Social service as glasshouses? On the use and consequences of the Open Comparison system in Swedish social services

Performance measurement (PM) systems where local governments performance is exposed to public scrutiny have been demanded in many OECD (Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development) countries. The experiences from the Swedish Open Comparisons (OC) system have been highlighted as a particularly interesting case because it bears similarities with both Anglo‐Saxon countries concerning coverage, scope, and transparency, and also with Continental European countries concerning voluntarism, sanctions, and policy sensitivity. The aim of this article is to investigate how managers and senior officials within the Swedish social services use the OC‐system, how they perceive its consequences, and also to understand how their use can be explained. The study is based on concepts identified in previous research on use of performance information. The empirical investigation is based on a survey to 269 managers and senior officials in the social services in randomly selected municipalities. The analysis shows that the OC system is mainly used for reporting to superior levels, identifying needs for improvements, and for evaluating the developments over time. The use is to a high extent determined by if the OC system has a strong support from the local leadership structure, and also if the users perceive it as a reliable and mature system. The users’ perceived consequences of the system concern changed attitudes, forms of governance, and also concrete operational processes.