The Use of Performance Information by Local Government Managers: Indonesian Case Studies

Collecting and reporting performance has become common practice in public sector organisations worldwide. The effort to use performance information for reporting has potential benefits to improve performance and enhance accountability. Since 1999, the Indonesian government has adopted a new reporting framework, which requires public sector organisations to collect and report performance information. Despite the use of performance information for reporting performance being mandated, few studies have been conducted to investigate its actual use in public sector organisations in Indonesia. The aim of this study is to narrow the gap in the understanding of how and why managers in local governments, specifically in Indonesia as a developing country, use performance information to improve performance and enhance accountability.\ud This study employed a case study approach with a purposive sample of three local government agencies in two local governments in Indonesia as cases. The data collection method utilized in this study was in-depth interviews with eight managers in the three agencies, three managers of the planning agencies in the two local government jurisdictions, and two consultants. Also, information contained in documents used in local government was also gathered to examine the performance information that was used. A variation of the well-known management cycle (planning, implementation, review, improvement, and accountability) was employed in analysing the results.\ud The findings suggest that the use of performance information has been progressing since the issuance of the regulation concerning the guidelines for preparing and evaluating development planning. The improvement in planning documents, which demonstrate the use of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), laid a foundation for using performance for enhancing performance and accountability. The presence of the KPIs, along with performance targets, drove managers in the three cases examined in this study to improve their performance. Despite the progress of the use of performance information in planning, this study found that managers had limited use of performance information in monitoring and evaluating performance. The focus of monitoring and evaluation mostly targeted the completion of activities (outputs) rather than the results or outcomes of those activities.\ud This study proposes a model for the effective use of performance information. To achieve the benefits of using performance information, nine influencing factors, which can act as barriers or enablers, should be considered: having a clear and comprehensive legal mandate, adequate leadership support, suitable technical capacity, supportive organisational culture, existence of performance measurement systems, availability of resources, adequate information and communication technology, involvement of citizens, and managerial authority to act. The presence of these factors, as enablers, provides groundwork for managers to use performance information in each stage of the management cycle to improve performance and accountability