To Act or Not to Act? How Client Progression Affects Purposeful Performance Information Use at the Frontlines
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6295409 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Falk Mikkelsen (0000-0001-6256-6403, VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research, corresponding author), Mogens Jin Pedersen (0000-0001-9428-3395, Copenhagen University Denmark), Niels Bjørn Grund Petersen (0000-0002-9338-1863, Aarhus University) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 296-312 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1053-1858 • E-ISSN: 1477-9803 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jopart/muac020 |
| OpenAlex | W4225632574 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 83 |
Public service organizations periodically collect and disseminate performance information that enables frontline employees to act based on two aspects of performance: current performance (how is the client performing right now?) and performance progression (is the client performing better, similarly, or worse than previously?). Yet knowledge of how frontline employees use performance information about their clients’ performance progression remains limited. Building on cognitive psychology and street-level bureaucracy research, this article theorizes and tests how information on changes in client performance over time affects frontline employees’ performance information use. We develop a theoretical framework that comprises three competing hypotheses on how performance progression information (on performance improvement, performance stability, and performance deterioration) shapes purposeful performance information use at the frontlines of public services delivery. Each hypothesis relates to a distinct cognitive bias: needed-deservingness bias, negativity bias, and change-react bias. Using a pre-registered survey experiment among Danish public school teachers (n = 925), we find support for the change-react bias. Teachers are more inclined to take behavioral action when presented with performance progression information showing change (either improvement or deterioration) relative to no change (stability) in student performance. These results expand our understanding of performance information use at the frontlines by suggesting that frontline employees process performance information showing change different from performance information showing stability
Business · Knowledge management · Law and economics · Political science · Process management · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Customer Service Quality and Loyalty · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Psychology · Technology Adoption and User Behaviour · Public Administration
A learning approach to the governance of professionals. Field experimental evidence
Hiding behind the curtain
Negativity trumps source
Information use in public administration and policy decision‐making
Cognitive Biases in Street‐Level Resolutions
Breaking the rules, but for whom? How client characteristics affect frontline professionals’ prosocial rule-breaking behavior
Performance information in politics
Compared to whom? Social and historical reference points and performance appraisals by managers, students, and the general public
Why Americans Hate Welfare
Organizational Learning from Performance Feedback
The Perils of Balance Testing in Experimental Design
Drivers of Performance Information Use
Omission bias, individual differences, and normality
A Causal Model of Turnover for Nurses.
Does Moral Identity Effectively Predict Moral Behavior?
Generalizability of heterogeneous treatment effect estimates across samples
Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour
Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion
Prospect Theory
Maps of Bounded Rationality
The Blame Game
Reasoning and Choice
The Generalizability of Survey Experiments
Coping During Public Service Delivery
Loss aversion in the eye and in the heart
Incentives and their dynamics in public sector performance management systems
Incentives, Selection, and Teacher Performance
Managing for Results Differently
"A Comment on "The Science of Public Administration
Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior
Prospect Theory Goes Public
Behavioral Public Administration
Behavioral Public Administration ad fontes
Does Performance Information About Public Services Affect Citizens' Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Voice Behaviour? Field Experiments With Absolute and Relative Performance Information
Double standards? How historical and political aspiration levels guide managerial performance information use
Managerial Goals in a Performance‐driven System
Learning From Performance Feedback
Attention and weight in person perception
Deservingness versus values in public opinion on welfare
Does Involvement in Performance Management Routines Encourage Performance Information Use? Evaluating GPRA and Part
Goal-Based Learning and the Future of Performance Management
The Other Type of Performance Information
Creaming among Caseworkers
Models of Performance-Measurement Use in Local Governments
The Impact of Performance Management on Performance in Public Organizations
RNICE Model
Promoting the Utilization of Performance Measures in Public Organizations
Evolutionary Political Psychology
Who should get what, and why? On deservingness criteria and the conditionality of solidarity among the public
The Politics of Blame Avoidance
Performance Gaps and Managerial Decisions
The Impact of Empathy—Explaining Diversity in Street-Level Decision-Making
Successful Problem Solvers? Managerial Performance Information Use to Improve Low Organizational Performance
Best Practice Recommendations for Replicating Experiments in Public Administration
Which Clients are Deserving of Help? A Theoretical Model and Experimental Test
The Big Question for Performance Management
How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy
What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Performance? Dialogue Theory and Performance Budgeting
A Behavioral Model of Public Organizations
Performance Information, Blame Avoidance, and Politicians' Attitudes to Spending and Reform
Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations
Learning from Performance Information
Setting the Table
How Do Elected Officials Evaluate Performance? Goal Preferences, Governance Preferences, and the Process of Goal Reprioritization
A Matter of Trust
Are Citizens More Negative About Failing Service Delivery by Public Than Private Organizations? Evidence From a Large-Scale Survey Experiment
The Organization of Discipline
Whoever Has Will be Given More
State Agent or Citizen Agent
Acceptance or Disapproval
The Role of Evidence in Politics
Bad is Stronger than Good
The case for motivated reasoning
Anomalies
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |