Conceptualizing Performance across Continents: The Case of Performance Expectations Prior to and after Public Crises in Europe and North America

Abstract

While it is indisputable that the new public management and more specifically performance measurement has become a centerpiece of governance in the late 20th and early 21st century, it is unclear in many cases if "performance" implies the same concept across cultures and countries. Across cultures and government systems, a variety of definitions of performance are in use among political and management actors, media and public opinion. The goal of this study is to use the occasion of a major public crisis or disaster (e.g. USA Bridge Collapse, Italian garbage crisis) to examine how, by whom and towards which directions performance expectations are established, altered and enforced during such episodes across countries. The acute nature of such crises, we believe, focuses the government and the public opinion on the foundation of performance expectations that permits a type of natural experiment amenable to investigative analysis. The study will attempt to contribute to our knowledge of the definitions and response to environmental condition changes on performance definitions and expectations across cultures and continents.

Keywords: performance, public sector, crises

JEL Classification: H70, H77, H79