Thomas J. Greitens

Policy Typology and Performance Measurement: Results from the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)

This article examines the relationship between policy typology and Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) scores. Using the typology originally developed by Theodore Lowi, we analyze whether programs implementing certain types of policies systematically received lower PART scores and thus were at an inherent disadvantage in the PART assessment. When programs are categorized using the Lowi typology, our results indicate that programs that implemented redistributive policies had, on average, lower PART scores than programs that implemented constituent, distributive, or regulatory policies. As a result, our analysis reveals a potential weakness in the PART assessment process and suggests that future performance assessments may need to better recognize the evaluative challenges associated with measuring performance in redistributive programs.

E-government and Citizen Engagement: An Overview of US States' Government Websites

This analysis examined whether state governments in the United States use e-government to enhance citizen engagement. By assessing the availability and usability of online information about government, voting, budgetary matters, and governmental meetings, we determined the effectiveness of state governmental websites in educating and engaging citizens. Overall, we discovered that most state governments do an inferior job of enhancing citizen engagement through websites.

The Accountability-Performance Link

An accelerated competitive sourcing program (A-76) was one of the most contentious federal management-reform initiatives attempted in the past decade. A-76 mandated that government workers compete against other potential providers to cut costs. Observable agency reactions ranged from nonimplementation to proposing policy alternatives, which raised the issue of bureaucratic accountability. These actions are examined from the accountability-performance framework developed by Melvin Dubnick. Distilling the mechanisms that led to varying levels of performance in A-76 may enhance our perspective of reform, particularly of initiatives that demand higher performance in a resource-scarce environment.

Presidential Policy Initiatives and Agency Compliance Organizational Adaptation to A‐76

Adding to a long line of bureaucratic reforms, the Bush administration launched an invigorated competitive sourcing policy known as A‐76. In the A‐76 process, government commercial activities were subjected to regular cost comparisons with other potential providers, especially from the private sector, and awarded to the most efficient provider. Many agencies had trouble complying with the policy without hurting organizational interests. This article examines the bureaucracy’s reaction to this important presidential initiative. The authors find that agency responses to this initiative fell along a continuum and that bureaucratic power was exercised in complex ways as agencies adapted to competition and greater hollowing out.

Perceptions of performance in US financial regulatory programs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the accuracy of program performance measurement in US financial regulatory programs.Design/methodology/approach – This research uses the US Governments Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) system of output and outcome data collection, performance data from financial regulatory programs were examined to determine: if PART data revealed any degradation in external financial conditions or internal regulatory performance prior to the Great Recession of 2008, and whether output performance influenced outcome performance.Findings – The results indicate that outcome measures did “capture” some deterioration in the performance of the financial industry before the Great Recession, but these measures were arguably not influenced by program outputs. This represents a potentially problematic use of performance measures in that programs used outcome measures which were not controlled by programmatic actions.Originality/value – This project adds to a growing body of l...