ABSTRACT
The modernization of public services is a longstanding objective of many governments across the globe, aimed at providing better services to the citizen. In the light of New Public Management (NPM), public sector organizations of most Western countries have encouraged reforms to the procedures and structures in consistence with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. In relation to theory, the research in the recent past has witnessed a departure from the conventional mainstream positivism, allowing an alternative post-positivism perspective by recognizing interaction between control practices and context where it operates. Management control research in the higher education sector appears to be stagnant, with researchers either restricted to re-applying existing theories or failing to clearly articulate a new theoretical framework. In a more contemporary sense, the activities of universities are sought to be either managing or were 'managed' in a heretical manner, within the milieu where 'new managerialism' blossomed.
