INNOVATION USE - PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT IN A COMMUNITY MENTAL-HEALTH-CENTER

This paper discusses the influence of the political economy on the use of performance assessment systems (PAS) in the case of the Community Mental Health Center (CMHC). Performance assessment is defined, and scales for measuring use are discussed. A factor analysis of the influences revealed four separate factors; organizational polity, new money, governmental political-economy, social-task, and cultural contexts. Multiple regression analyses of the impacts of these factors on the use of performance assessment showed the organizational polity and new money to be dominant. Implications of organizational determinism and a stage model of innovation use are discussed.