Tjerk Budding

New Public Management's Current Issues and Future Prospects

In this paper we describe the main characteristics of NPM and illustrate the current state of affairs in three main areas: (a) the effectiveness of NPM reforms, (b) NPMs impact on planning and control in government entities, and (c) the implementation and use of accrual accounting methods in government. We use the responses of 105 (mostly Dutch) practitioners in government and non-profit organizations. Most respondents recognize performance improvements, but only a minority attribute these improvements directly to NPM reforms. Improved planning and control systems are seen to have only a limited impact on the work of professionals, while accrual accounting is considered to have only limited potential to support political decision making.

Stakeholders’ information needs, cost system design, and cost system effectiveness in Dutch local government

This study examines the relationships between stakeholders’ information needs, cost system design, and cost system effectiveness in local government, using a dataset of survey responses from 71 Dutch municipalities. Three cost system design characteristics are examined: the (a) complexity and (b) inclusiveness of cost systems, and their (c) understandability for non-financial internal users. These characteristics are shown to be only partly related to each other, and to differ in the extent to which they are related to the information needs of internal and external stakeholders, as well as to three cost system effectiveness characteristics.

Municipalities’ Choices of Service Delivery Modes: The Influence of Service, Political, Governance, and Financial Characteristics

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of service, political, governance, and financial characteristics on municipalities’ choices of four service delivery modes (in-house, inter-municipal cooperation, municipality-owned firm, and private firm) in the Dutch local government setting. The results show that as a service involves more asset specificity and more measurement difficulty, the likelihood that municipalities contract this service out is lower. Also, although some differences in preferences are found between boards of aldermen and municipal councils, for both political bodies a more right-wing political orientation is shown to be positively related to privatization of services. Furthermore, contracting out is also shown to be related to the governance model of municipalities, as services of municipalities that (in general) put relatively less emphasis on input, process, and output performance indicators, and more on outcome performance indicators, are more likely to be privatized. Finally, the results also show that services of municipalities that have a better financial position are less likely to be contracted out to a private firm.

Assessing electronic service delivery in municipalities: determinants and financial consequences of e-government implementation

ABSTRACT In the Netherlands, electronic service delivery has become an important issue in many municipalities. Using the Internet for service delivery is seen as an important element of e-government. Based on 2014–2016 panel data for all Dutch municipalities, we show that there is a large variety among the municipalities in the extent to which they offer their service delivery digitally. By exploring the factors that may explain the differences among the municipalities, some trends can be discerned. Most notably is the strong relationship of e-government adoption with demographic characteristics, such as population, population density and both older age and younger age groups. Remarkably, we did not find an influence of education and income. Finally, we did not observe a relation between municipal allocated costs and level of e-maturity, hereby leaving the question open if and how e-government can lead to cost reductions.

Assessing Electronic Service Delivery in Municipalities

In the Netherlands, electronic service delivery has become an important issue in many municipalities. Using the Internet for service delivery is seen as an important element of e-government. Based on 2014-2016 panel-data of ICT service delivery for all Dutch municipalities, we show that there is a large variety among the municipalities in the extent to which they offer their service delivery digitally. We explore the factors that may explain the differences among the municipalities. Some trends can be discerned, most notably the strong relationship of e-government adoption with demographic characteristics, such as population, population density and both older age and younger age groups. Remarkably, we did not find an influence of educa-tion and income. Finally, we did not observe a relation between municipal allocated costs and level of e-maturity, hereby leaving the question open if and how e-government can lead to cost reductions.