Analyzing the Complexity of Performance Information Use: Experiments with Stakeholders to Disaggregate Dimensions of Performance, Data Sources, and Data Types

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12920
• Author: Oliver James,Samuel M. Y. Ho,M. Jin Lee,Richard M. Walker
• Date: 01 November 2018
• Published date: 01 November 2018

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 78, Iss. 6, pp. 852–863. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12920.

852 Public Administration Review • Novem ber | Dece mber 2 018

Abstract: This article addresses important questions about the complex construct of underlying performance

information use: public service performance. A between-subjects experimental vignette methodology was implemented

to answer questions about the effects of emphasizing different dimensions of performance and the sources and types of

performance information among internal and external stakeholders in two service arenas (secondary education and

solid waste management) in Hong Kong. The findings indicate common attitudes and agreement across stakeholder

groups and services on the merits of archival and external data types. Other results vary by service and between

stakeholder groups. The effects of information about effectiveness can depend on its combination with information

about efficiency or equity. This complexity needs to be considered when designing information communication to

different stakeholder groups.

Evidence for Practice

• Public service organizations should consider providing targeted and appropriate performance information

that suits the needs of stakeholder groups.

• The effect of providing information about effectiveness depends on its combination with information about

efficiency and equity. Providing information about efficiency as well as effectiveness reduced perceived

performance in the case of secondary education.

• Whenever possible, public service organizations should communicate external and archival performance

information to stakeholder groups.

Performance information use (PIU) is the

most widely diffused management practice

to emerge from the New Public Management

reform movement. Although the effects and merits

of PIU remain contested (Heinrich and Lynn

2000; Pollitt 2006: Van Dooren and Van de Walle

2008), governments have used it to become more

performance oriented. The OECD (2005) described

how governments use PIU to enhance planning,

reporting, and controls systems in order to improve

decision-making. Behn (2003) identified eight

purposes of performance measurement: evaluate,

control, budget, motivate, promote, celebrate, learn,

and improve. These practices are supported by

burgeoning research evidence (George et al. 2017;

Moynihan 2008). One aspect of this expanding

knowledge base is the growing interest in the interface

between government and citizens (Baekgaard 2015;

Baekgaard and Serritzlew 2016; James and John

2007). Government-citizen PIU studies, the focus of

our inquiry, have shown how citizens use performance

information (PI) to punish or reward politicians in

elections (James and John 2007), that PI matters to

citizens when linked to cost information (Baekgaard

2015), that relative PI data affect perceptions of

performance (James and Moseley 2014), and that

citizens’ interpretations of PI are biased by their

ideological beliefs (Baekgaard and Serritzlew 2016).

This article contributes to the knowledge of PIU

and is partly motivated by James’s (2011, 399) call

to assess information “in different service contexts

coming from different information sources” and James

and Moseley’s (2014, 505) recommendation to focus

on “multi-dimensional information (for example

about inputs, processes, or outputs and different

aspects of a service).” Performance is a complex

concept and can be operationalized in many ways,

reflecting the multiple goals of public organizations.

We seek to unpack the concept, thereby making a

number of contributions to the study of PIU.

The first contribution we make is examining the

preferences for different dimensions of performance

in different stakeholder groups. Many dimensions of

performance include outputs and outcome measures,

of which the most frequently seen in the literature

are efficiency, effectiveness, and equity (Boyne

Richard M. Walker

City University of Hong Kong

M. Jin Lee

City University of Hong Kong

Oliver James

University of Exeter

Samuel M. Y. Ho

City University of Hong Kong

Analyzing the Complexity of Performance Information Use:

Experiments with Stakeholders to Disaggregate Dimensions

of Performance, Data Sources, and Data Types

Oliver James is professor of political

science in the Department of Politics at

the University of Exeter. He works on the

politics and accountability of public services,

citizen-provider relationships, public sector

organization and reform, executive politics,

and regulation of publicly owned and/

or funded bodies and services. He uses a

range of methods, including survey and field

experiments.

E-mail: o.james@exeter.ac.uk

M. Jin Lee is research fellow of public

policy at City University of Hong Kong. She

is a core member of Laboratory for Public

Management and Policy and manages the

experimental methods lab. Her research

focuses on public management, decision-

making, motivation, and policy networking.

E-mail: m.jinlee@cityu.edu.hk

Richard M. Walker is Chair Professor

of Public Management at City University

of Hong Kong, where he is director of

the Laboratory for Public Management

and Policy and associate dean (research

and postgraduate studies) in the College

of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. He is

vice president of the Public Management

Research Association.

E-mail: rmwalker@cityu.edu.hk

Samuel M. Y. Ho is associate provost

(institutional initiatives) and professor

of psychology at City University of Hong

Kong. Currently, he is conducting a series of

experiments in the Psychology Laboratory of

City University of Hong Kong to examine the

effect of different information-processing

styles on mental health. He is one of the

representative figures of positive psychology

in Asia and the Executive Council member

of the Clinical Division of the International

Positive Psychology Association.

E-mail: munyinho@cityu.edu.hk

Research Article