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PublicationWhat Should We Know About Politicians' Performance Information Need and Use?(International Public Management Network, 2012-10-31)The question of legislators' use of performance information is crucial, since - among others purposes - data on outputs and outcomes is meant to inform about the performance of public managers, programs as well as organizations, and ultimately to influence the allocation of financial means. Limited empirical evidence on parliamentarians' performance information behavior provides contradictory findings with respect to the extent to which this new kind of data is used. This paper aims to draw an outline of the insights we have about politicians' information need and use in general. It sets a particular focus on the question of how the use of performance information by politicians could be analyzed more systematically in the future by referring to conceptual treatments of earlier periods or allied disciplines. We show how future research could profit by shifting the focus of analysis from the isolated analysis of performance information to the context-bounded politician and her information needs, by considering the political rationale with respect to the information-decision nexus, and by including possibilities of symbolic or strategic types of performance information utilization. Conceiving politicians as need-driven and goal-oriented information users requires a different definition of what data inform about performance. [http://www1.imp.unisg.ch/org/idt/ipmr.nsf/ IPMR]
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PublicationDie Schweizerischen Bundesbahnen als Allzweckinstrument der Politik(Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2012-01)
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PublicationCustomer orientation in electronic government: Motives and effectsElectronic government is attested to have the potential to shape public administrations to be more customer oriented. In order to be customer oriented, municipalities need knowledge about customer needs. Which municipalities explore customer needs and what do they change is investigated using data of a nationwide survey about e-government in Switzerland. Results show big differences in exploring customer needs between municipalities. General characteristics of municipalities and support of administrative leaders and politicians can partly explain these differences. Customer orientation shows effects on the availability of usability features on Web sites and on the selection of topics, to which municipalities provide forms or transactions online.Type:Journal:Volume:Issue:
Scopus© Citations 84 -
PublicationE-Government : What Countries Do and Why: A European PerspectiveThis primarily descriptive contribution focuses on seven European countries. A heuristic e-government model is presented, which serves as a reference frame for structuring the information available from individual countries. In this examination, we assume that the differences between countries also have their roots in the motivational situation of the relevant political entities, as well as in the problem perception of the various governments. We have subjected the strategies communicated by the national government which results in a "motive barometer" for the soft factors behind e-government.Type:Journal:Volume:Issue:
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PublicationDo Politicians Matter in Public Sector Management Reform? : Or, What Room to Maneuver Do Public Manageres Have?(IRSPM, 2010-04-06)This paper aims at mapping public managers' substantial influence on administrative reforms as a consequence of politicians' missing demand for influence. Since any major public sector management reform is closely linked with changes in the corresponding regulation, we essentially focus on legislative-executive relations and, in particular, on the influence parliamentarians exert on the respective bill. The introduction of a 'New Accounting Model' at the national level of the Swiss federal administration and the total revision of the Financial Budget Act serve as objects of in-depth study. Based on the tradition of policy-oriented legislative research the underlying assumption of the analysis is that parliamentarians' influence on legislation varies according to the content of a specific policy. In order to disclose legislators' rationale to intervene in some aspects of the Financial Budget Act while being indifferent towards other regulations, a content analysis of the parliamentary debate over the draft bill is conducted. By matching every statement with the topic(s) addressed an unbiased picture of the debate is obtained. In addition, the amount of statements devoted to a theme makes it possible to highlight 'debate dominating topics' and infer an issue's relevance for parliamentarians. The analysis shows that topics related to the cornerstones of the reform were of low relevance to legislators. Instead, debate dominating topics inhered politically contestable issues. This, in turn, suggests that public managers enjoy substantial freedom of action concerning managerial realms due to politicians' missing demand for it
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PublicationUnderstanding management innovation in the public sector : Path dependent and random decisions in accounting reformsPublic management reforms have been described as focused on internal change, inter alia. Changing control structures and management techniques can be labelled management innovation in the public sector. Many countries have gone through a process of management innovation, e.g. in the financial management system. Although goals and arguments of the reforms look alike, reforms differ regarding content and processes. We assume that such differences in management innovation between countries are results of a mixture of path dependencies and randomness in the reform process. Reconstructing the accounting reform process in Switzerland, this paper detects both path dependent and random decisions. The article shows that the evolution of the federal accounting system has been path dependent up until the year 2000, resisting attempts to change from cash- to an accrual-based system. The roots for this path dependence have been detected in technology, sociological and organisational factors. When technology changes significantly, this is a conjunctural event that gives rise to relevant reconsiderations of the existing system. The empty concept of 'contingent initial situation' that is used in the new institutionalisms is filled with a decision model that allows for a certain degree of randomness, the Garbage Can Model. By this, we are able to explain the full process of management innovation within the case of Switzerland.
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PublicationDefining Performance in Public Management: Variations over time and space(IRSPM, 2009-04-08)Performance in the public sector is an ambiguous, multi-dimensional, and complex concept. It is also one of the most popular concepts in current public management the-ory and practice. Furthermore, it can be assumed that performance is also a dynamic concept that varies across geographical as well as scholarly ‘schools of thought'. Thus, what is defined as performance and its crucial elements changes and differs depending on time and space. Up to now, no comprehensive analysis of these variations has been conducted even though this is necessary to observe and understand variations in the definition of performance as a key concept of public management. As a consequence, this paper improves our understanding of the various definitions and conceptions of performance across time and (geographical as well as academic) space. In this paper, results of a comprehensive survey of academic journal articles dealing explicitly with theoretical or empirical aspects of performance are presented. It focuses on answering the following research questions: How is performance being defined in the academic literature, what are the (most often used) components of these definitions and what are the relations between them? Are there any significant differences in the definitions and their components depending on time, on the geographical application of the concept, on the affiliation of the respective authors? How can the most important differences be explained? The study is based on a literature review and the analysis of more than 300 papers since 1988 containing substantial definitions of performance. Results show that elements of the ‘output' and ‘outcome' categories are the most fre-quent while ‘ratios��� and especially ethical concerns (such as equity or fairness) only play an inferior role in the definitions. As far as bivariate relations are concerned, there are especially frequent relations between "output' and "outcome' components and especially strong relations between "efficiency' and "effectiveness' elements. Time and space both have got an influence of applied performance concepts. Time affects primarily the complexity of performance definitions, whereas space plays an important part in ex-plaining different focuses in performance definitions. As a conclusion, it is suggested that researchers should avoid using the term perform-ance if it is not in the core of their research interest, or to define exactly how the term and its components are understood, or to engage in the complexity of a broad perform-ance concept. However, it seems obvious that the application of a unitary concept of performance is out of reach - and is inappropriate given the multi-dimensional charac-ter of the phenomenon
