Steering the performance of public institutions

Like other public sector organizations, universities are concerned by reform programs related to the imperatives of development, efficiency research and performance improvement, while at the same time being part of an evolutionary logic aimed at aligning with the best practices and international standards in this area. In this context, management control is emerging as a lever for steering performance and regulating activities and actions. However, the general environment of public organizations makes it difficult to adopt and implement management tools that have long been reserved for the private sphere, and to get all stakeholders to adhere to a performance-based management approach. Through theoretical reflection and empirical evidence, we have tried to understand the extent to which management control systems can influence performance evaluation and steering practices and to verify whether the theoretical expectations of these systems with regard to strengthening the accountability of university managers are true or not.