The Challenges of Public Performance Management Systems

This paper explores the notion that the challenges and utility of Public Performance Management systems (PPMs) varies considerably and to what extent such variations are related to the antecedents of the functions and... [ view full abstract ]

This paper explores the notion that the challenges and utility of Public Performance Management systems (PPMs) varies considerably and to what extent such variations are related to the antecedents of the functions and hierarchical level of the manager.

The challenges of (PPMs) is measured on four dimensions: The perceived utility of the information from the performance indicators, the problem of gaining consensus on performance, the extent to which incentives are related to performance indicators and the problem of measuring performance of inter-organizational cooperation.

Theoretically we deduce some of the most important challenges to PPMs from the literature and suggest hypotheses concerning the importance of function and hierarchical level to variations in such challenges. Empirically survey data from high-ranking Danish municipal managers are analyzed (Bertelsen and Hansen 2016) using descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis.

The preliminary findings indicate that both the functional tasks of the organization and the hierarchical level of the manager as well as the gender and the educational background of the manager has some significant impact on the perceived utility of the PM system, although the relations are rather weak. We discuss our findings and their implications for PM theory, PM practice as well as future research.