ROLE OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: CASE OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS - KENYA
ROLE OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: CASE OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS - KENYA
Duncan Ndeda Endeki - Student, Master of Arts Of Kenyatta University, Kenya
David Minja - Lecturer, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
In democratic systems, citizens are becoming more conscious of their rights, and they are increasingly demanding public sector organizations to be more efficient in the delivery of services. As such, there is a demand for public organizations to be more agile and responsive to consumer needs. One of the doctrines that are pivotal in promoting the idea of increasing public sector efficiency is the New Public Management (NPM) theory as developed countries such as United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States have tested the model successfully in their civil service. The theory propounds that public sector organizations can improve their productivity if they adopted market and economic principles just like the private sector when it comes to offering public sector services. In that regard, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the marketization of public services using the New Public Management model in the State Department of Public Works can increase public sector efficiency. Therefore, the researcher investigated whether decentralization of public services, demand for accountability, and citizen satisfaction, which are the central tenets of the NPM model, have a causal relationship with public sector efficiency. To attain this goal, the researcher used a descriptive research design to establish the causal relationship. Besides, the researcher utilized a sample of 242 respondents sampled purposively and non-probabilistically from a possible 643 employees of the State Department of Public Works. The findings of the study were palpable in demonstrating the intersectionality between public sector efficiency and the three predictor variables—demand for accountability, citizen satisfaction, and decentralization of services. The regression analysis yielded the following result: R(240) = 0.786, p<0.05, R2 0.618. These results depict that the correlation between efficiency in public sector service delivery in the SDPW and the predictor variables was strong and positive, bearing a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.786. More importantly, the causality between the predicted and predictor variables was 0.618, as illustrated by the coefficient of determination (R2). Notably, a coefficient of determination of 0.618 indicated that 61.8% of the variance could be explained by the three predictor variables. These results were statistically significant as the p-value for the ANOVA test was less than 0.05 for model fitness and predictive value. The researcher, therefore, concluded that demand for accountability, citizen satisfaction, and decentralization of services were strong constructs in explaining public sector efficiency as proposed by the New Public Management theory. As such, it is plausible to generalize the view that marketization of the public sector, especially in developing countries, can bolster the delivery of public services.
