Objective and Subjective Performance Measures

Abstract

At least since the late 1970s, the performance measurement literature has used different terminologies to describe agency- and citizen-generated performance measures. The first type of measures are placed into objective and the second type into subjective categories. This article argues that this terminology is outdated owing to evidence on the contextual subjectivity of all performance measures. The analysis also examines the potential impact of the dichotomization on the role accorded citizens in helping to develop public sector performance measures.