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Performance in Public Organizations: Clarifying the Conceptual Space
Author(s) -
Andersen Lotte Bøgh,
Boesen Andreas,
Pedersen Lene Holm
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12578
Subject(s) - clarity , conceptual framework , stakeholder , perspective (graphical) , focus (optics) , process (computing) , space (punctuation) , performance management , management science , sociology , process management , public relations , knowledge management , computer science , business , political science , marketing , social science , engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , artificial intelligence , optics , operating system
Performance in public organizations is a key concept that requires clarification. Based on a conceptual review of research published in 10 public administration journals, this article proposes six distinctions to describe the systematic differences in performance criteria: From which stakeholder's perspective is performance being assessed? Are the criteria formal or informal? Are the criteria subjective? Which process focus and product focus do they have, if any? What is the unit of analysis? Based on these distinctions, the performance criteria of existing studies used in an empirical review of management and performance are classified. The results illustrate how a systematization of the conceptual space of performance in public organizations can help researchers select what to study and what to leave out with greater accuracy while also bringing greater clarity to public debates about performance .