Public sector reform and the state of performance management in Portugal: is there a gap between performance measurement and its use?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper analyses the state of performance management in the Portuguese public sector as part of the efforts towards public administration reform. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretically, we took Bouckaert and Halligan’s (2008, pp. 35-39) approach into consideration to analyse the adoption of performance management practices. This approach was supplemented by an adaptation of Pollitt and Bouckaert’s (2011, p. 33) framework to analyse the context for administrative reforms. The used data analysis techniques include documentary analysis (namely legislation and evaluation reports of reform efforts), secondary data analysis and a survey conducted with 296 Portuguese top public managers. Findings – Findings show that Portuguese public sector organizations adopted several tools to measure performance over the years, but failed to incorporate performance information into their management practices or to properly use it for either internal or external purposes. Concerning the ideal types proposed by Bouckaert and Halligan (2008, p. 36), Portugal is considered to fit the ‘Performance Administration’ ideal type, even though it is moving closer to the ‘Managements of Performance’ ideal type. Originality – This is one of the first comprehensive studies on the state of performance management in Portugal framed within the broader context of public sector reforms. The findings will be of interest both to scholars that study public administration reforms and performance management and to Portuguese policymakers and public managers who are interested in understanding and improving the way performance information is measured, incorporated and used in that sector.