New Public Management and Public Sector Reform in a Non-Competitive Environment

This paper seeks to explore the public sector reform within the ideals of the NPM in a unique and special context characterised by a non-competitive market. Whereas extant literature focuses on the adoption of NPM in the process of public sector reform, no prior study has looked at this concept in a non-competitive market. An understanding of the workings of the NPM in such environment where contestability does not exist is fundamental to policy makers and researchers. This study examines the workings of the NPM in a non-competitive market and provides supportive evidence of the necessity of market forces to achieve the intended benefits from the adoption of NPM in public sector reform. The study shows that although the Government justified its adoption of the NPM on the basis of rationalizing public sector management, the reality was far from satisfactory. The paper shows a limited significance of NPM in improving the performance of public sector agencies due to the non-competitive environment.