What Factors Predict How Public Sector Projects Perform? A Review of the World Bank's Public Sector Management Portfolio

Blum, Jü ; rgen René

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY;    ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM;    AID;    AID DEPENDENCY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6798
RP-ID  :  WPS6798

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper uses regression analysis toidentify which country context, reform content, process, andproject management variables predict the performance ofpublic sector management projects, as measured by theIndependent Evaluation Group's project outcome ratings.The paper draws on data from a large sample of World Bankpublic sector management projects that were approved between1990 and 2013. It contributes to an emerging literature thatuses cross-country regressions to analyze public sectormanagement reform patterns. The findings suggest thatpolitical context factors have a greater impact on theperformance of public sector management projects than onother projects. Specifically, public sector managementprojects perform better in countries with democratic regimesthan autocratic ones. They fare better in the presence ofprogrammatic political parties and in more aid-dependentcountries. Project managers' subjective riskassessments predict performance in public sector managementoperations better than objective risk indicators. Thesefindings suggest that the performance of public sectormanagement projects would benefit from a better alignment ofproject design with political context and from a more opendialogue about risk between task team leaders and management.