This study aims to critically examine the evolution of local government performance evaluation by analysing its theoretical perspectives, research contexts, evaluation characteristics and methodological approaches. It aims to identify structural imbalances that generate a structural lock-in and constrain the normative transformation of performance evaluation. Based on these findings, the study proposes a normative reorientation that repositions performance evaluation as a governance instrument for public value creation.
A critical systematic literature review (SLR) of 131 journal articles was conducted. Bibliometric analysis mapped the development of the literature (RQ1), content analysis classified studies using the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Method (TCCM) framework (RQ2) and the findings were synthesised to derive conceptual implications and future research directions (RQ3).
The literature has evolved from a focus on financial performance and efficiency towards a multidimensional perspective encompassing governance, public value, sustainability and organisational capacity. However, the TCCM synthesis reveals persistent structural imbalances that reinforce a structural lock-in. Performance management and new public management remain dominant; studies are concentrated in developed-country contexts and quantitative approaches continue to prevail. Although public value and sustainability receive increasing attention, they remain weakly integrated into evaluation design.
It provides a conceptual foundation for developing more adaptive, context-sensitive and public-value-oriented evaluation frameworks.
Unlike previous reviews that primarily catalogue tools and indicators, this study integrates a critical SLR and a TCCM-based synthesis to explain how structural imbalances interact to sustain technocratic evaluation practices. It provides a conceptual foundation for developing more adaptive, context-sensitive and public-value-oriented evaluation frameworks.
