The new public management in Jamaica: Executive agencies and service quality delivery in public sector reforms

This study tests the assumption that the new structures of the new public management will deliver better performance than the old administrative structures that they are replacing. The study applies SERVQUAL to measure service quality in the new and old public management agencies in Jamaica.; Arguably the predominant purpose behind the new public management reforms in Jamaica and the rest of the Commonwealth is improved service quality delivery. The theory is that the best agencies will deliver better service quality. The gap between the expectation of service and the perception of service is one measure of service quality and this measure can be used to assess the performance of the public service agencies.; The public sector reforms in Jamaica present a unique but disappearing opportunity to measure the service quality differences between both types of agencies.; Using the SERVQUAL instrument, clients of public sector agencies in Jamaica were surveyed as to their expectations and perceptions of public service quality. In contrast to the five dimension of service quality identified in the original SERVQUAL instrument, three dimensions of public service quality were identified in this study: These are tangibles, capabilities, and empathy.; The results of the study do not support the hypothesis that the new public management executive agencies deliver higher service quality than the traditional public sector agencies in any of the dimensions of public service quality. Moreover, the study fails to reject the hypothesis that public service clients expect no better service quality from the new public management executive agencies than what they expect from the traditional public sector agencies.