Performance Measurement in the Public Sector: Mapping 20 Years of Survey Research

Berend van der Kolk*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This paper maps 20 years of survey research on performance measurement (PM) practices in public sector organizations. Cumulative findings from the discipline of accounting enhance the understanding of public sector PM and its antecedents and effects. Four maps are presented thatvisualize the relationships among key variables from prior research in four empirical settings: government, health, education, and other domains. Furthermore, this review distinguishes between individual-level and organization-level effects of PM, and includes reflections on the appreciation of PM by public sector employees. The findings highlight that PM use and attributes such as fairness, subjectivity, and clarity significantly impact the outcomes yielded by PM systems. This paper contributes by synthesizing prior research on public sector PM and by identifying research gaps, areas of debate, and avenues for future research. In addition, findings from this review have the potential to add nuance to the sometimes-polarized debate on the acclaimed “benefits” and “costs” of PM in the public sector.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)703-729
Number of pages27
JournalFinancial Accountability and Management
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author wishes to thank Irvine Lapsley, Henk ter Bogt, Salvador Carmona, Roland Speklé, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Financial Accountability & Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

  • management accounting
  • new public management
  • performance management
  • performance measurement
  • public sector

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