Public sector communication and performance management: Drawing inferences from public performance numbers

From a public sector communication perspective, performance management introduces a reliance on quantitative performance information that is intended for both internal and external use. From a communication perspective, it raises the question of how citizens in particular make sense of performance data. The chapter outlines the state of the art on behavioral and experimental research on how citizens’ perception of public services is affected by performance information. These studies show the distinct effect of quantitative data on perception, the role of benchmarks and comparisons, the overreliance on negative information relative to positive information, and the importance of citizens’ own prior beliefs when evaluating performance data. These findings call attention to a need for performance management to rely on psychological insights to understand the effect of performance information when communicating with citizens.