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Affiliation(s)

National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, Thailand

ABSTRACT

Facing the limitations of bureaucracy and the pressures of crisis and change, the government reforms in many countries adopted a discipline of new public management (NPM) by separating autonomous agencies (agentification) in the public sector. Nonetheless, there are still very few empirical studies of performance assessment of this type of agency. This paper has two main objectives: (1) to explore the governance and autonomy of nine independent agencies under the Ministry of Industry (MOI) in Thailand; and (2) to present performance assessment of these nine independent agencies. This study uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches in collecting data, including three focus groups, 37 in-depth interviews, and 3,428 questionnaire surveys. The paper applies the concepts of agentification of NPM to examine the multidimensions of autonomy and to evaluate the performance of the nine agencies, covering effectiveness, financial self-reliance, and the impact on industrial development. Finally, this paper discusses the effects of agentification and suggests policy and managerial implications as well as further research directions.

KEYWORDS

agentification, autonomy, performance, industry, Thailand

Cite this paper

Journal of US-China Public Administration, October 2014, Vol. 11, No. 10, 797-815

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