Lifting the veil of Maya: Measuring the implementation gap of public management reforms in Italy
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 26 January 2010
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to build a working definition of public administration's management capacity (PA‐MANCAP) aiming at empirically testing the existence and size of an implementation gap in public management reforms in Italy.
Design/methodology/approach
A confirmatory factor analysis is developed to assess the validity of the proposed operational measure. Data are taken from a survey administered on 204 local governments in Italy.
Findings
The validity of the measure is assessed for all the attributes that conceptualize PA‐MANCAP except for the information and communication technology dimension. Findings from a survey of 102 major Italian municipalities indicate a situation with areas of light and shadow with regard to the implementation of public management reforms in Italy.
Originality/value
The paper presents a valuable insight for both academics and practitioners in order to benchmark the managerial capacity of various local governments and to develop additional quantitative research into the determinants of the implementation gap of public management reforms in Italy and abroad.
Keywords
Citation
Turrini, A., Cristofoli, D., Nasi, G. and Soscia, I. (2010), "Lifting the veil of Maya: Measuring the implementation gap of public management reforms in Italy", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551011012295
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited