Improving performance management in local government: Lessons from South Korea

IMPACT

The authors compared performance management in different local governments in South Korea looking for the best systems. Two separate, consecutive processes (adoption and implementation) were examined. This article will help policy-makers and managers develop efficient and effective performance management policies, not only in local government but also in central government. This study was conducted with all basic local governments in South Korea, making the results highly reliable.

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the level of performance management in different South Korean local governments. Two separate but consecutive processes were examined: adoption and implementation. Organizational capacity variables, such as training and organization, were significant at the adoption level, whereas external pressure variables, such as rules and external expertise, were significant at the implementation level. Resource availability—fiscal soundness, labour costs, and independence—was a significant variable in previous research but had no effect in the present study. This suggests that external factors are essential for the development of performance management in local governments, especially in centralized countries.

KEYWORDS:

• External pressure
• local government
• organizational capacity
• performance management level
• resource availability
• South Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).