Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2013, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (1): 195-224.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Development of Hong Kong Social Welfare NGOs in the Era of New Public Management

TIAN Rong   

  1. TIAN Rong, Department of Social Work and Social Policy, Nanjing University
  • Online:2013-01-20 Published:2013-01-20
  • Contact: TIAN Rong, Department of Social Work and Social Policy, Nanjing University E-mail:tianrong.prema@gmail.com
  • About author:TIAN Rong, Department of Social Work and Social Policy, Nanjing University
  • Supported by:

    This article presents results from researches conducted as part of the project entitled “Social Enterprise Models Emerging in NonProfit Organizations”, a National Social Science Funding Project (11CSH053) approved in 2011.

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Abstract:

he global third sector is at a turning point and being challenged by the transformation. Using an indepth case study method, this study investigated how New Public Management (NPM) had influenced the development of social welfare NGOs in Hong Kong since the mid1990s. This paper first reviews NPM’s development and its impact on the marketoriented reform in the area of social welfare in Hong Kong. It then analyzes the influences of these NPM reforms on the social welfare NGOs in regards to their commercialization trends, change in the organizational form, value basis and relation with the government. The finding suggests that Hong Kong government wants to have some financial relief and that the policy to have lump sum released to better the efficiency of public service does have an impact on the commercialization of the NGOs in the social welfare field, regardless whether it is contracting with the government or it is related to other types of revenues from commercialized items. New management techniques and new management operational structures are being created in response. Commercialized management and the rise of social enterprises are the results of the changes in Hong Kong NGOs’ organizational forms.While the penetration of NPM values into NGOs is deep, there are variations across the sample of 12 NGOs. Three types of NGOs can be identified in this study with regard to their different historical origins and functions, namely, operators, pioneers and advocators. Their various strategies in responding to NPM reforms and the changes in their relations to the government are discussed. This article argues that there is evidence of a tradeoff in organizational values for marketization suggested by previous studies. Given the continuing financial austerity and the growing authoritarianism of the government, the future of NGOs and their role in developing civil society in the region is quite uncertain. However, there is still one type of NGOs initiated by professionals in earlier years, and they are working to influence the business sector to realign values towards promoting social welfare as a new focus of advocacy.

Key words: Non Government Organization (NGO), New Public Management, commercialization, advocacy, Hong Kong