IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/porgrv/v15y2015i2p207-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance and Accountability—A Theoretical Discussion and an Empirical Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Tom Christensen
  • Per Lægreid

Abstract

This paper starts with a theoretical discussion on the relationship between performance and accountability in public organizations with a special focus on administrative reforms. Accountability theory, based in the work of Dubnick/Romzek, Bovens, Behn, Bouckaert, Halligan and Pollitt, is discussed and related to different aspects of performance. How ambiguous is the relationship between accountability and performance? Do different types of accountability relate to different aspects of performance or pose certain challenges in NPM reforms, post-NPM reforms and hybrid reforms? The second part of the paper illustrates performance and accountability relations in a large welfare administration reform in Norway by addressing the experiences different actor have had of performance and accountability dynamics. We focus on how the reform has affected different kinds of accountability relations and the relationship between accountability and performance. The data used are document studies, interviews and survey data from a large evaluation project. A main finding is that the relationship between administrative reform and accountability is ambiguous and contested. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Christensen & Per Lægreid, 2015. "Performance and Accountability—A Theoretical Discussion and an Empirical Assessment," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 207-225, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:porgrv:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:207-225
    DOI: 10.1007/s11115-013-0267-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11115-013-0267-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11115-013-0267-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tom Christensen & Per Lægreid, 2011. "Complexity and Hybrid Public Administration—Theoretical and Empirical Challenges," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 407-423, December.
    2. Thomas Schillemans, 2008. "Accountability in the Shadow of Hierarchy: The Horizontal Accountability of Agencies," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 175-194, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Fresneda & Nuria Reguera & Fernando Casas, 2021. "De-agentification Process in Spanish Regional Governments," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 39-64, March.
    2. Eva Sørensen & Jacob Torfing, 2021. "Accountable Government through Collaborative Governance?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Jia Song & Zunwei Yang, 2023. "Striving Transition for University Academics: The Academic Role Identity of Young Postdocs at Universities in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    4. Maria Teresa Nardo & Georgiana Cristina Codreanu & Fabiana Roberto, 2021. "Universities’ Social Responsibility through the Lens of Strategic Planning: A Content Analysis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Dobrolyubova Elena, 2017. "Evaluating Performance of Government Inspection Bodies: A Possible Approach," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 49-72, December.
    6. Aminata Sillah & Julius A. Nukpezah & Florence Kamau, 2020. "Web-Based Accountability among United Way of Texas Chapters," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 771-787, December.
    7. Antoine Genest-Grégoire & Étienne Charbonneau & Daniel E. Bromberg, 2018. "The Sustainability Assumption in Performance Management Reforms: Revisiting the Patterns of Implementation," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 525-542, December.
    8. Hennau Sofie, 2020. "The Relationship between Politics and Administration at the Flemish Local Level: Intermunicipal Differences Explained," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 141-160, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tom Christensen & Anne Fimreite & Per Lægreid, 2014. "Joined-Up Government for Welfare Administration Reform in Norway," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 439-456, December.
    2. Daniel E. Bromberg, 2016. "Gatekeepers: How Procurement Personnel Guard Against Hybrid Accountability," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 549-560, December.
    3. Yaffa Moskovich, 2018. "Belief systems and business strategy in a privatized kibbutz factory," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 5-36, March.
    4. Nicola Mario Iacovino & Sara Barsanti & Lino Cinquini, 2017. "Public Organizations Between Old Public Administration, New Public Management and Public Governance: the Case of the Tuscany Region," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 61-82, March.
    5. Chris Skelcher & Jacob Torfing, 2010. "Improving democratic governance through institutional design: Civic participation and democratic ownership in Europe," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(1), pages 71-91, March.
    6. Marija Aleksovska & Thomas Schillemans & Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen, 2019. "Lessons from five decades of experimental and behavioral research on accountability: A systematic literature review," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(2).
    7. Ian Thynne, 2013. "Governance and Organizational Eclecticism in the Public Arena: Introductory Perspectives," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 107-116, June.
    8. Giliberto Capano & Benedetto Lepori, 2024. "Designing policies that could work: understanding the interaction between policy design spaces and organizational responses in public sector," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(1), pages 53-82, March.
    9. Laura Carmouze & Alan Sandry, 2020. "Complex Thinking and Computing Organization Facing Contingent Problems," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 401-419, June.
    10. Anita Breuer & Julia Leininger, 2021. "Horizontal Accountability for SDG Implementation: A Comparative Cross-National Analysis of Emerging National Accountability Regimes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.
    11. Paolo Esposito & Spiridione Lucio Dicorato, 2020. "Sustainable Development, Governance and Performance Measurement in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): A Methodological Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-25, July.
    12. Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen & Arthur L Dahl & Ã…sa Persson, 2018. "The emerging accountability regimes for the Sustainable Development Goals and policy integration: Friend or foe?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(8), pages 1371-1390, December.
    13. Mónica Domínguez & Juan Aparicio & Antonio Fonfria, 2024. "The defence economy: an assessment of productivity change in NATO countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(18), pages 2158-2175, April.
    14. Hyndman, Noel & Liguori, Mariannunziata & Meyer, Renate E. & Polzer, Tobias & Rota, Silvia & Seiwald, Johann, 2014. "The translation and sedimentation of accounting reforms. A comparison of the UK, Austrian and Italian experiences," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 388-408.
    15. Mai Thanh Lan & Ta Huy Hung, 2018. "The Leadership Competency In Vietnam Public Administration," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 9(1).
    16. Eva Sørensen & Jacob Torfing, 2021. "Accountable Government through Collaborative Governance?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, November.
    17. Anderson-Gough, Fiona & Edgley, Carla & Robson, Keith & Sharma, Nina, 2022. "Organizational responses to multiple logics: Diversity, identity and the professional service firm," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    18. Tom Christensen & Liang Ma, 2021. "Comparing SARS and COVID-19: Challenges of Governance Capacity and Legitimacy," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 629-645, December.
    19. Jacob Torfing & Tina Øllgaard Bentzen, 2020. "Does Stewardship Theory Provide a Viable Alternative to Control-Fixated Performance Management?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Jorge Garcia-Unanue & Jose Luis Felipe & Leonor Gallardo & Carlos Majano & Gemma Perez-Lopez, 2021. "Decentralisation and Efficiency in Municipal Sports Services: Expenditure vs. Cost," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:porgrv:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:207-225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.