Extending the Theory of Goal Ambiguity to Programs: Examining the Relationship between Goal Ambiguity and Performance

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12176
• Author: Chan Su Jung
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Date: 01 March 2014

Chan Su Jung is assistant professor

in the Department of Public Policy at City

University of Hong Kong. His research

interests include organizational goal

properties, performance measurement and

management, turnover, motivation, and job

attitudes in public organizations.

E-mail: csjung@cityu.edu.hk

Extending the Theory of Goal Ambiguity to Programs: Examining the Relationship between Goal Ambiguity and Performance 205

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 2, pp. 205–219. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12176.

Chan Su Jung

City University of Hong Kong, China

One of the main assumptions of empirical studies

conducted on the inf‌l uence of goal ambiguity in public

management is that goal ambiguity relates negatively to

performance. However, this relationship has rarely been

tested at the program level because common goal ambigu-

ity and performance measures for disparate government

programs have been scant.  e availability of Program

Assessment Rating Tool (PART) results for a number of

federal programs provides the opportunity for an analysis

testing the foregoing assumption. Measures of program

goal ambiguity—target, timeline, and program evalu-

ation—are shown to have negative relationships with

dif‌f erent program performance scores, taking into account

alternative inf‌l uences or biases on performance.  is

analysis extends the theory of goal ambiguity by providing

the f‌i rst analysis of large-sample federal programs.  e

theoretical and practical implications are presented in the

discussion and conclusion.

One of the main assumptions of empirical

studies conducted on the inf‌l uence of goal

ambiguity in public management is that goal

ambiguity has a negative inf‌l uence on performance.

 is assumption about organizational ambiguity has

recently been tested at the organizational (e.g., Chun

and Rainey 2005a; Jung 2011) and individual (e.g.,

Stazyk and Goerdel 2011) levels in several studies.

However, it has rarely been tested at the program level

because of the dif‌f‌i culties of measuring goal ambigu-

ity and gathering performance data across public

programs.

On the other hand, evaluating the performance

of governmental activities, a major topic in public

administration, has received increased attention in

recent years (Heinrich 2007; Lewis 2008; Meier and

O’Toole 2007; Moynihan 2008; Radin 2008; Walker

and Boyne 2006). As part of this trend, the U.S.

Of‌f‌i ce of Management and Budget (OMB) created

the Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART)

and administered it from 2004 to 2010 to assess the

performance of federal programs. PART assessed four

dimensions of administrative performance—design,

planning, management, and results—and provided

an overall performance rating that combined these

four categories.  is article considers these PART

performance scores for the goal ambiguity–perform-

ance model, as discussed later. Common performance

measures for disparate government programs are rare,

especially in the United States at the federal level,

and the PART scores provide performance indicators

comparable across programs and agencies.

 e availability of the PART assessment results for a

number of federal programs (188 programs for which

the PART performance score reassessment records

could be tracked between 2004 and 2008, for the

present analysis) provided an opportunity to analyze

the relationship between goal ambiguity and perform-

ance at the program level.  is goal ambiguity–per-

formance model at the program level dif‌f ers from

previous organization-level models in terms of goal

ambiguity concepts, ways of measuring the concepts,

and control variables that can inf‌l uence performance.

At the same time, this article replicates evaluative goal

ambiguity from Chun and Rainey’s (2005b) agency-

level goal ambiguity research at the program level. In

these ways, this analysis contributes to enhancing the

generalizability of goal ambiguity theory or extending

the theory to the program level in public manage-

ment.  e measures of program goal ambiguity—

target, timeline, and program evaluation—for the

current analysis show strong and consistent negative

relationships with dif‌f erent PART scores.  is article

provides the f‌i rst analysis of large-sample federal

programs linking multiple goal ambiguity measures

to multiple program performance dimensions and

comparing dif‌f erent associations between them.

Goal-Setting Theory and Goal Ambiguity

Research in Public Management

Goal-Setting Theory

Goal-setting theory premises that a goal can af‌f ect

employees’ motivation and performance (Latham

and Locke 1991; Lee, Locke, and Latham 1989).

Regarding goal content, which indicates what needs

Extending the  eory of Goal Ambiguity to Programs:

Examining the Relationship between Goal Ambiguity

and Performance