Kenneth A. Klaseetc.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

Abstract

This research is an empirical analysis of the effects of the benchmarking of EfficiencyPerformance Measures on total costs for six Public Works service delivery areasbased on data over the period 1998 to 2011 from municipalities participating in theNorth Carolina Performance Measurement Project, a well-established and nationallyrecognized performance measurement and benchmarking system. The results of thisresearch are significant in providing empirical evidence that the benchmarking ofEfficiency Performance Measures for the six Public Works service delivery areas hadmodestly positive impacts on total cost-effectiveness in a significant percentage of thesePublic Works service delivery areas. The results reflect that management decision-makingutilizing performance measures in a benchmarking context, especially in PublicWorks service delivery areas, can be effective and that performance measurementand benchmarking can achieve identifiable efficiencies and modest improvements incost-effective outcomes in Public Works service delivery areas over time.

Keywords

performance benchmarking, performance measurement, public works performancemeasures, Efficiency Performance Measures, cost-effectiveness of public worksservice delivery

http://sci-hub.org/downloads/6492/klase2014.pdf

Public Works Management & Policy, 1–22©The Author(s) 2014

Reprints and permissions:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1087724X14531103

pwm.sagepub.com