Abstract
This paper examines the way that the performance of chief executive officers of Italian healthcare organizations is evaluated. The aim is to analyse the extent of the use of New Public Management techniques in the highly regionalized and political Italian healthcare sector. A positive association was found between formal CEO performance evaluation systems and the quality of regional governance. There was no significant relationship between formal CEO performance evaluation and the duration of CEO tenure.
Acknowledgements
The authors recognize the valuable comments on earlier version of this paper received from Professor L. D. Parker, University of South Australia and want to give him special thanks. The authors also acknowledge the important contribution received from Basil Tucker, University of South Australia, and also wish to thank Professor Lucio Potito, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, and Professor Riccardo Macchioni, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, for the constant encouragement. We acknowledge the comments received during the 6th Conference on Performance Measurement and Management Control (Nice, 7–9 September 2011), and during the XVI AIES Conference (Naples, 29–30 September 2011). We are really grateful to Public Money & Management's (PMM) Editor, Professor Jane Broadbent, and to the anonymous referees for their important suggestions.