Use and Utilization of Performance Information in Hungary: Exemplary Cases from the Local- Government and the Higher-Education Sectors

Performance information and performance management are usually seen as tools to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of different public-policy programs. Performance management is a hot topic in the post-NPM discourse, however most of the debate is centered on the Western European and Anglo-Saxon models of measurement and evaluation of public services. This paper examines how a Central European country with a strong Rechtsstaat tradition can adapt to the use of performance management, and what patterns we can identify in the actual manifestations of measurement and use of data. The authors argue that even though performance management is not known in Hungary as per defined in the academic literature, there are signs on the ground that PM ideology and actual use are gaining traction in every field of public services, both in central and local governments.