Performance indicators and democracy: citizens’ views on the purposes of government websites

ABSTRACT

Despite the ongoing interest in performance measurement amongst public managers, little is known about citizens’ views on the purposes of performance indicators (PIs). A cross-sectional survey of the Australian adult population was used to examine citizens’ views on government websites which provide PIs. Citizens identified three distinct purposes for these: evaluation and improvement; transparency and accountability; and reward and punishment. These different purposes were found to be related to political attributes, indicating how PIs might support democratic empowerment.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• citizens
• government websites
• performance indicators
• performance management

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100110).

Notes on contributor

Jenny M. Lewis is Professor of Public Policy and Director of The Policy Lab, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia, and President of IRSPM.