Caught in an evaluatory trap: a dilemma for public services under NPFM
This paper presents a challenge to public sector managers, policy-makers and interested academics. Drawing on the findings of previous international comparative studies of new public financial management (NPFM) reforms, it concludes that public services and their providers are caught in an 'evaluatory trap'. The continual promotion of NPFM reforms, despite their evident repeated failure to meet specified achievements, is argued to be generating a cycle of ever-decreasing public services at ever-increasing costs per service unit. As the legitimacy of public services increasingly rests on the need to be seen as efficient and effective and as definitions of efficiency frequently demand adoption of the latest set of NPFM reforms, it follows that the future for public services is in question.
Year of publication: |
2001
|
---|---|
Authors: | Olson, Olov ; Humphrey, Christopher ; Guthrie, James |
Published in: |
European Accounting Review. - Taylor & Francis Journals, ISSN 0963-8180. - Vol. 10.2001, 3, p. 505-522
|
Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis Journals |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
International public financial management reform : progress, contradictions, and challenges
Guthrie, James P., (2005)
-
Olson, Olov, (1998)
-
Growing accustomed to other faces : the global themes and warnings of our project
Olson, Olov, (1998)
- More ...