Styrning i förändring : En studie av resultatstyrningen av svenska myndigheter och dess utveckling under 2000-talet

This study examines the development of performance-based management in Swedish public administration between 2004 and 2024, with a primary focus on the period 2019-2024. The analysis focuses on the frequency of performance information requests in 66 central government agencies’ appropriation directives during the time period. The data in the period 2019-2024 is coded as a part of this study and later combined with existing dataset all the way back to 2004. This also enables more explanatory claims about differences that will show both over time and between different agencies. The results reveal a downward trend, reaching the lowest point in 2019, followed by a subsequent upward trend that indicates a return to more extensive management by results. This trend corresponds with the political priorities of trust-based management and later shift during the studied period. In a longer perspective the findings reveal a cyclical trend that also has been a characteristic of management by results in other countries. Political salience is highlighted as a main influence on some agencies whose development stands out. The results also indicate notable variations across different types of agencies, with larger agencies generally subject to more extensive management by results. By combining the number of requests for performance information with agency size, this study can show that at the individual level smaller agencies are actually subject to more extensive management by results than most larger ones. This study therefore both contributes with new empirical data and insights into the research field of government steering and specifically management by results in Sweden but may also offer comparative relevance for other countries with similar administrative systems.