Implementation Mode and Local Government Performance Measurement: A Norwegian Experience

This study explores how implementation approaches affect implementation success of performance measurement. A theory is developed using case studies of four projects from Norwegian local government in the period 1983–98. `Implementation mode' is defined as to what extent a system is coupled to organisational objectives during the implementation process. An implementation mode which decouples performance indicators (PIs) from organisational objectives seems to further implementation success. This paradoxical theory of implementation mode gives new insights both relative to classical implementation theory as in MBO, and to theories of loose coupling in implementation and reforms common in the New Institutionalist Theory.