Performance Information in the Public Sector / Governance and Public Management (PDF)

MARIA P. ARISTIGUETA Professor and Director of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy of the University of Delaware, USA
JOSTEIN ASKIM Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Oslo, Norway
GEERT BOUCKAERT Professor and Director of the Public Management Institute of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
DENNIS DE KOOL Research Fellow at the Center for Public Innovation, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
PATRIA DE LANCER JULNES Associate Professor and Director of the Doctor of Public Administration Program in the Department of Political Science at Utah State University, USA
KATHRYN DENHARDT Professor at the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy of the University of Delaware, USA
JOHN HALLIGAN Research Professor at the School of Business and Government of the University of Canberra, Australia
HARRY HATRY Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Public Management Program at the Urban Institute, USA
ALFRED TAT-KEI HO Associate Professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA
ÅGE JOHNSEN Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Oslo University College, Norway
CAROLE JOHNSON Lecturer at the Manchester Business School and Fellow with the Herbert Simon Institute, UK
PER LÆGREID Professor at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory of the University of Bergen, and Senior Researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre,University of Bergen, Norway
DONALD MOYNIHAN Associate Professor at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs of the University of Wisconsin Madison, USA
ZOE RADNOR Senior Lecturer at the Warwick Business School, UK
ALASDAIR ROBERTS Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy at Suffolk University Law School, USA
PAUL G. RONESS Professor at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory of the University of Bergen, UK
KRISTIN RUBECKSEN Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Administration

'This book is a landmark in helping move discussion of performance information beyond issues mainly of design to consider also whether and how information is used by public organisations and broader stakeholders. The editors are to be commended for bringing together a range of material by international experts in one place in a well written book that is accessible to both academics and policymakers.'

- Oliver James, Professor of Political Science, University of Exeter, UK

'Most social science work on the burgeoning industry of public service performance indicators concentrates on critiques of the validity or reliability of the numbers. But we know much less about how performance numbers are actually used in public sector organizations. This timely book gives us some intriguing answers to that question.'

- Christopher Hood, Gladstone Professor of Government, University of Oxford, UK

'Performance has become the public management mantra of our time. For those of us with a particular concern to improve the quality of life for the poor it offers a ray of hope that we might focus our frequently stumbling efforts at public sector reform on a concrete outcome. But at the same time, we sense that there are some risks in this new certainty. Using performance information to inform public sector decisions concerning resource allocation, and to improve efficiency in resource usage is a widely shared goal - but simply measuring performance and then announcing the results can create an illusion of transparency and robust action, while in reality distracting attention from fixing the underlying managerial and political dysfunction. This book has opened a window into the fascinating real world of performance information and its use. It is ideal reading for practitioners and theoreticians as it balances appropriate scepticism with some practical ways forward. It will contribute to practical improvements in public sector policy, and a much-needed