Rethinking accountability in public service delivery: the design mismatch problem and its policy mix solutions

Abstract

This article addresses the two-fold question of why accountability systems fail and how they can be fixed in public service delivery through the novel lens of policy design. More specifically, it scrutinizes the much-overlooked means-ends mismatch of the design of accountability policies and explores how a policy mix approach can solve this mismatch problem. Informed by carefully selected empirical examples, it illustrates how nodality-, authority-, treasure- and organization-based accountability tools need to be deployed differently to fulfill the ends that they are deemed most appropriate for, and how this systemic package can benefit from a finetuned distinction between primary and secondary tools alongside substantive and procedural tools. As a first attempt to connect the literature on accountability and that on policy design, the article demonstrates the theoretical value and practical relevance of a much-needed “bird view” of the “forest” of accountability beyond the usual scrutiny of its “trees” and “branches.”

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