Elected Executives’ Preferences for Performance Assessment: A Survey Experiment with Colombian Mayors

Elected executives’ preferences for performance indicators when assessing their accomplishments remain scarcely researched despite their potential effects on strategic and managerial decisions. We propose credit-claiming opportunities’ perceptions affect elected executives’ preferences for performance indicators. Thus, preferences should vary with policy area and reporting government level. In a survey-experiment, we asked 243 Colombian mayors to choose their preferred indicator (cost, quantity or quality) to assess program implementation. Mayors are more likely to prefer quantity indicators (most relevant in this context) when implementing infrastructural projects, compared to educational programs that offer less credit-claiming opportunities. No statistical difference exists between monitoring/reporting levels.