Transparency in performance measurement systems: an exploration of rationales and diverging perceptions in the hospital setting

Maik Lachmann (), Rouven Trapp () and Felix Wenger ()
Additional contact information
Maik Lachmann: Technical University of Berlin
Rouven Trapp: Ulm University
Felix Wenger: Dortmund University of Applied Science and Arts

Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, 2024, vol. 35, issue 4, No 1, 467-507

Abstract: Abstract As a consequence of an increasing economization of the healthcare sector, hospitals need to accommodate professional and managerial logics. This paper studies transparency in performance measurement systems (PMSs) and its potential to combine these logics, with the ultimate aim of mitigating tensions commonly observed in hospitals. Based on a multiple case study of four German nonprofit hospitals, we shed light on the administrators’ rationales to incorporate different levels of transparency into PMSs and illuminate the physicians’ perceptions of these different levels and their responses to them. We find that the anticipation of whether PMS transparency will initiate a profit-centric constructive benchmarking, potentially alleviating tensions between administrators and physicians, or result in a rather destructive competition between departments, leading to tensions among physicians, is crucial in administrators’ decisions on PMS transparency. We further detect gaps in the perceptions of administrators and physicians regarding transparency, anchored in issues related to controllability, reliability and comprehensibility. We find that PMS transparency may support physicians in combining professional and managerial logics at the departmental level with potentially adverse implications for departments’ contributions to the organizational objectives. Overall, the evidence provided in this paper reveals the dual nature of PMS transparency, as it may raise tensions among physicians while simultaneously mitigating tensions between physicians and administrators. By exploring the multi-layered dynamics surrounding PMS transparency, we offer a more nuanced account of PMS transparency than prior research and conclude that PMS transparency may not be a panacea in hospitals.

Keywords: Transparency; Hospitals; Performance measurement systems; Enabling controls; Perception gaps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I19 M49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00187-024-00384-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jmgtco:v:35:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s00187-024-00384-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/187

DOI: 10.1007/s00187-024-00384-3

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung is currently edited by Thomas Günther

More articles in Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().