If transparency in performance measurement becomes mandatory: towards better accountability?

In most industrialized countries (including Italy), the increasing financial pressure on public organizations and the need for accountability have led to renewed attention on measuring public performance. In Italy, in 2009, the Legislative Decree 150 mandated all public organizations to introduce a ‘performance management cycle’ and publish a performance plan (a multi-year programming tool), a performance report (regarding the results obtained), and a document formalizing the model, the phases, and the timing of the adopted performance measurement system. This paper aims to understand whether transparency obligations in performance measurement correspond to a higher degree of accountability for stakeholders or whether they create greater bureaucracy. This study focuses on Italian public healthcare organizations since they need to be much more accountable towards their stakeholders on the results obtained in comparison to other public organizations. The empirical analysis conducted shows that the legal obligations for transparency in performance measurement are still important in a country with civil law like Italy—but they are not sufficient for improving accountability for stakeholders.