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Market Orientation and Public Service Performance: New Public Management Gone Mad?
Author(s) -
Walker Richard M.,
Brewer Gene A.,
Boyne George A.,
Avellaneda Claudia N.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02410.x
Subject(s) - market orientation , operationalization , commission , business , audit , public service , public sector , stakeholder , customer orientation , orientation (vector space) , marketing , service (business) , customer satisfaction , public relations , public administration , accounting , economics , political science , finance , philosophy , economy , geometry , epistemology , mathematics
The backbone of theory of the market‐based approach New Public Management is that market orientation improves public service performance. In this article, market orientation is operationalized through the dominant theoretical framework in the business literature: competitor orientation, customer orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Market orientation is examined from the vantage point of three stakeholder groups in English local government: citizens, public servants, and the central government’s agent, the Audit Commission. Findings show that market orientation works best for enhancing citizen satisfaction with local services, but its impacts on the performance judgments of local managers or the Audit Commission are negligible. The conclusion discusses important implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice.