<title>Abstract</title> We review ninety-two studies of public service performance, and analyse in detail those that model the impact of management on both administrative and survey measures of performance. Our review indicates that administrative data typically reflect the performance judgements of government...

<title>Abstract</title> We argue that there are four main dimensions, or faces, of public service efficiency, which should matter to theorists and practitioners of public management. The first, <italic>productive efficiency</italic>, relates to the maximization of outputs over inputs; the second, <italic>allocative efficiency</italic>, refers...

<title>Abstract</title> In this article we argue that public management scholars share a purpose that goes beyond scientific understanding of managerial and organizational behaviour and outcomes. A widespread, if seldom explicitly articulated, assumption in the field is that public management research can...

Civic-republican theories of democracy assume that increased levels of civic engagement lead to good government and better public services. This paper tests this assumption by analysing the impact of civic culture on the rate of failure in English public services between 2002 and 2004. The...

The relationship is analysed between size, local government structure and administrative overheads in English local authorities. Size and structure effects are tested while controlling for a range of other variables, including the relative prosperity of the local population and the diversity of...

Since devolution in 1999, the Welsh assembly government claims to have developed an approach to public services reform which is better suited to the needs of Wales than the English model which relies on a combination of targets, inspection, choice and contestability. Analysis of statutory...