Doctoral research:

Determinants of the use of quality management techniques in Flemish governmental organisations (2007-2011)

Content of the Research

The subject of this research is related to the evolution that occurred in the public sector since the 1980s. Inspired by the New Public Management, reforms were implemented in several countries. Organizations were put at arm’s length from their parent ministries (‘agencification’), and private sector management techniques, such as performance measurement systems, process management and quality management techniques (QMT), were introduced in various governmental organizations.

This project focuses on the following key variables of agencification: management autonomy and results-based control. We examine under which circumstances and to what extent these factors affect the use of QMT. Additionally, we look at the role of organizational culture. Based upon the selected theories (principal agent, social identity, sociological neo-institutionalism), a number of propositions were developed and empirically tested.

The case study took place in three Flemish governmental organizations within the policy domain ‘welfare, public health and family’, being at different distances from the political government. Within each organization, data were collected using questionnaires as well as focus groups. Through an extensive within-case analysis we identified the factors that were relevant for the use of QMT in the individual cases. These factors were included in the subsequent cross-case analysis.

The results reveal that several factors might simultaneously affect the use of QMT. Both internal (e.g. ‘reducing errors or abuse’, ‘have a sight on the functioning of the organisation’) and external (e.g. ‘show other organizations that there is being worked on the quality of services’, ‘give the political government sight on the functioning of the organization’) factors might play a role in the use of QMT. The identified external factors can been clustered into the two groups: (1) factors in the relationship between the case and the political government and (2) factors in the relationship between the case and other organizations. The selected theories, and related explanatory factors, seem to apply to the cases in a different manner.  The research suggests that insights from various theories should be taken into account to explain the use of QMT.

Research team

Top