The paper explores how the implementation of performance budgeting unfolds public managers' attention and responses to competing accountability demands over time.,This is a longitudinal study of one Russian municipality's implementation of PB under central government pressures during 2013–2017. Using triangulation of 25 interviews, documentary analysis and field observations, we employed institutional logics to guide the study.,The paper demonstrates the dynamic properties of PB construction under competing accountability demands via the “creative distraction” metaphor. PB was a “distraction” mechanism, which, on one hand, strengthened external accountability, while, on the other, distracting the municipality from internal municipal demands. Nevertheless, this “distraction” was also “creative,” as it produced proactive responses to competing accountability demands and creative effects over time. Specifically, PB also led to elements of creative PB negotiations between departments when managers started cooperating with redirecting the irrelevant constraints of performance information in budgeting into necessary manipulations for municipal survival. The demonstrated “creative distraction” is explained by the changing institutional logics of public managers supplemented by a set of individual factors.,The paper responds to the recent calls to study PB practice under several accountability demands over time. In this regard, we show the value of public managers' existing institutional logics as they shape PB's capacity to balance competing accountability demands. As we revealed, this capacity can be limited, due to possible misalignment between managers' attention toward “what to give an account for” during budget formation (input orientation driven by OPA logic) and “what is demanded” with the introduction of PB (output orientation driven by NPM logic). Yet, the elements of proactive managerial responses are still evident over time, explained by a set of individual factors within the presented case, namely: learning NPM logic, strengthened informal relationships and a common saturation point reflected by managers.

中文翻译：

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绩效预算是俄罗斯一个市镇中问责关系的“创造性分心”

本文探讨了绩效预算的实施如何随着时间的流逝而引起公共管理者的注意和对竞争性问责制要求的反应。这是对2013-2017年俄罗斯某市在中央政府压力下实施PB的纵向研究。通过对25个访谈的三角剖分，文献分析和实地观察，我们采用了制度逻辑来指导研究。本文通过“创意分心”隐喻论证了竞争性问责制下PB建设的动态特性。PB是一种“分散注意力”的机制，一方面可以增强外部问责制，另一方面可以分散市政当局对内部市政需求的注意力。不过，这种“分散注意力”也是“创造性的，”，随着时间的流逝，它对竞争性的问责制要求和创新效果做出了积极响应。具体而言，当经理开始合作将预算中绩效信息中无关紧要的约束重定向为市政生存的必要手段时，PB也会导致部门之间进行创造性的PB谈判。事实证明，“创造性的分散注意力”是由公共管理人员不断变化的制度逻辑和一系列个人因素所解释的。在这方面，我们展示了公共经理现有的机构逻辑的价值，因为它们塑造了PB平衡竞争性问责制要求的能力。正如我们所揭示的，这种能力可能是有限的，由于管理人员在预算形成期间对“要说明什么”的关注（由OPA逻辑驱动的输入方向）和由于引入PB（由NPM逻辑驱动的输出方向）之间的“要求”之间可能不一致。然而，随着时间的流逝，积极主动的管理对策的要素仍然显而易见，这是由本案例中的一系列个体因素所解释的，即：学习NPM逻辑，加强非正式关系以及管理者反映的共同饱和点。