Analyzing the operation of performance-based accountability systems for public services / Frank Camm, Brian M. Stecher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-42).

Introduction -- How a performance-based accounting system changes service delivery: an analytic overview -- Empirical questions to ask when studying a performance-based accountability system -- Conclusions -- Appendix: Inventory of key elements relevant to how a performance-based accountability system works.

Empirical evidence of the effects of performance-based public management is scarce. This report describes a framework used to organize available empirical information on one form of performance-based management, a performance-based accountability system (PBAS). Such a system identifies individuals or organizations that must change their behavior for the performance of an activity to improve, chooses an implicit or explicit incentive structure to motivate these organizations or individuals to change, and then chooses performance measures tailored to inform the incentive structure appropriately. The study focused on systems in the child-care, education, health-care, public health emergency preparedness, and transportation sectors, mainly in the United States. Analysts could use this framework to seek empirical information in other sectors and other parts of the world. Additional empirical information could help refine existing PBASs and, more broadly, improve decisions on where to initiate new PBASs, how to implement them, and then how to design, manage, and refine them over time.

Also available in electronic form via the RAND Corporation Web site.