Is there a Nordic Perspective on Public Sector Performance Measurement?

Abstract

This paper reviews Nordic research on performance measurement that is relevant for the public sector. The purpose of the paper is to identify a possible Nordic perspective on performance measurement and discuss potential implications of such a perspective for performance measurement in public management. The ‘Nordic model’ is a distinct way of organising society, managing institutions and conducting politics. It is characterised by a large public sector financed with high taxes, redistributive welfare services and extensive collaboration between unions, trade organisations and the state. The Nordic model seems to have achieved good results regarding flexibility and competitiveness in the economy, relatively high employment, and prudent public finances. Therefore, the model has received renewed attention in public policy debates where one question is how the role of the public sector is contributing to the Nordic model’s success (European Policy Centre, 2005). A Nordic perspective on public sector performance measurement may be linked to public management practices, which could affect the outcomes of the Nordic model. There is at present no evidence for claiming that public sector performance measurement and management in the Nordic countries are distinct or have delivered major effects for the success of the Nordic model. To investigate such a claim is in any case a very ambitious project. The purpose of this paper – to identify a possible Nordic perspective on public sector performance measurement – is much more modest, but could be interesting for the overall picture. The identification of a Nordic perspective on public sector performance measurement is obviously dependent upon what is meant by performance measurement. If a broad notion of performance measurement is used, the Nordic research is fairly rich in terms of the number of papers and research