Abstract

This article provides new evidence on the relationship between managerial autonomy, use of performance goals, and public service performance. Previous empirical studies have found seemingly inconsistent effects of managerial autonomy. As interests of agents may differ from wishes of principals, effects of autonomy may depend on whether superjacent levels couple managerial autonomy with a high focus on performance goals. Linking three waves of panel survey data from Danish school principals, local government, and student-level data, this article is able to rigorously test the link between managerial autonomy, use of performance goals, and organizational performance, measured as student achievements and student self-efficacy. We find that when managerial autonomy is accompanied by high use of performance goals from superjacent levels, there is evidence of performance improvement. Furthermore, when managerial autonomy and performance goals do not go hand in hand, organizational performance may even suffer.

摘要

本文提供了关于管理自主权、绩效目标的使用和公共服务绩效之间关系的新证据。先前的实证研究发现了管理自主权看似不一致的影响。由于代理人的利益可能与委托人的意愿不同，自治的影响可能取决于上层是否将管理自治与对绩效目标的高度关注结合起来。本文将来自丹麦校长、地方政府和学生层面数据的三波面板调查数据联系起来，能够严格检验管理自主权、绩效目标的使用和组织绩效之间的联系，这些绩效以学生成绩和学生自我来衡量-功效。我们发现，当管理自主权伴随着对上层绩效目标的高度使用时，有性能改进的证据。此外，当管理自主权和绩效目标不能齐头并进时，组织绩效甚至可能会受到影响。