Relevant Research to Reinvigorate the Performance Movement: Critical Reflection and Hopeful Advancement – A Symposium and Special Issue Organized by Public Performance & Management Review (PPMR)

Call for Papers

Special Issue: Relevant Research to Reinvigorate the Performance Movement: Critical Reflection and Hopeful Advancement – A Symposium and Special Issue Organized by Public Performance & Management Review (PPMR)

Journal

Public Performance & Management Review

Publisher

Taylor & Francis Group

Manuscript Deadline

15 August 2026

About the Special Issue

Public Performance & Management Review (PPMR) invites submissions for its Special Issue titled "Relevant Research to Reinvigorate the Performance Movement: Critical Reflection and Hopeful Advancement."

Performance management has long been a cornerstone of public sector reforms worldwide, driving improvements in accountability, efficiency, transparency, and evidence-based governance. However, in recent years, performance management has gradually lost prominence in many reform agendas and has often been absorbed into broader concepts such as data-driven governance and evidence-based policymaking.

This Special Issue seeks to critically examine the current state of performance management research and practice while identifying pathways to revitalize the performance movement. It encourages scholars and practitioners to reflect on how performance research can once again become practically relevant, theoretically innovative, and responsive to contemporary governance challenges.

The issue welcomes international perspectives that explore how performance management has evolved across different countries and governance systems, while also investigating the role researchers, institutions, and policymakers can play in shaping the future of performance management. Contributions addressing emerging technologies, particularly Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), digital governance, public value, equity, trust, and democratic accountability, are especially encouraged.

Scope and Topics of Interest

Submissions may address, but are not limited to:

• Reimagining knowledge production in performance management

• Bridging the research–practice gap in public management

• Evolution of performance measurement and performance regimes across countries

• Comparative studies of public sector performance reforms

• Governance cultures and institutional performance systems

• Public sector accountability and evidence-based policymaking

• Future research agendas in performance management

• Public values including equity, trust, transparency, and democracy

• Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in performance management

• Digital transformation of public administration

• Comparative, conceptual, empirical, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research

• Critical, interpretive, constructivist, and postmodern perspectives on public performance

• Research highlighting historically marginalized voices and institutional diversity in public administration

Submission Guidelines

• Manuscripts should be submitted through the Public Performance & Management Review (PPMR) online submission portal.

• During submission, authors should select the Special Issue title.

• All submissions will undergo the journal's standard peer-review process.

• Comparative, empirical, conceptual, theoretical, and interdisciplinary studies are all welcome.

• For queries regarding the Special Issue, authors may contact the Guest Editor directly.

Guest Editor

• Kaifeng Yang, Rutgers University–Newark, USA

Important Date

• Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 August 2026

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