Public Performance & Management Review 

About: Public Performance & Management Review is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Government & Public sector. It has an ISSN identifier of 1530-9576. Over the lifetime, 900 publications have been published receiving 19798 citations. The journal is also known as: PPMR & Public performance and management review.

The performance paradox in the public sector

Abstract: Administrative reform has led to a strong increase in the use of performance assessment instruments in the public sector. However, this has also led to several unintended consequences, such as the performance paradox, tunnel vision, and “analysis paralysis.” These unintended consequences can reduce the quality of the knowledge about actual levels of performance or even negatively affect performance. Examples can be found in all policy sectors. The authors argue that certain characteristics of the public sector–such as ambiguous policy objectives, discretionary authority of street–level bureaucrats, simultaneous production and consumption of services, and the disjunction of costs and revenues–increase the risk of a performance paradox, either unintentionally or deliberately. Performance assessment should therefore take the special characteristics of the public sector into account and develop systems that can handle contested and multiple performance indicators, striking a balance in the degree of “measure ...

Accountability and the Promise of Performance: In Search of the Mechanisms

Abstract: In an effort to determine the basis for the assumed relationship between accountability and performance that pervades much of contemporary administrative reform efforts, this paper applies a "social mechanisms" approach to elaborate the factors that might be involved in account giving and various forms of administrative performance. This search for mechanisms indicates that the relationship is paradoxical and either spurious or so contingent as to raise questions regarding administrative reforms based on it. Various theoretical approaches for dealing with the relationship are considered.

Trust in Government – the Relative Importance of Service Satisfaction, Political Factors and Demography

Abstract: An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Conference of the European Group of Public Administration, 4—7 September 2002, Potsdam, Germany - group on «Quality, satisfaction and trust in government»

Electronic Government at the Local Level: Progress to Date and Future Issues

Abstract: Much like businesses with electronic commerce, public organizations are beginning to embrace electronic government (e-government). This article defines the term e-government, discusses the literature oflocal-Ievel e-government, and documents the adoption and sophistication of e-government among U.S. local governments. It employs data from a survey conducted in 2000 to examine local adoption of e-government. E-government adoption among local governments generally tracks previously documented patterns of information technology adoption, which show a statistically significant relationship between adoption and such demographic variables as population size, form and type of government, region, and metro status. The article compares the results of that survey to a normative model of e-government maturity and finds that the emergence of e-government at the local level is still in its formative stages. The analysis also examines perceived impacts from e-govemment, sophistication of e-government offerings, barrier...