Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Improving Performance and Accountability Systems

(Public and Non-Profit Management and Finance)

Performance and accountability systems have been adopted across policy areas and levels of government. Managers are charged to demonstrate program performance by tracking data on program efficiency and effectiveness. Although such data may help identify performance gaps, better inform decisions, and improve accountability, performance systems are prone to major flaws. Much effort is devoted to the collection and reporting of data but performance information remains to be unused for decision-making; data is used but in ways that do not improve performance; or incentive structures lead to dysfunctional responses and organizational cheating.

The research in this panel will focus on some of the weak spots of performance systems and address the following questions: Which organizations tend to adopt performance systems in cases in which adoption is optional? Understanding the attributes of adopters will help to better tailor performance systems to organizational needs. Does training help managers to employ performance systems more effectively? Establishing the impact of training is a necessary first step before discussing different content and dosages of training programs. What makes organizations game performance data? That is, when holding the incentive structure constant, why are some organizations more likely to cheat than others? How can we foster the purposeful use of performance information? Which interventions are the most promising ones in order to facilitate data use for performance improvements? The research in this panel will contribute to the current academic debate but also provide recommendations to policy-makers and public managers.