Testing the Predictive Relevance of the Performance Management Antecedents

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the performance management antecedents and organizational performance in the public sector. A study framework developed from the seminal work of David Otley and Anthony Hopwood, as well as thorough review of the extant literature was used to measure the perceptions of the public sector organizations in Nigeria. The study was conducted using primary data. Questionnaires were sent to 85 public sector organizations situated in the north-eastern part of Nigeria. The findings of the study reveals that, the extent of accountability obligation positively affects the performance of organizations. Likewise, the study revealed that, uninterrupted access to information in public organizations positively affects performance. In contrast, performance audit shows no effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector organizations. As a consequence, the study would offer a practical significance of the performance management system to both governments and policymakers alike. It could bring back to focus, a workable approach in curtailing inefficiencies and waste of resources in government. Thus, government organizations would be spurred into actions by strengthening their performance management system. However, the study only covers some antecedents of the performance management. Other antecedents like institutional culture, performance measurement, management support are largely jettisoned. Equally still, the sample size of the study is fairly small. Therefore, other antecedents should be incorporated and larger sample size covering many public sector organizations would be better in future studies. By so doing, a concrete and broad picture would be established with regards to constructs investigated.