Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper uses Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to analyze departmental implementation of performance management in the City of Los Angeles.  Literature on performance management reforms has struggled to define success and the public value of reforms in tandem with the trials managers in public sector organizations encounter during any major reform undertaking. This paper identifies the array of organizational features associated with success and tests the extent to which they appear to be necessary and/or sufficient requisites for the implementation of performance systems in the City of Los Angeles.  The QCA analysis utilizes survey data from over 900 middle and upper managers and several additional empirical metrics in a systematic cross-case comparison utilizing Boolean logic. The analysis identifies departmental size as a necessary condition, suggesting the importance of organizational resources to successful implementation.  Leadership is found to be important prerequisite, but only in tandem with analytic capacity or good metrics.  The findings challenge previous research on the subject in suggesting that neither strategic planning nor an innovative organizational culture is found to be a success factor.