Performance management in primary healthcare services: evidence from a field study

Paulino Silva and Aldónio Ferreira

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 2010, vol. 7, issue 4, 424-449

Abstract: Purpose - There is a growing interest in research focusing on performance management practices in the public sector, but research is still limited with regards to public primary healthcare services (PHSs), which play an important role in national healthcare systems. These organisations are frequently criticised for alleged poor performance management practices and misuse of resources, though such claims are not always substantiated. The purpose of this study is to examine performance management practices in public PHSs. Design/methodology/approach - Three case studies of PHSs organisations were conducted resulting in interview material and archival data. Otley's performance management framework was used to examine the data. Findings - It is found that the performance management systems of the studied PHSs were disjoint and lacked consistency and coherence. Lack of direction and motivational were key issues in PHSs. Furthermore, the observations indicate that vertical controls between PHSs and parent organisation were weak and accountability poor. Research limitations/implications - Generalisability of findings and social desirability bias are the important limitations. A key research implication is that the conceptual framework adopted can be meaningfully used to generate insights into performance management issues in public sector healthcare organisations. Practical implications - The study highlights the implications of the poor design and use of performance management systems and highlights areas for improvement in the organisations studied, and potentially across the sector. Originality/value - This study is the first to draw upon Otley's performance management framework to examine performance management practices in PHSs and to demonstrate its usefulness in this context.

Keywords: Performance management; Health services; Primary care; Public sector organizations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

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:eme:qrampp:v:7:y:2010:i:4:p:424-449

DOI: 10.1108/11766091011094527

Access Statistics for this article

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management is currently edited by Lukas Goretzki and Thomas Ahrens

More articles in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().