Piervito Bianchi

Public Managers’ Skills Development for Effective Performance Management: Empirical evidence from Italian local governments

Performance management has become an important element of the reform agenda of public sector around the world. However, scholars and practitioners highlight that many public administrations do not manage performance very well. A ‘litmus test’ of the success of a performance-based reform is observing whether public managers use performance information to make better-informed decisions. Having said that, the aim of this article is to see whether public managers of Italian local governments in the Apulia region (the South of Italy) use performance information after the last performance-based reform (Brunetta’s Reform: decree No. 150/09). The learning purpose is analysed and discussed. The research may suggest scholars, practitioners and policy makers the routes for developing performance utilization in difficult organizational contexts where performance management systems do not work.

Cultural Strategies and Public Value Creation: Empirical Evidence

In recent years there has been a growing belief that cultural policies are very important drivers of the public value creation process. Many scholars show that cultural policies can generate social, economic, and political advantages. However, until now the importance of cultural policies in the social and economic growth of a country has been justified mainly by means of theoretical analysis or case studies. Little research supported by empirical evidence has been done on this subject. Moreover, analysis in international contexts is very rare. This article aims to: 1) determine these factors with reference to a European context and, 2) investigate the relationship between the main elements of cultural policies and a set of social, economic, and political variables without disregarding the context of each country analyzed. The research was carried out in 39 European countries by means of statistical methods. Findings, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Performance management in public universities: overcoming bureaucracy

Considering a micro performance perspective, the purpose of this paper is to analyze whether and to what extent the adoption of better performance management systems could improve the performance levels of a public university.,With reference to a period of four years (2011-2014), the quality of performance management systems of 29 Italian universities (response rate: 48 percent) was examined and the possible effects on performance levels of these institutions were analyzed by means of statistical methodologies (multiple regression analysis). Outcome indicators were considered.,The findings indicate the need to go further “measurement,” and to take care of performance “management,” especially in complex organizations as universities, where academicians identify themselves more with their professions than with the organization and where technicians and administrative employees might look at the performance-based reform with “bureaucratic eyes.” A fruitful cooperation between the professional soul and the bureaucratic one is paramount.,Studies which analyze organizational factors that could affect the adoption and implementation of performance management systems are rare, and use in prevalence qualitative methods or refer to machine bureaucracies, not many to professional ones as public universities. Moreover, the performance management literature in a public university context deepens the topic of the selection of KPIs and the focus is mainly on macro performance or on management tools for gathering and analyzing performance measures.

The Integration of Best Environmental Management Practices in Corporate Strategy: Empirical Evidence From Italian Local Governments

Local governments represent an important moving force in promoting sustainable development policies as they make up the level of governance closest to the citizens. The aim of this article is to examine whether Italian local governments exercise de facto their vital role in fostering sustainable development policies. In particular, we analyzed municipality behavior about adopting “green management strategies.” We investigated the main factors identified in management literature which might boost the adoption of these strategies. Several implications ensue from our findings. In particular, the research provides information to improve local government attitudes toward the sustainable development challenge.