A motivational model of performance management in the public sector

Performance management or more specifically performance information use has received considerable research attention in the last decade or so. Recent research has identified different categories of antecedents, ranging from... [ view full abstract ]

Performance management or more specifically performance information use has received considerable research attention in the last decade or so. Recent research has identified different categories of antecedents, ranging from individual factors, to organizational factors, and external factors. Despite informing us about what would motivate public managers to use performance information as an input into decision-making, the literature has not devoted much attention to explaining why and how these antecedents motivate performance information use. Although research to date has advanced our understanding of performance information use in important ways, our knowledge of the enabling mediators of performance information use among public managers remains limited. Acknowledging that public managers are critical for the success of performance management, this paper focuses on the managers’ motivational states as a possible mediating mechanism. It identifies three motivational states – “attend to”, “can do”, and “reason to” motivational states – that shape managers’ use of performance information. It draws from multiple theories and performance management studies to develop this motivational model of performance management.