Strategic planning and performance perceptions of managers and citizens: analysing multiple mediations

Although strategic planning is ubiquitous within public organizations and despite meta-analytical research showing that it impacts performance, important questions about why it does so remain unanswered. This article addresses this gap by identifying the mediators underlying the strategic planning–public service performance relationship. Multi-informant survey data from managers and citizens in 101 Flemish municipalities are analysed using PLS-SEM. The results show that strategic planning has an indirect, positive association with managers’ and citizens’ perceptions of performance via its impact on external relations. An agenda on other mediators and the potential of PLS-SEM for public management research are presented in conclusion.

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