Purpose – The starting point for the paper is an assessment of the impact of a 1993 special issue of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, which provided an interdisciplinary analysis of the pursuit of accountable management reforms in the UK public sector. From this assessment, the...

Public–private partnerships involve organisations from the public and private sectors working together to provide public services. This introductory issue of the International Journal of Public Policy comprises two papers that consider PPP at the theoretical level, and seven papers that...

Purpose – Seeks to examine how far Michael Lipsky's theory of discretion as it relates to public sector professionals as “street‐level bureaucrats” is still applicable in the light of public sector reform and in particular the introduction of increased managerial control over...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual and empirical analysis of the rationale and enactment of consumer discourses in reformed British welfare administration, through a focus on consumption and the service interaction. The paper aims to explore how administrators use...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to evaluate the general developments in the form of industrial relations in the UK public sector. Design/methodology/approach – It reviews the main literature on the topic and relevant policy texts. Findings – The article concludes by analysing...

Purpose – The management of human resources is of crucial importance in enabling the delivery of efficient and effective services. The purpose of this paper is to explore one issue relevant to Human Resource Management, that is, the management of hospital doctors in the NHS. The present‐day...