Is Engaging Citizens in the Design of Performance Measures Really a Good Idea? Maybe Not

What is it about?

Public managers often report that they enjoyed the experience of engaging citizens in projects to design performance measures, but few of the measures survived very long and the managers tended not to extend the project or initiate similar projects when grant funding ran out. These findings raise questions about just how valuable these projects were and how well-suited citizens were to the task they were asked to perform. The authors suggest that citizen input would be more valuable upstream of performance measurement, focusing on goals and objectives of the local government, rather than on the more technical work of designing performance measures.

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Why is it important?

The findings of this work stand in contrast to optimistic early reports on citizen-assisted performance measurement projects and testimonials of proponents.