The power of comparisons: Peer information as a management tool

While previous research has explored how performance data can influence organizations and considered the factors that shape public managers' use of performance data, we know less about the way in which individual bureaucrats respond to performance information. Considerable research illustrates the power of peer information in a variety of contexts, including energy use, voting, and charitable giving. We suggest that public employees may adjust their behavior in response to information about how their performance compares with their peers. Providing peer information to public employees allows for learning. If alerted to an unflattering comparison, public employees might be motivated to alter their behavior. Using the case of administrative law judges in the Social Security Disability programs, we find evidence that is consistent with the expectation that individual bureaucrats respond to peer information. This study provides insight into whether and how public managers can harness the power of peer information.

[1]  William D. Berry,et al.  Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the U.S. States: A Re-appraisal , 2010, State Politics & Policy Quarterly.

[2]  Asmus Leth Olsen,et al.  Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations , 2017 .

[3]  Noah J. Goldstein,et al.  The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms , 2007, Psychological science.

[4]  H. George Frederickson,et al.  University Rankings: Evidence and a Conceptual Framework , 2016 .

[5]  Carolyn J. Heinrich.  False or fitting recognition? The use of high performance bonuses in motivating organizational achievements , 2007 .

[6]  Martin Bækgaard,et al.  Does Fiscal Austerity Affect Political Decision-Makers’ Use and Perception of Performance Information? , 2016 .

[7]  Nicholas A. Bowman,et al.  College Rankings as an Interorganizational Dependency: Establishing the Foundation for Strategic and Institutional Accounts , 2011 .

[8]  Donald P. Moynihan,et al.  How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy , 2016 .

[9]  Carlos Scartascini,et al.  Tax Compliance and Enforcement in the Pampas: Evidence from a Field Experiment , 2013 .

[10]  Cameron Marlow,et al.  A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization , 2012, Nature.

[11]  Tânia Margarete Mezzomo Keinert,et al.  Reinventing government: how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the public sector , 1993 .

[12]  S. Mullainathan,et al.  Self-Control and the Development of Work Arrangements , 2010, American Economic Review.

[13]  H. Rainey,et al.  Public Agencies and Private Firms , 1983 .

[14]  Florian Ederer,et al.  Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions , 2014 .

[15]  H. Perkins,et al.  The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians. , 2003 .

[16]  Simon Calmar Andersen,et al.  Bureaucratic Investments in Expertise: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Field Trial , 2016, The Journal of Politics.

[17]  Nicholas A. Bowman,et al.  U.S. News & World Report College Rankings: Modeling Institutional Effects on Organizational Reputation , 2009, American Journal of Education.

[18]  S. van Thiel,et al.  The Performance Paradox in the Public Sector , 2002 .

[19]  Chris Arney.  Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness , 2015 .

[20]  Cheng Hsiao,et al.  Analysis of Panel Data , 1987 .

[21]  Keith T. Poole,et al.  RECOVERING A BASIC SPACE FROM A SET OF ISSUE SCALES , 1998 .

[22]  Noah J. Goldstein,et al.  A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels , 2008 .

[23]  Mickael Bech,et al.  Cross-National Yardstick Comparisons: A Choice Experiment on a Forgotten Voter Heuristic , 2015 .

[24]  David N. Ammons,et al.  Benchmarking and Interorganizational Learning in Local Government , 2015 .

[25]  William D. Berry,et al.  Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States , 1998 .

[26]  Andrea Ichino,et al.  Work Environment and Individual Background: Explaining Regional Shirking Differentials in a Large Italian Firm , 1999 .

[27]  Stephen Coleman,et al.  The Minnesota income tax compliance experiment: State tax results , 1996 .

[28]  Daniel Carpenter,et al.  Groups, the Media, Agency Waiting Costs, and FDA Drug Approval , 2002 .

[29]  Giuseppe Grossi,et al.  Appropriateness and Use of Performance Information in the Budgeting Process: Some Experiences from German and Italian Municipalities , 2016 .

[30]  M. Nerlove,et al.  Biases in dynamic models with fixed effects , 1988 .

[31]  H. George Frederickson,et al.  Ranking US Public Affairs Educational Programmes , 2010 .

[32]  E. Moretti,et al.  Peers at Work , 2006, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[33]  Oliver James,et al.  MANAGING CITIZENS' EXPECTATIONS OF PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT , 2011 .

[34]  Stéphane Lavertu,et al.  We All Need Help: “Big Data” and the Mismeasure of Public Administration , 2016 .

[35]  James F. Wilson.  Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It , 1990 .

[36]  Hadley Wickham,et al.  ggplot2 - Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (2nd Edition) , 2017 .

[37]  Sanjay K. Pandey,et al.  The Big Question for Performance Management: Why Do Managers Use Performance Information? , 2010 .

[38]  Jeffrey S. Lubbers,et al.  聯邦行政法法官-美國無形司法體系之透視(Federal Administrative Law Judges: A Focus on Our Invisible Judiciary) , 1982 .

[39]  Edward B. Royzman,et al.  Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion , 2001 .

[40]  B. Frey,et al.  Social Comparisons and Pro-social Behavior: Testing "Conditional Cooperation" in a Field Experiment , 2004 .

[41]  Asmus Leth Olsen,et al.  The Numerical Psychology of Performance Information: Implications for Citizens, Managers, and Policymakers , 2015 .

[42]  W. Espeland,et al.  Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds1 , 2007, American Journal of Sociology.

[43]  Vanessa K. Burrows.  Administrative Law Judges: An Overview , 2010 .

[44]  Matthew E. Kahn,et al.  Energy Conservation "Nudges" and Environmentalist Ideology: Evidence from a Randomized Residential Electricity Field Experiment , 2010 .