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This article presents the first empirical test of Wildavsky's model of self-evaluation by public organizations. We elucidate Wildavsky's arguments and identify six variables that have theoretical effects on self-evaluation. A statistical model that incorporates these variables explains 46 percent of the variation in self-evaluation. The evidence suggests that self-evaluation is positively related to leadership support and employee involvement, and negatively related to the number of organizational sub-units undertaking evaluation at the same time. Refinements to the Wildavsky model are proposed, and conclusions are drawn on the theory and practice of self-evaluation by public organizations.
In a discursive paper written three decades ago, Wildavsky (1972, 509) asks, "why do most organizations fail to evaluate their own activities?" Initially, he argues that it is desirable for organizations to engage in extensive evaluation, but after considering the requirements of self-evaluation and the tensions between organizational design and evaluation, he states more cautiously that a "little more" rather than a "little less" evaluation is desirable (1972, 517). Wildavsky's model of self-evaluation is intended to apply not only to U.S. national government agencies, but to all "ordinary, everyday organization[s|" (Nienaber and Wildavsky 1973, 9). Today, Wildavsky's paper is of particular interest because public organizations face increasing pressure to improve performance, and, in the United States and elsewhere, they are required to evaluate their activities. For instance, the National Performance Review report has resulted in a significant emphasis on self-evaluation (Kettl and DiIulio 1995), and recent legislation in the United Kingdom requires local authorities to undertake regular, fundamental reviews of their activities (Boyne et al. 1999; Martin 2000). These policies are based on the assumption that all public organizations are capable of self-evaluation. But are they? What differentiates those that engage in evaluation from those that do not? In other words, what are the organizational preconditions for self-evaluation?
Wildavsky proposes that the extent of self-evaluation in public organizations is influenced by six variables. To date, his model has been accepted on the basis of face validity rather than empirical evidence (Rosenthal 1984; Ford and Baucus 1987; Love 1991; Behn 1995). A meta-analysis of research on arguments that are similar to Wildavsky's, such as those concerning business process reengineering and total quality management, could be used to assess support for his...