Spillover Effects From Customer to Citizen Orientation: How Performance Management Reforms Can Foster Public Participation

Abstract

Government reforms, even when inspired by competing schools of thought, might reinforce each other in unexpected ways. This study shows how performance management can bolster citizen participation, despite the fact that the two approaches have been associated with different reform movements. We argue that by fostering a positive state of mind toward external feedback, performance management reforms have made public administrators more receptive to citizen input. We also distinguish between “frontstage” and “backstage” modes of citizen participation and, using data on U.S. local governments, find greater spillover effects occurring on the backstages of public administration.