The movement beyond the New Public Management: public governance practices in Italian public organizations

Purpose The paper aims to analyse specific management tools which can be used to facilitate public governance practices, such as the process of stakeholder involvement. Methodology/approach By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on Italian LPUs, the paper attempts to understand: a) the degree of application of quality management, sustainability mechanisms and stakeholder’s involvement; b) the correlation between the application of these tools stakeholder involvement processes. Findings Not all the tools imported from the private sector have the same “attitudes” for stakeholder involvement evidencing a gap of Italian LPUs in quality management systems in ensuring that stakeholders and their contribution to product value is considered. These results give support to the necessity to move beyond New Public Management. Therefore, governance becomes a new process for developing and implementing public policies: this requires original mechanisms of coordination among institutional actors, public authorities and stakeholders. Research limitations/implications This study give rise to new research path in LPUs corporate governance research. Looking for the creation of a series of suppositions and considerations as to why LPUs actively venture into the practice of good corporate governance trough stakeholder involvement. Accordingly, it is necessary to invest in the debate on the tasks of the board of directors Originality/value of paper This study give raise to a new path of research, asking board of director to move toward a stakeholder-conscious governance model, with broader input and ongoing engagement, as an important aspect for a better corporate governance in public administrations.