NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF MIXED OUTCOMES

Abstract

his paper examines the impact of New Public Management and public service delivery, a critical assessment of mixed outcomes. Public service delivery remains a key indicator of government effectiveness because it reflects the capacity of the state to provide essential services such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and social welfare in a manner that is efficient, accessible, and responsive to citizens’ needs. Qualitative approach based on an extensive review of relevant scholarly and empirical literature was adopted. The New Public Service (NPS) theory was used as the theoretical framework because of its emphasis on citizen engagement, accountability, and value creation in service delivery. The findings revealed that NPM has made important contributions to public service delivery through performance measurement, decentralization, managerial autonomy, and results-oriented management, which have improved efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and organizational performance in many contexts. However, the paper also found that the outcomes of NPM are mixed and highly dependent on institutional capacity, governance quality, and policy environment. In developing countries, especially weak institutions, poor accountability systems, and limited administrative capacity often constrained the effectiveness of NPM reforms. The paper concludes that although NPM has played an important role in modernizing public administration, it is not sufficient on its own to achieve sustainable and citizen-centered public service delivery. Therefore, it recommends a balanced and integrated reform approach that combines the efficiency strengths of NPM with the participatory and accountability-oriented principles of the New Public Service and related citizen-centered governance.