NPM resistance: A political intervention

Abstract

This paper offers a unique perspective on NPM enactment. NPM is the key means by which neoliberal policies penetrate society and there is now a considerable literature on NPM in many economies. The influence of NPM tends to be depicted as significant, embedded, and irreversible. This study offers findings of resistance and rejection of NPM by a cadre of politicians who did not accept the trappings of NPM. The importance of accounting and metrics was rejected by politicians in this study. These actions also influenced the actions of professionals in health care organizations.

The shaping of public services through calculative practices: The roles of accountants, citizens, professionals, and politicians

“…Interestingly, and in line with the previous contributions by Nyland et al. (2020) and Guven‐Uslu et al. (2020) in this issue, they point to the possibilities of control, but also evasion from it, offered by numbers.…”

“…Focusing on resistance to NPM, Nyland, Ahlgren, and Lapsley (2020) provide evidence on how Norwegian ambulance services, initially outsourced, were subsequently reintegrated as part of public health services, with the tactical use of accounting allowing the successful rejection of core features of NPM. In doing so, the paper also illuminates how the engagement of politicians and their use (and nonuse) of accounting information shaped the actions of professionals, and their own use of accounting information.…”

Whatever happened to New Public Management?

“…Instead, this agency had implemented a trust-based leadership in which all professionals accepted responsibility for their contributions to this agency (Caicedo et al, 2019). A further example of Scandinavian resistance to NPM is revealed in Nyland et al (2020) in which Norwegian politicians rejected NPM practices. Further evidence comes from a Swedish university that approached this author (after the publication of the Du & Lapsley [2019] paper on university reform: "a management dream, an academic nightmare") to discuss how it might dispose of its NPM practices and shift to a Trust-based Management approach.…”

Factors in the choice of fiscal governance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

“…In addition to the approach to creating new institutions or transforming existing ones, another area to be explored in this theme is related to resistance to change (Nyland et al., 2020) or the use of power to maintain existing fiscal institutions. In this case, research can focus on powerful actors who act in the budget process.…”