What Factors Predict How Public Sector Projects Perform? A Review of the World Bank's Public Sector Management Portfolio
This paper uses regression analysis to identify which country context, reform content, process, and project management variables predict the performance of public sector management projects, as measured by the Independent Evaluation Group's pr...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/03/19193740/factors-predict-public-sector-projects-perform-review-world-banks-public-sector-management-portfolio http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17299 |
| Summary: | This paper uses regression analysis to
identify which country context, reform content, process, and
project management variables predict the performance of
public sector management projects, as measured by the
Independent Evaluation Group's project outcome ratings.
The paper draws on data from a large sample of World Bank
public sector management projects that were approved between
1990 and 2013. It contributes to an emerging literature that
uses cross-country regressions to analyze public sector
management reform patterns. The findings suggest that
political context factors have a greater impact on the
performance of public sector management projects than on
other projects. Specifically, public sector management
projects perform better in countries with democratic regimes
than autocratic ones. They fare better in the presence of
programmatic political parties and in more aid-dependent
countries. Project managers' subjective risk
assessments predict performance in public sector management
operations better than objective risk indicators. These
findings suggest that the performance of public sector
management projects would benefit from a better alignment of
project design with political context and from a more open
dialogue about risk between task team leaders and management. |
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