L’accountability costituisce il principale “contrappeso” alla delega di potere sottesa al momento: (a) di traduzione dei bisogni della collettività in obiettivi delle aziende pubbliche; (b) di determinazione delle risorse fi nanziarie prelevate dalla collettività; (c) di controllo dell’appropriatezza, dell’efficienza e dell’efficacia dell’impiego di tali risorse collettive. I processi di riforma della pubblica amministrazione (p.a.) hanno determinato a livello internazionale l’evoluzione dell’accountability da logiche compliance-based a logiche performance-based. Tale evoluzione è stata indicata dagli studi teorici e accreditata dalla retorica politico-manageriale come una delle principali leve in grado di determinare un incremento dell’effi cacia e dell’effi cienza della p.a. Il presente contributo cerca di colmare la carenza di studi empirici di tipo quantitativo e comparativo che indagano tale relazione mediante un’analisi empirica che applica tecniche di analisi statistica bivariata e multivariata ad un campione costituito da 38 Paesi, di cui 28 aderenti all’OCSE. L’analisi porta a confermare l’esistenza di una correlazione positiva tra performance-based accountability ed effi cacia della p.a.
Accountability counterbalances the delegation of power when: (a) the aims of public organizations are defi ned with reference to the general interest; (b) public money is collected; (c) legitimacy, effi -ciency and effectiveness of public expenditure are assessed. As a consequence of the international public sector modernisation, public accountability arrangements shifted from compliance-based to performance-based. Theoretical studies and political/managerial rhetoric use performance-based accountability as the main lever for enhancing public sector effectiveness. Despite that, quantitative and comparative empirical studies on the matter are surprisingly lacking. This article aims to fi ll this gap carrying out an empirical analysis. Bivariate and multivariate statistical methods have been applied to a sample of 38 governments, 28 of which are OECD members. A positive correlation between performance-based accountability and government effectiveness have been confi rmed by the empirical analysis.
Accountability counterbalances the delegation of power when: (a) the aims of public organizations are defi ned with reference to the general interest; (b) public money is collected; (c) legitimacy, effi -ciency and effectiveness of public expenditure are assessed. As a consequence of the international public sector modernisation, public accountability arrangements shifted from compliance-based to performance-based. Theoretical studies and political/managerial rhetoric use performance-based accountability as the main lever for enhancing public sector effectiveness. Despite that, quantitative and comparative empirical studies on the matter are surprisingly lacking. This article aims to fi ll this gap carrying out an empirical analysis. Bivariate and multivariate statistical methods have been applied to a sample of 38 governments, 28 of which are OECD members. A positive correlation between performance-based accountability and government effectiveness have been confi rmed by the empirical analysis.
