Stakeholder Involvement for Public Sector Productivity Enhancement: Strategic Considerations

Measuring public sector productivity has never been an easy task and despite continuous efforts, no simple or single solution has been found. This seems to be mainly due to the intangible nature of public services and the complexity of public service outputs. Yet, in view of the contribution it makes to the economic performance of a country, every public organisation faces the challenge of improving its productivity. In this short paper, we evaluate the various definitions of productivity in view of their implications for public sector productivity measurement and then derive a comprehensive framework that integrates the various understandings and stakeholders. We further discuss the strategic implications for practice of the proposed framework. Our approach is theoretical, although we draw upon both theoretical and empirical research studies. The present effort contributes to the existing debate on the topic of public sector productivity enhancement and should be of interest to both researchers and practitioners alike.