A Review on Local Government Performance Measurement and Management Research

In the wake of New Public Management (NPM), the concern for performance management and measurement in the government organizations including the local government has received significant attention. Whether to ensure the civilization and efficiency or to cope with the demand of donor agencies, urge for the performance management and measurement in the local government is seen both in the developed and developing countries. However, debate concerns the ‘instrumentally rational’ performance measurement and evaluation’s value and success in the government organizations including the local government. As a result, the subject gets the attention of the researchers. This paper aims to review the performance management research paradigm in the local government. To review the research, a number of papers from last 40 years have been reviewed. The review finds that several objectives and themes have derived the ‘managerialist’ approach in the local government performance management and evaluation. It is found that most of the researches are undertaken in the developed countries, especially in European and American continents. Although a number of social science theories have been adopted, still a great number of papers lack any theory