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Beyond non-utilization of evaluations: An institutional perspective

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Knowledge, Technology & Policy

Abstract

Evaluations are spreading over a number of policy areas and are being integrated into administrative routines on many levels in organizations. Yet, a central finding in evaluation research is that the utilization of evaluations is limited. As an alternative to conventional rational and political approaches the paper explores how an institutionalist perspective explains this paradox. This article argues that the institutionalist perspective is useful in showing how evaluation procedures are symbolically appropriate in our age of “reflexive modernization”; explaining a number of empirical findings about the actual (non-)utilization of evaluations; and suggesting an alternative horizon of effects of evaluations.

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  1. Department of Political Science and Public Management, Odense University, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Peter Dahler-Larsen Ph.D. (associate professor in organization theory)

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  1. Peter Dahler-Larsen Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Peter Dahler-Larsen Ph.D..

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His recent interests include the application of cultural and institutional perspectives on evaluation.

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Dahler-Larsen, P. Beyond non-utilization of evaluations: An institutional perspective. Know Techn Pol 11, 64–90 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-998-1011-z

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