Performance-based funding and resource allocation systems. An empirical analysis in Italian Universities
This article presents the results of an empirical research aimed to investigate the relationship between performance-based funding (PBF) systems and resource allocation systems within public sector organizations. This research is focused on the mechanisms for allocation of new faculty positions in Italian public universities, which are characterized by an increasing relevance of PBF over the last years. This context allows us to assess both the coherence between universities’ performance measurement systems and the PBF system and the awareness of its effects. Results show, with few exceptions, a high degree of maturity in the design of universities performance measurement systems. These systems have been primarily designed to be consistent with universities’ organizational context and strategies so avoiding a simplistic transposition of performance indicators drawn from the PBF system.
Keywords: higher education, public universities, performance measurement systems, performance-based funding, resource allocation.
