Challenges in transitioning from new public management to new public governance in a developing country context

• Published date: 03 October 2019
• Date: 03 October 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-02-2019-0057
• Pages: 689-705
• Author: Wahed Waheduzzaman
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management

Challenges in transitioning

from new public management

to new public governance in

a developing country context

Wahed Waheduzzaman

Faculty of Business and Law,

Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the transitional status of new public management (NPM)

into new public governance (NPG) in a developing country context. Some authors, based on their research in

developed countries, have claimed that NPM is dead. However, such claims have apparently ignored the

transformational status of NPM in developing countries. This paper addresses that gap.

Design/methodology/approach –A qualitative method was used in this research. Public officials, elected

representatives and local users who were responsible for public service management at local levels in

Bangladesh were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires tailored to each group. The interview

texts were then organised and analysed using NVivo software.

Findings –This research reveals that four public management elements comprising decentralisation,

market-based services, efficiency and accountability, which are prerequisites for creating an appropriate

environment for NPG, have not been established successfully in Bangladesh. This finding suggests that NPG

may not be achieved without effective implementation of these elements through NPM practices. The study

concludes that NPM needs to be practiced for more time in Bangladesh for the effective transformation of

public management into public governance.

Research limitations/implications –Findings from this research will help public policy makers and

researchers to identify barriers to and design the pathway for a smooth shift from NPM to NPG.

Practical implications –The findings of this research would help the Government of Bangladesh and

international aid agencies to better understand the status of NPM and NPG in regional Bangladesh.

Social implications –The research findings may help identify barriers to enhancing participatory activities

in a developing society.

Originality/value –Though NPM is an obsolete theory for developed countries, it needs to be implemented

successfully in developing countries prior to the implementation of NPG.

Keywords Developing country, New public governance, New public management

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

New public management (NPM) emerged as a key agenda within public service reform

initiatives in many developed countries at the end of the1970s (Hood and Dixon, 2015). This

emergence was symbolised as a paradigm shift when the rules-driven and highly processed

Weberian management style was replaced by business management practices incorporating

the logic of economics while retaining core public values (Osborne, 2006). Within a short

period, public services in developed countries started to follow NPM and delivered public

services mainly through competitive external service providers (Brinkerhoff and

Brinkerhoff, 2015). In developing nations, such as in Bangladesh, NPM was introduced in

the late 1980s by international aid agencies (IAAs) such as the World Bank and IMF (Sarker,

2006). Reforms in the public sector and decentralisation of administrative units as per NPM

rhetoric were set as a pre-requisite and benchmark for aid assistance over the last two

decades of the twentieth century (Mansuri and Rao, 2013).

The newness of NPM,however, started to fade just beforethe beginning of the twenty-first

century. NPM had been discredited primarily due to ineffective management and

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 32 No. 7, 2019

pp. 689-705

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-02-2019-0057

Received 28 February 2019

Revised 18 May 2019

Accepted 16 July 2019

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3558.htm

689

Challenges in

transitioning

from NPM to

NPG

accountability systems within the public sector in some developed nations (Dunleavy et al.,

2006; Schick, 1998). Research findings indicate that the success of NPM in New Zealand, the

UK and Australia was not equally replicated in other developed countries, such as the USA

and Canada( Butterfield, 2004; Jones,2004). Subsequently,some researchers claimed thatNPM

is dead (Dunleavy et al.,2006), while others argued that NPM has been transformed topublic

governance, or merged with good governance, or replaced by e-Governance (Guoxian et al.,

2012; Osborne, 2006). Although there has been a long discourse around this debate, in a

nutshell, NPM was either lost or started losing ground in government systems across

developed nations around the first decade of the millennium.

Failures in implementation of the NPM in most of the developed nations prompted

researchers and policy makers to proclaim that developing countries should not follow NPM

(Schick, 1998). Consequently, IAAs and governments of developing nations ceased the

applicationof NPM across their public sector institutions and started to implementnew public

governance (NPG) reforms (McCourt, 2008). NPG is defined “as the processes through which

citizens and state officials interact to express their interest, exercise their rights and

obligations, work out their differences and cooperate to produce public goods and services”

(Brinkerhoff and Goldsmith, 2005, p. 200). Researchers, however, argued that NPM is a

transitional stage between old public management and public governance (Guoxian et al.,

2012; Osborne,2006; Lodge and Gill, 2011).There are some public managementelements, such

as decentralisation, market-based services, efficiency and accountability, which are required

to be reformedfirst through NPM practices to createa suitable basis for the promotionof NPG

(Ciborra and Navarra, 2005; Christensen and Lægreid, 2011). However,so far no research has

exploredspecifically how these fourelements have been establishedthrough NPM practices in

developing countries to create a favourable environment for NPG practices.

This research aims to explore the status of transition from NPM to NPG in Bangladesh.

As Bangladesh represents the salient features of a developing country, it stands as a good

example in which to conduct this study (Azmat, 2007). In particular, four elements of public

management, namely, decentralisation, market-based services, efficiency and

accountability, are examined to uncover whether these elements have been reformed

effectively to facilitate embracing of NPG at local levels in Bangladesh. Findings from this

research would help policy makers and IAAs to decide whether developing countries should

cease practices associated with NPM in their present contexts.

Six aid-assisted development projects at three sub-national administrative units in

Bangladeshwere selected for this research.This paper makes a significant contribution to the

literature by exploring the gap in the present body of knowledgeabout the transformation of

NPM into NPG in a developing country context. The paper commences with a discussion of

NPM and then outlines the research approach, followed by an analysis of the empirical data.

A concluding section summarises findings and discusses the potentials and barriers for

effective transformation of public management to public governance.

Growth and death (?) of NPM and birth of NPG

NPM is denoted as a paradigm shift when the policy-driven and highly bureaucratic old

public management style is replaced by a new process that embraces business philosophy

in public service delivery in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of public

sector institutions (Hood and Dixon, 2015). It is an umbrella term, which covers

competition, contracts and control. Here, “competition”entails the business philosophy

represented by cost-cutting services; “contracts”involves the provision of market-based

competitive and quicker delivery of services; whereas “control”relates to necessary

changes in organisations for achieving standards in public services. Researchers

recognise eight main elements of NPM: cost effectiveness, greater transparency in

resource allocation, decentralisation of traditional bureaucratic institutions, management

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