What Drives Uptake of a Performance Management Reform in Liberia’s Civil Service?

Background: Well managed public administrators are more productive. Yet, little empirical evidence exists on what constitutes effective employee management systems or how to implement these in low-income countries. This thesis provides novel evidence on the challenges of implementing a collaboration-focused performance management system (PMS) in a more controlling organisational culture, looking at Liberia's civil service.

Methods: The study first explored the impact of training with or without the offer of a monetary reward on PMS adoption, through a cluster randomised controlled trial that was implemented in 2017-2021. 437 bureaucratic units from 28 civil service institutions were randomly allocated to one of six treatment bundles or a control group and intention-to-treat analysis was used to assess treatment effects on adoption. Training was delivered in 2017-2019, either communicating the PMS as mandatory or highlighting its benefits to staff. The reward was linked to PMS use in 2018 and targeted either unit supervisors or all employees in a unit. The study then explored broader factors influencing adoption, using Liberia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) as a case study. 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted in March-April of 2022 with employees from MOH and seven other civil service institutions.

Results: There was no evidence of sustained impact on adoption from any of the training and incentives interventions. The findings from the case study highlighted a disconnect between the PMS design, how it was implemented and its fit in the Liberian context, which deterred adoption. Other factors affecting adoption included external shocks, the lack of reinforcement and limited benefits to using PMS.

Conclusion: The long-term experimental research and qualitative case study presented in this thesis offer a unique exploration into the implementation of PMS in a low-income bureaucracy. The results highlight the need for a wholesale approach to institutionalising new public reforms that address contextual challenges.