Publications

Financialization beyond partnerships: Real estate investment trusts in elderly care

The financial services sector is increasingly involved in managing social services, with real estate investment trusts (REITs) serving …

Simon Demuynck, Wouter Van Dooren

Does enforcement style influence citizen trust in regulatory agencies? An experiment in six countries

The study finds that regulatory enforcement styles have minimal impact on citizen trust, with only slight positive effects for strict …

Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen, Marija Aleksovska, Judith van Erp, Sharon Gilad, Libby Maman, Tobias Bach, Moritz Kappler, Wouter Van Dooren, Rahel M. Schomaker, Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen

Performing policy conflict: A dramaturgical analysis of public participation in contentious urban planning projects

This research uses a dramaturgical approach to examine how the performances and staging of public participation shape policy conflicts, …

Lisa De Roeck, Wouter Van Dooren

Do citizens trust trustworthy artificial intelligence? Experimental evidence on the limits of ethical AI measures in government

This article investigates the relation between policy conflict and trust erosion. We find that in a trust-erosion context, practices to …

Bjorn Kleizen, Wouter Van Dooren, Koen Verhoest, Evrim Tan

The consistency of question-order bias in a changing political context: Six large-scale surveys on trust and perceptions of pandemic governance effectiveness

TThis study examines the issue of question-order bias in surveys by conducting six question-order experiments in large-scale Belgian …

Wouter Van Dooren, Morten Hjortskov, Steven F. De Vadder, Koen Verhoest

Is everything under control? An experimental study on how control over data influences trust in and support for major governmental data exchange projects

An online survey experiment examined how providing citizens with information about and direct control over their personal data affects …

Bjorn Kleizen, Wouter Van Dooren

Is everything under control? An experimental study on how control over data influences trust in and support for major governmental data exchange projects

The study investigates whether giving citizens control over their personal data can boost trust and support for data-driven governance. …

Bjorn Kleizen, Wouter Van Dooren

No evidence for ethnic discrimination in the nonprofit sector: an audit study of access to nursing homes

This study investigates discrimination within the nonprofit sector, focusing on long-term care facilities for the elderly in Flanders, …

Wouter Van Dooren, Sebastian Jilke

Fatal remedies. How dealing with policy conflict can backfire in a context of trust-erosion

This article investigates the relation between policy conflict and trust erosion. We find that in a trust-erosion context, practices to …

Eva Wolf, Wouter Van Dooren

Health Crisis Measures and Standards for Fair Decision-Making: A Normative and Empirical- Based Account of the Interplay Between Science, Politics and Courts

This paper examines, in the light of the COVID-19 crisis, the room for judicial oversight of health crisis measures based on the …

Patricia Popelier, Bjorn Kleizen, Carolyn Declerq, Monika Glavina, Wouter Van Dooren

Chameleonic knowledge: a study of ex ante analysis in large infrastructure policy processes

Using ex ante analysis to predict policy outcomes is common practice in the world of infra- structure planning. However, accounts of …

Lars Dorren, Wouter Van Dooren

Staging Science: Authoritativeness and Fragility of Models and Measurement in the COVID-19 Crisis

In the COVID-19 crisis, society pins its hopes on science to play an authoritative role in reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. But is …

Wouter Van Dooren, Mirko Noordegraaf

Using numbers that do not count: how the latent functions of performance indicators explain their success

Performance indicators have had to endure severe criticism. They are said to lack accuracy, encourage gaming and ultimately fail to …

Shirley Kempeneer, Wouter Van Dooren

The Incommensurables: The arduous art of making a regulatory indicator

The stress test of the European Central Bank has become one of the primary regulatory tools for the European banking system. In order …

Shirley Kempeneer, Wouter Van Dooren

Public opposition and the neighborhood effect: How social interaction explains protest against a large infrastructure project

Social acceptance is a key variable in predicting protest against infrastructure projects. However, the social mechanisms that explain …

Tom Coppens, Wouter Van Dooren, Peter Thijssen

Linking turnover to organizational performance: the role of process conformance

Despite substantial evidence for the negative effect of turnover on performance, several studies also note offsetting positive effects …

Jan Wynen, Wouter Van Dooren, Jan Mattijs, Carl Deschamps

Thirty Years of Performance Research at the European Group of Public Administration

This chapter discusses the thematic transformation of the performance study group at EGPA. We use the conference venues as lieux de …

Wouter Van Dooren, Jostein Askim, Steven Van de Walle

Performance management in Europe: An idea whose time has come and gone?

The focus of New Public Management on measurement and indicators fits in a long tradition of measurement and state building. Yet, in …

Wouter Van Dooren, Conny Hoffmann

Discrimination and Administrative Burden in Public Service Markets: Does a Public–Private Difference Exist?

Public services are often provided in markets where both public and private providers operate. Irrespective of ownership status, public …

Sebastian Jilke, Wouter Van Dooren, Sabine Rys

Conflict reconsidered: The boomerang effect of depoliticization in the policy process

This article argues that the efforts of policymakers to avoid conflict in the short run can be counterproductive in the long run. Not …

Eva Wolf, Wouter Van Dooren

Ten lessons from ten years PPP experience in Belgium

In 2004 Flanders, the northern region of Belgium launched a range of large public-private partnership (PPP) projects for a total value …

Tom Willems, Koen Verhoest, Joris Voets, Tom Coppens, Wouter Van Dooren, Martijn van den Hurk

PPP policy, depoliticisation, and anti-politics

This article disentangles the complex relationship between depoliticisation and anti-politics in public-private partnership (PPP) …

Tom Willems, Wouter Van Dooren, Martijn van den Hurk

'Time to move on' or 'taking more time'? How disregarding multiple perspectives on time can increase policy-making conflict

This article argues that when different perspectives on time remain disregarded in a public policy debate, policy-making conflict can …

Eva Wolf, Wouter Van Dooren

How Policies Become Contested: A Spiral of Imagination and Evidence in a Large Infrastructure Project

This article investigates how framing processes lead to polarization in the public debate on a large infrastructure project. Drawing on …

Eva Wolf, Wouter Van Dooren

Multiple accountabilities in public-private partnerships (PPPs): how to unravel the accountability paradox?

Both in the academic literature and popular press, more horizontal and hybrid forms of governance such as public-private partnerships …

Wouter Van Dooren, Tom Willems

Thinking allowed: reforming indicator-based accountability to enhance innovation

Wouter Van Dooren, Tom Willems

Going online. Does ICT enabled-participation engage the young in local governance?

Local governments increasingly use online strategies to strengthen political participation of citizens in policy and politics. Young …

Peter Thijssen, Wouter Van Dooren

Towards good enough measurement: sick leave statistics as a case of the measurement challenges in comparative public performance

This paper puts forward suggestions on how to deal with typical problems found in international comparisons of governance, illustrated …

Cornelia Hoffmann, Wouter Van Dooren

Who you are/where you live: do neighbourhood characteristics explain co-production?

Co-production establishes an interactive relationship between citizens and public service providers. Successful co-production hence …

Peter Thijssen, Wouter Van Dooren

Autonomy and reregulation: explaining dynamics in the Flemish social housing sector

The autonomy of agencies often seems to trigger reregulation of those agencies. Reregulation has two dimensions: the layering of …

Wouter Van Dooren, Joris Voets, Sien Winters

Performance management in the public sector

Tackling the key topics of reform and modernization, this important new book systematically examines performance in public management …

Wouter Van Dooren, Geert Bouckaert, John Halligan

How to measure public administration performance: a conceptual model with applications for budgeting, human resources management, and open government

The economic crisis provides some insights on the role of measurement systems. As shown by the ongoing discussion of credit rating …

Wouter Van Dooren, Chiara De Caluwé, Zsuzsanna Lonti

Better performance management: some single- and double-loop strategies

New Public Management set off a new wave of performance management efforts in government. Recent performance literature has documented …

Wouter Van Dooren

(De)politicization dynamics in public-private partnerships (PPPs): lessons from a comparison between UK and Flemish PPP policy

This article analyses the (de)politicization dynamics in complex and technical matters like publicprivate partnerships, which is …

Tom Willems, Wouter Van Dooren

Mind-sets of boundaryless careers in the public sector: the vanguard of a more mobile workforce?

Public management reforms have promoted a new type of public career: boundaryless employees following lateral career trajectories in …

Chiara De Caluwé, Wouter Van Dooren, Anita Delafortry, Ria Janvier

How to measure leader's impact on organizational performance: implications from the comparative case study

The link between leadership and organizational performance has been a controversial issue. On the basis of the critique of previous …

Xuanhui Liu, Wouter Van Dooren

Small is beautiful? Lessons from a decade of decentralisation in Antwerp

This discussion paper analyses the intra-municipal decentralisation process in Antwerp and evaluates the working of the districts, …

Wouter Van Dooren, Dave Sinardet

The sound of silence: silent ideologies in public services

Political ideology is generally seen to be very outspoken. Animated debates are considered the core of democratic decision making. …

Wouter Van Dooren, Cor Van Montfort, Ank Michels

Coming to terms with accountability: combining multiple forums and functions

In this article, we develop a theoretical argument that leads to a more optimistic outlook on the present state of accountability. By …

Tom Willems, Wouter Van Dooren

Performance information in the public sector: how it is used

Performance information has long permeated the public sector. The actual use of performance information however has long been taken for …

Wouter Van Dooren, Steven Van de Walle

Lost in diffusion? How collaborative arrangements lead to an accountability paradox

Several authors have documented a shift from traditional bureaucracies to collaborative arrangements with joint public and private …

Tom Willems, Wouter Van Dooren

In search of network performance

Networks are many things, but certainly an important feature in contemporary government. In an era of collaboration, as Agranoff and …

Joris Voets, Wouter Van Dooren

Talk as action: exploring discursive dimensions of welfare state reform

In many New Public Management reforms a direct and causal one-to-one relationship is assumed between reform and better performance. …

Peter Hupe, Wouter Van Dooren

How is information used to improve performance in the public sector? Exploring the dynamics of performance information

In this chapter, we challenge the assumption of a direct relationship between the existence and availability of information, and its …

Steven Van de Walle, Wouter Van Dooren

The quality of local governance: ranking local governments in Belgium

Over the last years, there have been several research efforts to measure the quality of governance of nations (e.g., World Bank’s …

Steven van Roosbroek, Wouter Van Dooren

A politico-administrative agenda for progress in social measurement: reforming the calculation of government's contribution to GDP

This article is about progress in social measurement. I argue that, to improve measurement practices, we must supplement the technical …

Wouter Van Dooren

A framework for assessing the performance of policy networks

This article deals with the question of how to assess policy network performance. We propose three dimensions of policy network …

Joris Voets, Wouter Van Dooren, Filip de Rynck

Nothing new under the sun? Utilisation of performance information before and after NPM

Wouter Van Dooren

Performance measurement and management in public sector organisations

Geert Bouckaert, Wouter Van Dooren

Quality and performance management: toward a better integration?

Wouter Van Dooren

Performance measurement in the Flemish public sector: a supply and demand approach

The PhD studies performance measurement in the public sector organisations. We made a distinction between the production process of …

Wouter Van Dooren

Financial management reforms after a political shift: A transformative perspective

The purpose of the article is to study the transformation of reform discourse after a major political shift and to discuss some of the …

Wouter Van Dooren, Miekatrien Sterck

What makes organisations measure? Hypotheses on the causes and conditions for performance measurement

Wouter Van Dooren

Supply and demand of policy indicators: a cross-sectoral comparison

The amount of measurement in the public sector in Europe is increasing. The United Kingdom in particular may be proclaimed the most …

Wouter Van Dooren

Why do Belgian public agencies use the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

Public sector organisations throughout Europe are increasingly applying quality models such as the EFQM Business Excellence Model, the …

Wouter Van Dooren, Steven Van de Walle

Quality management and the management of quality in European public administrations

Wouter Van Dooren, Nick Thijs, Geert Bouckaert

Public administration

Steven Van de Walle, Miekatrien Sterck, Wouter Van Dooren, Geert Bouckaert, Evert Pommer

Trajectories for modernizing local governance: Revisiting the Flanders case

Local government plays a central but altering role in local governance. Together with the shift from a night-watchman state to a …

Geert Bouckaert, Wouter Van Dooren, Bram Verschuere, Joris Voets, Ellen Wayenberg