Managing hybridity: China’s compressed reform trajectory

The hybridity of different public management reform patterns has increased in both space and timeframe due to rapid changes in the external environment and internal shifts in values and structures across countries. This study examines this hybridity by analysing the interrelationships among three major management patterns – traditional public administration, New Public Management (NPM), and post-NPM – through macro-causal analysis. The findings highlight China’s compressed reform trajectory, where institutionalisation of the three major patterns occurred almost simultaneously. In contrast, other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, have followed a longer process, involving the layering of patterns in a linear sequence. The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of timeframe, efficacy, and challenges in public management reforms of China and transitional economies, particularly highlighting the roles of temporal factors and path dependence.