Perceived goal importance, knowledge and accessibility of performance information: Testing mediation and moderation effects on medical professionals’ achievement of performance targets1

Abstract

This article contributes to prior accounting and public management research on performance measurement systems’ (PMSs) effectiveness in professional organisations, exploring how medical professionals’ perception regarding goal importance, knowledge of performance information, and accessibility of performance information affect their achievement of individual-level performance targets. The study draws on primary and secondary data from 128 Italian public healthcare professionals about their perceptions of performance information and their factual performance. The findings show that perceived goal importance is positively related to one's knowledge of individual and peer performance information; that this relation is positively moderated by perceived information accessibility, and that knowledge of individual (but not peer) performance information fully mediates the relation between perceived goal importance and achievement of individual-level performance targets.