Performance system design factors that encourage information use: a survey experiment of decision-making by school principals

Performance management scholarship has mostly neglected the behavioural mechanisms through which performance-system design factors – reflecting macro-level institutional and organizational arrangements – shape public managers’ individual-level use of information. We examined such mechanisms by employing a nationwide survey experiment with 394 school principals in Chile that tested how policy-relevant features of the country’s education monitoring system influence their intention to use performance data for decision-making. Our findings show that use intentions increase when managers obtain timely performance information, experience high stakeholder involvement, and have access to training and knowledge-sharing opportunities. However, reporting formats did not affect use intentions. These results provide insights into how targeted adjustments to real-world performance-system design can function as behavioural levers for encouraging evidence-based decision-making by public managers.