Future prospects for performance management in Chinese city governments

Contrasting views are presented on the nature and rationale for public management reforms in China. One school argues that they are strongly influenced by international practice, whereas the other holds that they reflect the characteristics of Chinese politics and administration.The authors explore this proposition in the arena of performance management, where they pay particular attention to whether future prospects for performance management are likely to be associated with international practice or Chinese characteristics. The authors' concern with the future leads them to implement a Delphi study focusing on performance management in city governments, from which they find that performance management has particular Chinese characteristics and that it will continue to be used as a control mechanism. However, expert respondents also indicate the desirability of orienting performance management and evaluation outward to citizens and other key stakeholders, and of enhancing service delivery and performance, in keeping with the international performance management movement. The authors conclude by discussing the research and practice implications of these findings.