Study Group on Public Sector Financial Management Performance Measurement in Bureaucratic Public Administration Styles: An Investigation into Spanish and Japanese Local Governments

This study identifies different approaches to the adoption of performance measurement. It is focused on the distinction between performance measures used for decision-making purposes, those used for accountability and those used for their symbolic value. As the implementation of performance measurement systems is usually an internal decision, heterogeneous practices have developed in local governments. Our results suggest that the assumption that the mere adoption of performance indicators is good is possible naïve and that local governments may be taking a simplified view about the implementation of performance measurement systems. Managerial rationality possibly overlaps with symbolic adoption in the decision to implement performance measurement, which may be the underlying cause of the low levels of use. In this analysis, local government managers who are already involved in the implementation of performance measurement systems can find a guide to assess past or future decisions.