Answers in Search of a Question

• Date: 01 January 2011
• Published date: 01 January 2011
• Author: Daniel W. Williams
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02322.x

Book Reviews 141

instance of knowledge utilization. Wouter Van Dooren

and Steven Van de Walle’s Performance Information in

the Public Sector: How It Is Used is a collection of 15

essays (counting the introduction and epilogue) ad-

dressing the use of performance measurement.

De Lancer Julnes’s introduction and theoretical

framework, comprising the f‌i rst three chapters of her

text, provide a rich examination of recent perform-

ance measurement literature.  is review alone

makes the text an interesting read. Following this

section, the text reports on a mixed-methods empiri-

cal study of the use of performance measurement

as a case of the use of knowledge. De Lancer Julnes

argues that the optimal conditions for adopting a

program of performance measurement are not the

same as the optimal conditions for using perform-

ance information.

Conditions that encourage adoption of this knowl-

edge innovation may be inconsistent with subsequent

use of the information. Specif‌i cally, she asserts as

hypotheses to be tested that rational factors such as

formal requirements, internal requirements, a focus

on goal attainment, and technical capacity bear

more on the adoption of performance practices than

on subsequent implementation, while political and

cultural factors, such as internal coalitions, external

coalitions, unions, internal political activities, and

openness to change bear more on implementation

and the use of performance information.

Chapters 4–6 describe a survey conducted as a follow

up to a 1996 Government Accounting Standards

Board (GASB) survey.  e population consists of

GASB members and members of the Government

Finance Of‌f‌i cers Association, the International City/

County Management Association, and the National

Association of College and University Business

Of‌f‌i cers. Within this population of 5,013 people,

there were 900 respondents to the GASB survey, of

whom 704 were targeted for the follow up survey.

An additional 230 individuals were surveyed from

the nonresponse group to the GASB survey (76–77).

Appendix A shows the instrument.  e overall re-

sponse rate is 55 percent.

Patria de Lancer Julnes, Performance-Based

Management Systems: Ef‌f ective Implementa-

tion and Maintenance (Boca Raton, FL: CRC

Press, 2008). 237 pp. $89.95 (cloth), ISBN:

9781420054279.

Wouter Van Dooren and Steven Van de Walle,

eds., Performance Information in the Public

Sector: How It Is Used (New York: Palgrave

Macmillan, 2008). 277 pp. $74.95 (cloth), ISBN:

9780230551978.

In the f‌i rst century , Hero of Alexandria

(ca. 10–70 ) invented the aeolipile, a simple

steam engine. Fifteen centuries later, in 1551, Taqi

al-Din put steam to work in a useful way. In another

161 years,  omas Newcomen began to use steam in

a quasi-industrial setting.  e gestation from inven-

tion to practical application can be long.

 e practices known as performance measurement

have been around for a little more than 100 years. Yet

it is commonly asked, how performance is informa-

tion to be used? Presumably, we do not plan to wait

16 more centuries to f‌i nd out.

It is in fact the case that performance information

often is used. Otherwise, Zagat and Consumer Reports

would go out of business and U.S. News and World

Report would stop publishing college rankings. When

people buy such performance information on the

retail market, we can trust that it is used. We need

not look hard to f‌i nd more examples: the sports page

of the typical newspaper and the numerous charts on

the business page. People buy, avidly read, and use

performance data all the time. But, after 100 years,

advocates of public sector performance reporting have

a serious suspicion that their product goes straight to

the garbage heap.

 ese two texts explore the uses of performance data

and information. Patria de Lancer Julnes’s Performance-

Based Management Systems: Ef‌f ective Implementation

and Maintenance is an extensive report on a single

study. It is theory based, relying on an examination

of performance measurement implementation as an

Answers in Search of a Question

Daniel W. Williams

Baruch College

Daniel W. Williams is an associate profes-

sor at Baruch College, City University of

New York, where he has taught since 1995.

Previously, he was the budget director for

the Virginia Department of Medical Assist-

ance Services (Medicaid). His recent book,

Budget Tools, coauthored with Greg

Chen, Dall Forsythe, and Lynne Weikart, was

published by CQ Press.

E-mail: Daniel.Williams@baruch.cuny.edu