Performance Information of High Quality: How to Develop a Legitimate, Functional, and Sound Performance Measurement System

Difficulties of Measuring Performance

Why is the quality of information so important? A few examples may give an idea of the problems and issues that may emerge when measuring government performance. A first difficulty is to measure public sector performance [Page 434]in an objective way. The first example illustrates the problem of autocorrelation. It appears that there is a very strong relationship between the level of trust in the civil service and the level of public sector performance. In countries that score high on public sector performance, such as Luxembourg, Ireland, and Austria, citizens have a high level of trust in their civil service and government.

The level of trust is often measured by means of the Euro-Barometer public opinion survey. The Euro-Barometer survey asks citizens whether they have trust in political parties, the government, parliament, public services, and the justice system. The Euro-Barometer is one of the most useful sources for information on the trust of citizens.

The level of public sector performance is measured by the European Central Bank (ECB). The purpose of the ECB indicator is to measure public sector performance; however, it measures the perception of public sector performance. This means that it does not measure the performance of public services in an objective way. The perception of public sector performance may be influenced by the reputation of the public sector. This would mean that the Euro-Barometer and the ECB indicator are, in fact, measuring the same thing: the general image of the public sector (Van de Walle & Bouckaert, 2007).

A second difficulty in measuring government performance is to define the unit of analysis. When comparing the performance of several government services or countries, it is important to measure performance at the same level of analysis. Even for rather elementary input indicators, such as the number of personnel employed by government, it appears to be very difficult to use the same definitions. Table 21.1 compares government employment in six countries.

The number of personnel employed by government is a very basic input indicator. However, it appears to be difficult to provide accurate data. The military is usually considered as a separate corps and is thus not included in these statistics. The employment in the military, based on NATO figures, is subtracted from the total government employment. Based on these figures, the number of civil servants per capita is calculated. The case of Greece is most striking. According to these figures, there would be one civil servant for every 162 inhabitants in Greece, whereas in the other countries, there would be one civil servant for every 10 to 20 inhabitants. Often, different definitions of public sector employment are used, and therefore it is very difficult to compare government employment internationally.

...