| The American policy making process is characterized by democratic participation. In our pluralist society, several interest groups interact to influence policy outcomes. Participation by interest groups in administrative decision making is not as commonplace. Yet the impacts of administrative decisions affect the lives of all stakeholders.; In recent years, several scholars have suggested that stakeholders should be involved in the process whereby performance measures for public sector programs are developed. Argumentation in support of the stakeholder approach is that such a process will result in more meaningful performance measures.; This study examined the assumptions of the stakeholder approach which suggest that different stakeholder groups have varying perspectives on what constitutes good performance. Also examined is the corollary assumption that within-group perspectives will be similar. Seventy-four individuals were interviewed, representing four stakeholder perspectives--administrators, professional employees, clientele, and the public. The subjects were asked for their opinions on the utility and use of existing performance measures and on how performance should be measured. Statistical tests were conducted to determine whether differences exist among the groups. Within-group agreement was classified according to "high", "moderate" and "low".; Regarding differences among stakeholder groups, results indicated more similarity among the group opinions than expected. Results of the overall rank order preferences by the groups for questions on how performance measures are and should be used, the utility and importance of existing measures, and suggestions for measures were all very similar. There were some significantly different percentage variations, however, for some of the questions. In some cases the differences related to role relationships or "internal"/"external" group classifications, but in other cases no such relationship exists.; Within-group difference patterns were the same for all of the groups. Typically there was high within-group agreement for questions which asked for opinions regarding generic aspects of performance measures (utility, how they are and should be used). For questions which focused on specific performance measures or asked for suggestions for specific measures, agreement levels were only moderate to low.; This study succeeded in generating empirical data towards verifying the underlying framework of the stakeholder approach. Since the results did not confirm the basic tenets of the approach, the study has pointed out the need to further clarify the relevancy of the approach to the performance measurement process and to establish more clearly how to define stakeholder groups. The results suggest that the stakeholder approach to performance measurement is very likely to be contextually rather than universally applicable. |
