Performance management in a benchmarking regime: Quebec's municipal management indicators

We study the occurrence of performance management in a provincially mandated, yet flexible, municipal performance regime in Quebec. Statistical analyses of the determinants of general, management, budgeting and reporting uses of performance information are performed for 321 municipalities. We combined perception data of uses and internal characteristics with archival data on socioeconomic and political characteristics and performance of municipal services. Our results reveal that the propensity of using performance information is not affected by operating in a small municipality or evolving in a hotly disputed political environment. The strongest predictors of performance management are performance and managerial attitudes facing performance measurement.