Patterns of Autonomy and Control in Agencification of Pakistan: Perceptions of Agency Employees and Ministry Officials at the Federal Level

Abstract

With the proliferation of agencies in the public sector in both developed and developing countries, arises the need to assess the underlying dynamics and challenges of managing such disaggregated organizations. This study investigates various dimensions and associated levels of autonomy and control in federal agencies of Pakistan as perceived by its key employees and parent ministry officials. It unveils the phenomenon of agencification in Pakistan, covering the history of the creation and governance of public agencies in the specific context local and assesses the extent to which generic theoretical explanations and contextual factors shape agency autonomy in Pakistan. The study contributes to the agency debate occurring at a global level across developed, developing and transitional economies, providing arguments for a context-specific design of government structures. The Sequential Explanatory Design was followed to collect the data in two phases, first through a survey questionnaire which was adapted from similar surveys conducted in several European COST-CRIPO member countries and subsequently by conducting 39 semi-structured in-depth interviews of two different respondent categories: agency senior management and ministry officials. The empirical results demonstrated that the creation of autonomous agencies does not guarantee complete autonomy or minimal government control since a close networking and informal connection between political agents (ministers) and administrators managing the public agencies have a compromising effect on its autonomy. Though, the data demonstrate a comparatively lower degree of political influence upon autonomous agencies than traditionally centralized entities. The local context has explanatory power in Pakistani public sector agencies. Based on the empirical evidence, I conclude that the process of agencification in Pakistan is influenced by the traditional system of performance management, hierarchical accountability, and a politicized environment since the parent ministry continues to hold on to its conventional role of control.