Public Sector Performance Management: Insights from Selected Literature

Abstract

Performance management systems are crucial to the achievement of goals, particularly in the public sector, which typically has greater institutional complexity than other sectors. The rise of sustainability in many nations adds to the inherent complexity in government institutions, necessitating the reshaping of performance management systems to balance economic, social and environmental goals. The potential of performance management systems to meet such goals in the public sector is greatly dependent on how they are integrated across vertical and horizontal governmental structures. However, it is unclear whether public sector literature addresses the interconnections between performance management elements. This paper provides an overview of public sector performance management from selected literature published during the period of 2008 to 2017. The review is aimed at capturing practices from empirical studies, and is specifically focused on the interconnectedness of performance management elements. The content analysis approach used in this study is guided by five main performance management elements derived from the frameworks of Otley and Ferreira and Otley. As it was found that most studies concentrate on less than three elements, the paper concludes with a call for researchers to align future studies with the underpinnings of performance management holistically.