TY - JOUR
AU1 - Van de Walle, Steven
AB - Purpose  A number of studies and indicators have ranked European countries in terms of the performance of their public sectors. This paper aims to demonstrate that there are important conceptual problems with such rankings and comparisons.Designmethodologyapproach  Using the existing indicators, the paper first shows how European countries' public sectors are ranked. It then goes on to show how conceptual problems with these indicators may lead to incorrect conclusions.Findings  Countries' public sector performance cannot be summarised using a single indicator because of inability to define the public sector and the disagreement on what it means for public sectors to perform.Practical implications  Despite increasing demand and supply in policy circles for international public sector indicators, the existing ones are unreliable.Originalityvalue  This paper extends the assessment of international public sector indicators beyond a mere technical evaluation.
TI - Comparing the performance of national public sectors conceptual problems
JF - International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
DO - 10.1108/17410400810867535
DA - 2008-04-25
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/emerald-publishing/comparing-the-performance-of-national-public-sectors-conceptual-1EMShJI8lA
SP - 329
EP - 338
VL - 57
IS - 4
DP - DeepDyve
ER -