Supporting government performance by capturing the values and expertise of key stakeholders: a delphi/decision support system approach to local revenue planning

Past research suggests that decision-making can be improved by gauging diverse view points from key stakeholders, where a stakeholder is any group or individual that can affect or is affected by the decisions. Two key stakeholders in public policy making are economic experts that can predict the economic consequences of policy decisions, and elected policy-makers who are accountable to the citizens for the outcomes of these decisions. A two-step model combining a Decision Support System and a Delphi type approach is proposed. To test the methodology, the proposed approach was applied to revenue planning in a mid-sized city.