ABSTRACT
The modernization of public services is a longstanding objective of many governments across the globe, aimed at providing better services to the citizen (Arnaboldi and Azzone, 2004). In the light of New Public Management (NPM), public sector organizations of most Western countries have encouraged reforms to the procedures and structures in consistence with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness (Arnaboldi et al., 2004). In general terms, NPM refers to the introduction of private sector management styles and instruments to the public sector with the focus of enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness. Hood (1995, p. 95) asserted NPM as ‘couched in the language of economic rationalism’. Thus, by claiming the benefits of better measurement of costs and revenue with the greater focus on output/outcome and improved comparability of performance with greater accountability (Venieris and Cohen, 2004), public sector organizations including central government, local governments and other public sector agencies such as hospitals, education institutions and police forces are imperative to adopt such modernized management control concepts and techniques (Cavalluzzo and Ittner, 2004; Hood, 1995; Van Helden, 2005).
