The evaluation of "well-being" performance: On what to base decisions in the public context?

Journal title WELFARE E ERGONOMIA
Author/s Paolo Ricci, Renato Civitillo
Publishing Year 2020 Issue 2019/2
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 31-46 File size 241 KB
DOI 10.3280/WE2019-002003
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The multifaceted nature of the concept of "well-being" entails inevitable consequences starting from its definition, to the point of inducing potential interpretative ambiguities: on the one hand, it can be considered a function of people’s prosperity conditions; on the other hand, however, it can be framed according to the economic context. Despite the coexistence of both the aspects just mentioned, the economic dimension has always substantially prevailed over the psycho-physical one, determining evaluation processes of the "hierarchical" performances according to merely quantitative variables (money, profit, GDP, etc.). In this perspective, this work attempts to contextualise the "well-being performanc" in the public context, illustrating the critical issues related to its measurement and evaluation as well as the potential attempts to overcome it: the indicators of Fair and Sustainable Wellness (BES, in Italian), at a macro-economic level and conceptualization of "Balance in Value" ("Bilancio in Valore", in Italian), at a micro-economic level.

Keywords: Well-being; BES; performance; financialization; accountability.

  1. Boivard T. (1996), The political Economy of Performance Management. In: Halachmi A. and Bouckaert G., editors, Organizational Performance and Measurement in the Public Sector: Toward Service, Efforts and Accomplishment Reporting. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
  2. Borgonovi E. (2007). Il valore aggiunto delle amministrazioni pubbliche. Azienda Pubblica, 4.
  3. Borgonovi E. (2005). Principi e sistemi aziendali per le amministrazioni pubbliche. Milano: Egea.
  4. Bouckaert G. and Halligan J. (2008). Managing Performance. International comparisons. Oxon: Routledge.
  5. Bozeman B. (2007). Public Values and Public Interest: Counterbalancing Economic Individualism. Georgetown University Press.
  6. Bruni L. e Zamagni S. (2015). L’economia civile. Un’altra idea di mercato. Bologna: il Mulino.
  7. Cobb C., Halstead T. and Rowe J. (1995). The Genuine Progress Indicator. Summary of Data and Methodology. San Francisco, Ca.: Redefining Progress.
  8. Cobb J. and Daly H. (1989). For the common good, redirecting the economy toward community, the environment and a sustainable future. Boston: Beacon Press.
  9. Davis G.F. and Kim S. (2015). Financialization of the Economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 41: 203-221.
  10. Etzioni A. (1964). Modern organizations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
  11. Farneti G. (2000). Dalla parte degli ottimisti, ma con cautela. Azienditalia, 1: 7-8.
  12. Ferlie E., Lynn L.E. Jr. and Pollitt C., editors (2005). The Oxford handbook of public management. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
  13. Ford J.D. and Schellenberg D.A. (1982). Conceptual Issues in the Assessment of Organizational Performance. Academy of Management Review, 7(1): 49-58.
  14. Hall J., Giovannini E., Morrone A. and Ranuzzi G. (2010). A Framework to Measure the Progress of Societies. OECD Statistics Working Papers, 2010/5, OECD Publishing.
  15. Holzer M. and Yang K. (2004). Performance measurement and improvement: An assessment of the state of the art. International Review of Administrative Studies, 70(1): 15-31.
  16. ISTAT (2018). BES 2018. Il benessere equo e sostenibile in Italia. Roma: Istituto nazionale di statistica.
  17. Jones R. and Pendlebury M. (2010). Public sector accounting. London: Pearson Prentice Hall.
  18. Kelly G., Mulgan G. and Meurs S. (2002). Creating Public Value: An Analytical Framework for Public Service Reform, Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office. -- Testo disponibile al sito: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407180305/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/strategy/assets/public_value2.pdf.
  19. Krippner G.R. (2005). The financialization of the American economy. Socio-economic review, 3(2): 173-208.
  20. Lawn P.A. (2003). A theoretical foundation to support the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and other related indexes. Ecological Economics, 44(1): 105-118.
  21. Lawn P.A. and Sanders R.D. (1999). Has Australia surpassed its optimal macroeconomic scale? Finding out with the aid of benefit and cost accounts and a sustainable net benefit index, Ecological Economics, 28(2): 213-229.
  22. Liguori M., Sicilia M. and Steccolini I. (2012). Some like it non-financial…Politicians’ and managers’ views on the importance of performance information, Public Management Review, 14(7): 903-22.
  23. Maiocchi M., Ricci P. e Turconi G. (2019). Bilancio in Valore. Come si misura un’ora di gioia? Rimini: Maggioli Editore.
  24. Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (2019). Relazione sugli indicatori di Benessere Equo e Sostenibile 2019.
  25. Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (2018). Relazione sugli indicatori di Benessere Equo e Sostenibile 2018.
  26. Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (2017). Documento di Economia e Finanza. Allegato Il Benessere equo e sostenibile nel processo decisionale.
  27. Monteduro F. e Hinna L. (2007). La misurazione delle performance: cos’è e come utilizzarla nelle decisioni. In: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento della Funzione Pubblica, Misurare per decidere: la misurazione della performance per migliorare le politiche pubbliche ed i servizi. Soveria Mannelli: Rubettino.
  28. Moore M. (1995). Creating Public Value. Harvard University Press.
  29. Nordhaus W.D. and Tobin J. (1972). Is growth obsolete? In: Economic Research: Retrospect and prospect, Volume 5, Economic growth. Nber.
  30. Pigou A.C. (1920). The Economic of Welfare. London: Macmillan and Co.
  31. Ricci P. (2016). Accountability. In: Farazmad A., editor, Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration. Public Policy and Governance. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
  32. Ricci P. and Civitillo R. (2018). Italian Public Administration Reform: What are the Limits of Financial Performance Measures? In: Outcome-Based Performance Management in the Public Sector. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 121-140.
  33. Scherer A.G., Rasche A., Palazzo G. and Spicer A. (2016). Managing for political corporate social responsibility: New challenges and directions for PCSR 2.0. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3): 273-298.
  34. Stiglitz J.E., Sen A. and Fitoussi J.P. (2010). La misura sbagliata delle nostre vite. Milano: Etas.
  35. Stiglitz J.E., Sen A. and Fitoussi J.P. (2009). The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited: reflections and overview. hal-01069384. Testo disponibile al sito: https://hal-sciencespo.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01069384/document.
  36. Stoker G. (2006). Public value management: a new narrative for networked governance? American Review of Public Administration, 36(1): 41-57.
  37. Talbot C. (2005). Performance Management. In: Ferlie E., Lynn L.E. Jr. and Pollitt C., editors, The Oxford Handbook of Public Management. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
  38. UNDP (1990–2004). Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.
  39. Yuchtman E. and Seashore S.E. (1967). A system resource approach to organizational effectiveness. American Sociological Review, 32: 891-903.
  40. Ziruolo A., Deidda Gagliardo E., Bigoni M. e Novelli N. (2015). Il performance measurement nel Contratto di Servizio del Trasporto Pubblico Locale. Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale, 10-12: 368-391.

  • Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management Renato Civitillo, pp.28 (ISBN:978-3-031-25983-8)
  • Introduzione Marco Musella, Paolo Ricci, Benedetta Siboni, in WELFARE E ERGONOMIA 2/2023 pp.7
    DOI: 10.3280/WE2022-002001
  • Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management Renato Civitillo, pp.1 (ISBN:978-3-030-02006-4)

Paolo Ricci, Renato Civitillo, La valutazione della performance "Benessere": su cosa fondare le decisioni in ambito pubblico? in "WELFARE E ERGONOMIA" 2/2019, pp 31-46, DOI: 10.3280/WE2019-002003