International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management (IJPSPM)
Call for Papers

Special issue on: “The Comparative Analysis of Local Government Performance Measurement Systems: A Global Perspective”

Guest Editors:

• Eric Scorsone, Ph.D., Michigan State University, USA
• Emanuele Padovani Ph.D., University of Bologna, Italy
• Hiraki Tanaka, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, Japan

This is a call for papers regarding local government performance measurement systems for a special edition of the journal International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management. This special edition will be edited by Eric Scorsone (Michigan State University), Emanuele Padovani (University of Bologna) and Hiraki Tanaka (Shizuoka University of Art and Culture). Across the globe, local governments and their brethren regional and national governments, are facing the growing prospect of undertaking performance measurement and management. Extensive research has been conducted over the last two decades on understanding the evolution of performance measurement systems (PMSs), their adoption and, in some cases their effectiveness, both subjective and objective (see for example Poister, 2003). More recently, progress has been made in understanding challenges in measuring and comparing bureaucracies across countries at the national level (see for example, Van de Walle, 2005, 2006). The next stage or evolution in this arena of interest is the comparison of local government performance and bureaucracy. This is particularly important given the continuing push by many international agencies for devolution or decentralization of government functions (for example OECD, 2001). In order to address this lack of a unifying framework, this call for papers seeks work that will build our theoretical, conceptual and empirical understanding of the functioning of local government performance measurement systems and benchmarking efforts across countries and the potential implications of the functioning of such systems on comparisons across countries. Specifically, we are seeking papers that address the topic in the following ways:

• Comparing performance measurement systems across local governments
• Discussions and analysis of cross-national benchmarking projects concerning local governments;
• Theoretical issues connected to the comparison of local public sector performance across countries;
• Consequences at the policy and managerial level of cross-national comparisons;
• Performance measurement in local and regional government in the reporting process to the EU (accountability for funds).

Important Dates

• Submission of full paper before: 1st June, 2008
• Notification of acceptance before: 15 August, 2008
• Submission of final and revised manuscripts: 1st November, 2008

Editors and Notes

You may send one copy in the form of an MS Word file attached to an e-mail (details in Author Guidelines) to the following:

• Eric Scorsone
  homepage: www.aec.msu.edu/faculty/scorsone.htm
  E-mail: scorsone@msu.edu
  
• Emanuele Padovani
  homepage : www2.sa.unibo.it/docenti/emanuele.padovani
  E-mail: emanuele.padovani@unibo.it
• Hiraki Tanaka
  E-mail: hiraki@suac.ac.jp

with a copy to:

• IEL Editorial Office
  E-mail: ijatm@inderscience.com

and:

• Marcel Guenoun
  E-mail: marcel.guenoun@univ-cezanne.fr