Jostein Askim

How do politicians use performance information? An analysis of the Norwegian local government experience

This article aims to improve knowledge of performance informations role in political decision-making. Two research questions are addressed, with data from a national survey of councillors in Norway: first, how important is performance information for councillors? The article disaggregates decision-making into three stages and assesses performance information utilization at each stage. The results show surprisingly high levels of utilization. Second, why do some councillors use performance information more than others? The article compares utilization across policy sectors and the results show two contrasting groups: utilization is higher among councillors working with elderly care, administrative affairs, and educational affairs than among councillors working with other sectors. Possible reasons for this pattern are discussed.

The Demand Side of Performance Measurement: Explaining Councillors' Utilization of Performance Information in Policymaking

ABSTRACT The articles starting point is that the persuasiveness of arguments for and against performance informations usefulness for elected representatives in government is limited by a lack of empirical evidence. Based on survey data from Norwegian local government, the article identifies factors that condition the extent to which councillors search for performance information when faced with decision dilemmas. One such factor is within-polity rank; frontbenchers are more inclined than backbenchers to search for performance information. A second factor is education; the best educated councillors are least inclined to search for performance information. A third factor is political experience; inexperienced councillors are most inclined to search for performance information. Theoretical and practical implications of these and other findings are discussed.

How to Carry Out Joined-Up Government Reforms: Lessons from the 2001–2006 Norwegian Welfare Reform

Abstract The article reports a case study of a recent and major reform in the Norwegian welfare sector, involving the employment service, the national insurance administration, and the social services. The reform involves two common joined-up government reform measures, namely partnerships and mergers. The study examines how instrumental problem solving in the reform process was conditioned by external forces, negotiations, and administrative traditions. The analysis shows a transformative approach, in which the scope for rational problem solving is both constrained and enabled by interests and cultural constraints.

Determinants of Performance Information Utilization in Political Decision Making

Performance management has become a defining feature of public administration, especially in OECD countries (Bouckaert and Halligan, 2006; Radin, 2000). Performance management consists of three routinized activities. The first is measuring the outputs, outcomes and throughputs of organizations, people and programs in government, thereby generating what will hereafter be called performance information. The second is analyzing performance information by comparing current performance levels to past ones, normative standards (like goals), and the performance of other organizations. The third activity is communicating performance information to appointed and elected decision makers in government.

What Causes Municipal Amalgamation Reform? Rational Explanations Meet Western European Experiences, 2004–13

The chapter develops a theoretical model consisting of factors that exert pressure to undertake amalgamation reforms (fiscal stress, urbanization, decentralization, reform history), and factors that mediate the causal relationship between pressure to reform and decisions to implement amalgamation reform (e.g., political system characteristics). The model’s predictive power is tested using data on seventeen Western European countries between 2004 and 2013. During this period seven of the countries undertook reforms and ten did not. Based on mixed results of this model test, the authors discuss potential measurement problems, model construction (whether relevant variables are included), and potential weaknesses with the definition of the dependent variable—national amalgamation reform. Finally, suggestions are offered for future research into the causes of amalgamation reforms.

The Role of Performance Management in the Steering of Executive Agencies: Layered, Imbedded, or Disjointed?

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the Norwegian state administration’s performance management practices, based on a study of performance contracts between 77 Norwegian executive agencies and their parent ministries. The results show that most performance objectives target agency outputs and outcomes, suggesting that the “right version” of performance management is practiced. Two perspectives are developed to hypothesize about performance management’s relationship to legal, fiscal, legal, and direct behavioral steering. The layering perspective assumes that ministries use performance management to repair gaps left by limitations in the other control instruments. The imbedding perspective assumes that ministries develop performance management practices that uphold intentions for delegated autonomy. The layering perspective receives some support, but overall it seems that decisions about how to use each governance instrument are quite disjointed, without much concern for harmony with how other instruments are used. The article also shows that performance management practices are influenced by contextual factors like the number of tasks an agency performs, organizational heterogeneity, and whether an agency was established before or after the general introduction of performance management.

Territorial upscaling of local governments: a variable-oriented approach to explaining variance among Western European countries

ABSTRACT Local government systems change at varying speeds. While some countries have dramatically reduced the number of local governments during a short period of time, other countries have seen only incremental change or relative inertia. A number of explanations for structural change have been put forward in the comparative local government literature, but these explanations have to a small extent been tested empirically. This article uses statistical indicators to analyse changes in the local government systems in 17 Western European countries between 2004 and 2014. Some often-cited explanations for what drives structural change receive little support. Still, the article demonstrates that changes tend to occur in situations marked by different combinations of decentralisation, urbanisation, fiscal stress and a recent history of territorial upscaling.

Accountability and Performance Management: The Norwegian Hospital, Welfare, and Immigration Administration

This article addresses the following questions: How are administrative and managerial accountability combined, and to what extent does it depend on agency characteristics? We study the performance management between parent ministries and five state agencies in Norway in the area of hospital administration, welfare administration, and immigration. Four combinations of administrative and managerial accountability are examined: accumulation, substitution, persistence, and absence by applying a structural and a task specificity perspective. To understand the hybrid forms of public accountability in performance management, we have to look at how the tasks agencies perform as well as at their structural affiliations to parent ministries.

Benchmarking in Local Government Service Delivery: Window-dressing or a Potent Driver for Improvement? Evidence from Norway

Benchmarking is a managerial technique that is popular among both private and public sector organisations. Its usefulness is contested, however, especially for public sector organisations (Pollitt and Bouckaert 2000: 112). Sceptics claim that benchmarking is a time-consuming window-dressing exercise, while optimists see it as a potent driver for improvement.

Thirty Years of Performance Research at the European Group of Public Administration

Van Dooren, Askim and Van de Walle describe the orientation of research on public sector performance since 1988, and especially the last 15 years, using Study Group 2’s call for papers and the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) conference venues as lieux de memoires. Changes in orientation over time show how performance research connects with developments in the wider public administration research community. Over time, scholarly attention has increased to, for example, the social construction of performance and the role of politics in designing systems for measuring performance and in using the information generated. The linkage with new public management (NPM) has weakened; the research reflects that performance management has become an integrated element in the governance of the public sector beyond NPM.