Abstract
Despite considerable progress in understanding the adoption and practice of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a performance management tool in government organisations, how a well‐designed BSC can become a sustainable organisational practice remains under explored and of central importance. Through a qualitative field study carried out within a government agency (Alpha), this paper demonstrates that Alpha's senior management implemented a BSC framework because they believed it would benefit the agency to realise its broader organisational and socio‐economic goals, namely sustainable organisational efficiency and social status. We conclude that an organisation's performance management systems can travel across internal organisational boundaries over time and could be assimilated by organisational actors to become a sustained internal control mechanism in a complex socio‐political setting.
This paper traces the implementation and adaptation of the balanced scorecard (BSC) by a government agency (Alpha) from its introduction by the company's first CEO through to recent times. It offers an understanding of how the BSC has changed over time in improving organisational system efficiency and effectiveness. This study will add to the body of knowledge for the public sector by providing an example of successful BSC adoption and the functionality and sustainability of the model in public sector entities.