Call for Papers: Performance Measurement

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management (IJPSPM)

Call for Papers: Due Date 1 June, 2008

Special Issue on: "The Comparative Analysis of Local Government Performance Measurement Systems: A Global Perspective"

Guest Editors:

• Eric Scorsone, Michigan State University, USA
• Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna, Italy
• Hiraki Tanaka, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, Japan

Across the globe, local governments and their brethren regional and national governments, are facing the growing prospect of undertaking performance measurement and management.

Extensive research has been conducted over the last two decades on understanding the evolution of performance measurement systems (PMSs), their adoption and, in some cases their effectiveness, both subjective and objective (see, for example, Poister, 2003). More recently, progress has been made in understanding challenges in measuring and comparing bureaucracies across countries at the national level (see, for example, Van de Walle, 2005, 2006).

The next stage or evolution in this arena of interest is the comparison of local government performance and bureaucracy. This is particularly important given the continuing push by many international agencies for devolution or decentralisation of government functions (for example, OECD, 2001). In order to address this lack of a unifying framework, this call for papers seeks work that will build our theoretical, conceptual and empirical understanding of the functioning of local government performance measurement systems and benchmarking efforts across countries and the potential implications of the functioning of such systems on comparisons across countries.

Subject Coverage

Specifically, we are seeking papers that include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Comparing performance measurement systems across local governments
• Discussion and analysis of cross-national benchmarking projects concerning local governments
• Theoretical issues connected to the comparison of local public sector performance across countries
• Consequences at the policy and managerial level of cross-national comparisons
• Performance measurement in local and regional government in the reporting process to the EU (accountability for funds).

Notes for Prospective Authors

• Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere
• All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Papers
• Submission section under Author Guidelines

Important Dates

• Submission of full paper before: 1 June, 2008
• Notification of acceptance before: 15 August, 2008
• Submission of final and revised manuscripts: 1 November, 2008

Editors and Notes

You may send one copy in the form of an MS Word file to an e-mail (details in Author Guidelines) to the following:

• Eric Scorsone, Michigan State University, USA Email: scorsone@msu.edu Homepage: www.aec.msu.edu/faculty/scorsone.htm
• Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna, Italy Email: emanuele.padovani@unibo.it Homepage: www2.sa.unibo.it/docenti/emanuele.padovani
• Hiraki Tanaka, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, Japan Email: hiraki@suac.ac.jp

with copies to:

• Marcel GuenounE-mail: Marcel.guenoun@univ-cezanne.fr
  and
• IEL Editorial OfficeE-mail: ijpspm@inderscience.com

Please include in your submission the title of the Special Issue, the title of the Journal and the name of the Guest Editor