PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: INDICATING THE WAY TO BETTER

www.christopherhood.net This paper explores three different applications of quantitative indicators for the performance of public services, namely as targets (threshold standards), rankings (league tables and benchmarking) and intelligence (background information for policy and operational intervention). Arguing that there is little usable theory about when each of these applications of performance indicators will or should be used, it briefly explores three simple theoretical perspectives (couched in terms of dilemmas, variable returns to use, and contingency theory). It argues that even with due attention to the parsimony principle in science, a contingency approach needs to be developed. © Christopher Hood 2008