Isomorphic Change, Integrated Planning and Reporting, and Organisational Engagement in the Co-production of Local Services in NSW Local Government: A Mixed Methods Study

Public sector management, organisational change and strategic planning practices in Australia are constantly changing as a result of institutional reform in citizen and state relations. This change agenda is meant to promote citizen engagement and participatory governance (Aulich, 2010), but is it? This research investigates Australia’s public sector management, organisational change and strategic planning practices. This study explores these practices by examining the discursive responses of New South Wales (NSW) local government managers and Councils to public sector reforms. Amendments in 2009 to the Local Government Act 1993(NSW) described by the Local Government Amendment (Planning and Reporting) Act 2009 No 67 (NSW) are investigated to determine whether the amendments made do indeed promote institutional reform in organisational engagement in citizen and state relations. This study uses a multi-theoretical framework that includes the theoretical paradigms of neo?institutionalism, pragmatism, and critical realism. This research, from a critical realist perspective, accepts that language use is constitutive and strategic. This perspective recognises that language-in-use may limit, or facilitate, organisational engagement in the co-production of local services. This longitudinal (2005–2017) study uses a sequential mixed-methods approach. The research methods used in this study include Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and Fairclough and Fairclough’s (2012) political discourse analysis (Fairclough & Fairclough, 2012). The findings are captured by Fairclough’s (1989) three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1989). The analyses found that the discursive representation of community engagement in various public sector management paradigms does not promote citizen engagement and participatory governance. The dialectic of the competing paradigms, together with the coercive powers of legislation of NSW Local Government is meant to facilitate change in the organisational systems and processes; however, the findings indicate that these systems and processes do not support the organisational engagement needed for participatory governance.