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Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwidewww.iias-iisa.org
Call for Papers
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES
rue Defacqz, 1, box 11
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel : +32 2 536 08 80
Fax : +32 2 537 97 02
e-mail :info@iias-iisa.org
EUROPEAN GROUP
FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
f.maron@iias-iisa.org
Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwidewww.iias-iisa.org/egpa
The 2016 Annual Conference of the European Group for Public Administration will
be held in Utrecht, the Netherlands from 24 to 26 August. The event will be preceded by
PhD Symposium on 22 and 23 August.
Co-chairs:
Jostein Askim
University of Oslo, Norway:
jostein.askim@stv.uio.no
Gerhard Hammerschmid
Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany hammerschmid@hertie-school.org
Mirko Noordegraaf
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
m.noordegraaf@uu.nl
Thomas Schillemans
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
T.Schillemans@uu.nl
(Until 2015: Jostein Askim (University of Oslo), Wouter Van Dooren (University of Antwerp)
and Kai Wegrich (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin)).
Thematic orientation 2016-17
The aim of the study group in recent years has been to bring the “performance in the public
sector” research agenda forward by connecting it to governance challenges posed by
scal austerity, emerging forms of collaborative governance and increasing entanglement of
policy tools. In the years 2016-2017, we will attempt to push the research agenda forward
by bringing together two closely related research elds: performance and accountability.
This ambition is reected in changes in study group chairs, and in changes to the study
group’s name.
2016 EGPA Annual Conference
24-26 August – Utrecht, Netherlands
Permanent Study Group II :
Performance and Accountability in the
Public Sector: Plans for 2016-2017
(previously “Performance in the Public Sector”)
Call for Papers 1
Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwidewww.iias-iisa.org/egpa
Call for Papers
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES
rue Defacqz, 1, box 11
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel : +32 2 536 08 80
Fax : +32 2 537 97 02
e-mail :info@iias-iisa.org
EUROPEAN GROUP
FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
f.maron@iias-iisa.org
In recent years, research on performance and research on accountability in the public sector
have both been dominated by the waves of public management reforms transforming
European bureaucracies. On the one hand, there has been a major focus on performance
and performance management systems and the enormous investments in and hopes
for improved performance in the public sector. On the other hand, the restructuring of
government and new provider models for public services relying on third parties of many
sorts (quango’s, privatization, etc.) have thwarted traditional systems of accountability. In
many studies of performance and accountability, the notion of NPM has been highly central.
But, although the practical and intellectual background of those studies was fairly similar,
studies of performance and accountability in the public sector have often been conducted in
separate strands and groups. Accountability studies have had a strong focus on democratic
decits in public service provision, and accountability scholars may have overlooked the
important links, conducive as well as counter-productive, between accountability and
performance. While performance scholars on the other may have had a strong focus on
NPM-reforms and formal performance systems and measurement, while overlooking more
fundamental ethical norms and broader institutional impacts on performance.
One simple reason for bringing performance and accountability research together is that
the two are connected in practice and the societal relevance of the research will improve
if existing studies, scholars and knowledge connect. A second reason is that there have
been great advances in both elds of study, so that it makes sense to expand their horizons
and connect their foci of research. And a third reason is that many studies have been great
at discrediting some of the “great expectations” (Overman 2015) of the NPM-age, yet the
ideas on better and alternative models of or approaches to performance and accountability
are still in its infancy. It is time, thus, we believe, to expand, connect and move forward.
A rst logical step is to try to connect the dots between accountability and performance. This
could be done either theoretically or empirically. How are performance and accountability
connected conceptually? How can we conceive of fruitful – and unfruitful – ways in which
accountability and performance can connect? What can we learn from empirical studies
about the positive and negative ways in which both can interact?
A second logical step is to expand our research focus with new methods, comparing
accountability and performance across countries or sectors, or by introducing new types
of research such as experiments, in order to delve into causal explanations. How can new
types of research help us understand the effects of accountability systems on performance,
or, conversely, the effects of performance on accountability?
A third logical step would be to shift our focus towards new policy issues urgently
demanding improved performance and accountability. Take the current refugee crisis,
putting bureaucracies and politicians under great strain. They have to up their performance
and to nd viable ways of accountability. The global nancial crisis, and the ensuing crisis in
the regulation of nancial markets, is another recent ‘crisis’ where both accountability and
performance were at stake. How can performance and accountability be studied in these
types of settings? And what is the relevance of ndings on performance and accountability
in recent studies for these new and highly contested issues?
In addition to themes specied in each year’s call for papers, the group covers three
standing themes, i.e. themes that through our previous sessions have proven to be of
general importance to the study of performance in the public sector:
Call for Papers 2
Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwidewww.iias-iisa.org/egpa
Call for Papers
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES
rue Defacqz, 1, box 11
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel : +32 2 536 08 80
Fax : +32 2 537 97 02
e-mail :info@iias-iisa.org
EUROPEAN GROUP
FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
f.maron@iias-iisa.org
The politics of performance: What is the role of politics in performance management?
Politics is broadly dened as political activity and thus goes beyond the political institutions.
Relevant topics include, among others: framing contests in the development of performance
measurement and management systems, turf wars in the decision-making about
performance, negotiations between principals and agents about the indicators to be used
to measure performance, progress, compliance etc. in contracts, networks, or policies,
evidence about the scope and real effects of coping strategies developed in reaction to
indicators systems, and political-administrative dynamics that performance management
engenders in organizations.
The use of performance information: Public administrations have been measuring
performance for quite some time now. But is this information actually used, or is performance
measurement mainly a ritualistic exercise detached from organisational reality and policy-
making? A core theme of the study group is the use of performance information: Who is
(not) using performance measurement information, where, when, why and how?
The behavioral effects of performance management: The selection and design of the
indicators, the organization of the measurement process and the way measurement is
embedded in modes of control and accountability matter a lot for how the affected parties
react to such systems. Behavioural coping strategies such as ‘gaming’ and ‘crowding out’
effects (i.e. teaching to the test) have been widely reported and discussed, although their
overall signicance is contested.
Please respect the following deadlines:
For online submission of abstracts proposals through the submission website via the link www.
egpa-conference2016.org under «Registration-Submissions» :15 April 2016
For decision and selection by the co-chairs :5 May 2016
For submitting the complete papers : 31 July 2016
Call for Papers 3