incumbent social service environment – such as the longstanding partnership between the state and non-profits – are highlighted. These historical factors have weakened the efficacy of the policy efforts aimed at enacting institutional change. Overall, this article demonstrates how historical context matters in the emergence and framing of social innovation policy. It contributes to the theorisation of the role of social innovation in social service sector development in East Asia.

New Public Management in the Developing Countries: Effects and Implications on Human Resource Management

Understanding the linkage between New Public Management (NPM) reforms and Human Resource Management (HRM) are required to be highlighted. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) used as a research methodology to discuss the implementation of NPM reforms, gaps and challenges of NPM, and the effects and implications of these gaps and challenges on HRM. This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering important lessons and experiences of the implemented NPM reforms, alongside their major gaps and challenges towards HRM in the developing world. The discussion and conclusion are presented at the end.

NPM Reforms in Ghana’s Public Sector Management & Administration: Changing Trends in MDAs & MMDAs Functions

The purpose of the study is to examine the new public management (NPM) reforms in Ghana’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and at the local government level in terms of key changes implemented and its successes. The study also examines the challenges that have been encountered in the implementation process and recommendations to address the weaknesses in the system. The methodology used is based on the qualitative approach and the descriptive method. The findings in the study show that regardless of the in-roads made since the introduction of the NPM reforms, a number of challenges such as lack of expertise, lack of political will, inadequate resources among others, continue to affect the performance of Ghana’s civil service, which in turn, impact the delivery of public services. The study recommends that NPM reforms must seek to increase levels of accountability because monitoring the performance of key institutions will go a long way to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the public service. The significance of the study is that it provides key insights into important issues in Ghana’s NPM reforms, which can serve as useful tools for decision makers in moving the reforms towards accomplishing its goals more successfully. The outlined challenges and recommendations will inform the government, key policy makers and local government officials to enable them address the challenges affecting the effective implementation of NPM reforms. This study further contributes toward academic discussions relating to the impact of NPM reforms in Ghana and Africa in general.

New Public Management and Customer Perceptions of Service Quality – A Mixed-Methods Study

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of New Public Management (NPM) reform on customers’ perceptions of service quality. This study uses a mixed methods research design. For quantitative data, we use a structured questionnaire and for qualitative data a single, longitudinal, explanatory case study. The case study and survey research findings integrate well and suggest that NPM reform under the right circumstances can result in tangible improvements in service quality, even in the short term. However, NPM reform should not be perceived as a silver bullet that can overcome overnight all inculcated Weberian bureaucratic weaknesses of the public sector that have built up over many years. This research provides significant contribution to new knowledge relating to the impact of NPM on customer perception of service quality, and in particular relating to a Small Island Developing states (SIDs).

Innovation in public organizations: do government reforms matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of New Public Management (NPM) reforms/practices on innovation in public sector organizations. Although much is written on NPM, the assumption that NPM reforms stimulate organizational innovation has not been empirically tested. The present study is an attempt to bridge this research gap.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on open-systems approach, institutional theory, and innovation research, this study argues that organizational innovation occurs in response to stimuli in the external (environmental factors) and internal environment (organizational factors), considering NPM reforms/practices as a proxy for external or environmental factors. Organizational factors include formal structural complexity, senior management support and job security. The study tests this model using data from a national survey conducted in five states in the US.FindingsThe study provides empirical insights into our understanding of the factors that drive innovation in public sector organizations. The study finds that although environmental factors are as significant as organizational factors in driving innovation in the public sector, senior management support remains the most important predictor of innovation.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need to study the effect of NPM reforms and practices on innovation in public organizational settings.

The effects of new public management on the quality of public services

AbstractHave New Public Management (NPM) reforms in public organizations improved the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of public policies? NPM reforms, understood as a style of organizing public services towards the efficiency and efficacy of outputs, have been controversial. They have been accused of importing practices and norms from the private sector that could collide with core public values, such as impartiality or equity. Yet, with few exceptions, we lack systematic empirical tests of the actual effects that NPM reforms have had on the delivery of public services. In this introductory article, we summarize a special issue devoted to cover this gap. And, overall, we find that neither the catastrophic nor the balsamic effects of NPM reforms are confirmed, but the success (or failure) depends on the administrative, political and policy context those reforms take place.

A Systematic Review of Structure, Culture, and Demography of New Public Management (NPM) in the Developing Countries

The paper assesses the effectiveness of NPM and its impacts with key consideration to culture, structure, and demography of developing nations. It blends the literature with cases and publications from the global organizations such as World Bank, United Nations, and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The study analyses the NPM reforms in Kenya which include budgeting, institutionalization and financial reporting, use of information systems, and changes in the management public finance. Increased transparency and accountability, public expenditures, and creation of agency problems are identified as the main impact of NPM on public governance. The literature also reveals that effective judicial system; efficient and control-oriented administrative system; and state capacity are some of the preconditions for NPM model. Onto to the factors affecting NPM implementation in the developing nations; it was found that limited resources, dispositions, the professional society, bureaucratic structure are the primary players. The article recommends institutionalization of code of ethics, balancing politics and bureaucracies, effective law enforcement, and implementation of NPM principles in phases as strategies to eliminate risk of failure. It then concludes that with increased pressure from the international donors, developing countries will continue adopting NPM framework into their public administrative systems. Keywords: NPM, public sector, institutionalization, bureaucracy, transparency and accountability, performance-based budgeting, organizational structure and culture. DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-12-06 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Profitability calculations under trial of strength

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the organizational construction of profit at the responsibility-centre level, how underlying cost calculations are challenged, and the role of accountants therein. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses profit calculation in a public social housing organization that experienced New Public Management (NPM). Participant observations, archives and interviews inform the study over three years, enabling access to day-to-day practices. Findings This study examines a trial of strength that revisited long-existing profitability and cost calculations. Accountants held competing views of how to treat labour costs. Some were anti-programme during a trial of incompatibility, while others were programme defenders. The authors also provide evidence of the stability of an established network and its resistance to the claims of an adversary spokesperson in a trial of strength. The concept of trial of incompatibility proved helpful in showing how the actor networks within OMEGA played out the tension between profit orientation and the social mission of offering affordable dwellings. Research limitations/implications The paper provides rare qualitative data on the significant and complex role of calculative costing choices in determining intra-organizational profitability and its interference with the inherent social mission of the organization. Practical implications The authors suggest that profitability calculations are influenced not only by economic context but also by different views of organizational actors regarding how to calculate profit. These calculations would benefit from a more detailed and explicit documentation of reasons for choices made, given the potential for different and, in principle, equally valid approaches. The authors provide further evidence of the complexity of the public social housing sector. Social implications This research points to a departure from the mission of public social housing in the face of NPM reforms and further questions the compatibility of a profit orientation with the provision of affordable dwellings. Originality/value The findings show intra-accounting variation regarding a specific element of profit calculation (labour costs) relating to the organization’s wider mission and status.

Senkt New Public Management die Verwaltungsausgaben in den Schweizer Kantonen? Eine empirische Analyse über zwei Dekaden

AbstractIn light of the growing public spending in many regions of the world, this study scrutinizes relevant determinants of core public administration expenditure at the cantonal level in Switzerland, focusing particularly on New Public Management (NPM) reforms. The empirical study comprises all 26 cantons in the period from 1993 through 2014 and uses both cross‐sectional and longitudinal analytical methods. In addition to NPM, we control for various variables related to political parties, institutions, socioeconomics and culture. The results show no clear relationship between NPM reforms and expenditure, although such reforms were often intended to cut costs. Our explanation for this finding is that NPM as a concept is rather inconsistent. Various control variables are either positively or negatively related with expenditure. All in all, our findings suggest that public expenditure is still mostly determined by politics and can only be influenced by administrative reforms within certain narrow limits.

Public Sector Reform in Italian Higher Education: The Governance Transformation of the Universities — A Comparison Among Perceptions of Rectors and Department Chairs

New public management (NPM) has dominated the reforms in the higher education sector and the academic discussion on how universities should be governed since the 1980s. Besides, the introduction of accountability and efficiency measures in the form of performance measurement and pay-for-performance scheme, a key debated aspect of NPM is the strengthening of the role of boards and the introduction of a more firm-like governance structure. Much work is still needed to evaluate the implementation of NPM reforms in the university domain, particularly with respect to the internal governance changes. Besides formal rules, perceptions of key actors on their institutional environment play a major role in investigating university governance. This article uses a unique dataset on Italian universities to illustrate the internal governance patterns that emerged after the 2010 reform and critically analyses the differences in the perceptions of rectors and department chairs providing insights for both academic and policymakers.

New public management, physicians and populism: Turkey's experience with health reforms.

Recent debates on the rise of right-wing or neoliberal populism globally have prompted public health and health systems researchers to explore its implications in the healthcare systems. This case study of Turkey's recent health reform initiative, the Health Transformation Program, aims to contribute to this debate by examining the nexus among populism, professionalism and the contemporary market and managerial reforms, often described as New Public Management (NPM). Building on document analysis and secondary sources, this article introduces a framework to explore whether and how populist agendas grow up in the shadow of NPM policies. We aim to deepen our understanding of the governance settings that might be used in different ways by right-wing populist leaders to advance their agendas. Our research reveals that the NPM reforms in Turkey have opened a 'backdoor' through which right-wing populist agendas were supported and the position of the medical profession as an important stakeholder in the institutional settings was weakened. However, what mattered most in the reform process was not the policies themselves but the ways new managerialist policies were implemented. Our analysis makes blind spots of the NPM reforms and healthcare governance research visible and calls for greater attention to implementation processes.

Public hospital reforms in China: towards a model of new public management?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how far plans to “modernize” hospital management in China are converging toward a global model of new public management (NPM) or represent a distinctive pathway. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a systematic review of available secondary sources published in English and Chinese to describe both the nature and trajectory of hospital management reforms in China. Findings In China, while public hospital reforms bear many of the hallmarks of the NPM, they are distinctive in two key respects. First, the thrust of current reforms is to partially reverse, not extend, the trend toward marketization in order to strengthen the public orientation of public hospitals. Second is a marked gap between the rhetoric and reality of empowering managers and freeing them from political control. Practical implications This paper develops a framework for understanding the drivers and obstacles to hospital management reforms in China that is useful for managers, clinicians and policy makers. Originality/value In China, few authors have considered NPM reform in relation to healthcare. This paper contributes in better understanding current reforms taking place in China’s expanding healthcare sector and locates these within broader theoretical and policy debates.

NPM reforms and institutional characteristics in developing countries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the institutional factors affecting the reform of public sector in Morocco. In particular, this study focuses on the adoption path of one such reform, in which Moroccan municipalities had to adopt economic and development plans (EDPs).Design/methodology/approachThe paper’s methodology adopts a qualitative approach. In particular, the paper adopts a mix of primary and secondary sources to analyze the historical development of the EDP reform in the Moroccan context, and the institutional factors involved in the implementation process. It contributes to the existing literature in two ways: it defines a tentative model that combines two approaches (new and old institutional theories); and it contextualizes the proposed model in the Moroccan context by examining the institutional process of implementing the reforms.FindingsThe reform that introduced EDPs in Morocco was the result of a collaboration between the Moroccan government and international donors. The introduction of EDPs was impeded by institutional features of Moroccan society. Therefore, the implementation of EDPs in Morocco did not change taken-for-granted ways of thinking, nor did it remove institutional restrictions and barriers. Municipalities were not affected by the modernizing effects of the reform. They are managed as traditional administrative structures, with very little capacity for organizational and management innovation.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the debate on the adequacy of new public management (NPM) in less developed countries (LDCs), and in particular with regards to the use of strategic plans in Moroccan municipalities. In doing so, the paper attempts to define a tentative framework that combines new institutional and old institutional theory. The framework proposed helps to explain how NPM in LDCs was diffused and how institutional characteristics could hamper or foster the implementation of NPM reform.