IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v300y2022ics0277953621008212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How performance targets can ingrain a culture of ‘performing out’: An ethnography of two Indian primary healthcare facilities

Author

Listed:
  • Das, Priya
  • Newton-Lewis, Tom
  • Khalil, Karima
  • Rajadhyaksha, Madhavi
  • Nagpal, Phalasha

Abstract

Low- and middle-income country health systems often apply decontextualised and unrealistic performance targets to facilities. This can lead to empty compliance and ‘performing out’, whereby managers and providers manipulate or inflate data to create the false impression of a functional system. While this is a well-recognised pitfall of audit-style performance accountability processes, the social processes by which these practices emerge has not been well described in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Das, Priya & Newton-Lewis, Tom & Khalil, Karima & Rajadhyaksha, Madhavi & Nagpal, Phalasha, 2022. "How performance targets can ingrain a culture of ‘performing out’: An ethnography of two Indian primary healthcare facilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:300:y:2022:i:c:s0277953621008212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114489
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621008212
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114489?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Kok, B.C., 2019. "Between orchestrated and organic: Accountability for loss and the moral landscape of childbearing in Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 441-449.
    2. Evans, Catrin & Lambert, Helen, 2008. "Implementing community interventions for HIV prevention: Insights from project ethnography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 467-478, January.
    3. Sara Bennett & Irene Akua Agyepong & Kabir Sheikh & Kara Hanson & Freddie Ssengooba & Lucy Gilson, 2011. "Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: An Agenda for Action," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-5, August.
    4. Karthik Muralidharan & Abhijeet Singh, 2020. "Improving Public Sector Management at Scale? Experimental Evidence on School Governance India," NBER Working Papers 28129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Dan Honig & Lant Pritchett, 2019. "The Limits of Accounting-Based Accountability in Education (and Far Beyond): Why More Accounting Will Rarely Solve Accountability Problems," Working Papers 510, Center for Global Development.
    6. Sonali E. Johnson, 2018. "“Convince Your Patients and You Will Convince Society†: Career Decisions and Professional Identity Among Nurses in India," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(1), pages 21582440187, March.
    7. Lucy Gilson & Kara Hanson & Kabir Sheikh & Irene Akua Agyepong & Freddie Ssengooba & Sara Bennett, 2011. "Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: Social Science Matters," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-6, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Closser, Svea & Mendenhall, Emily & Brown, Peter & Neill, Rachel & Justice, Judith, 2022. "The anthropology of health systems: A history and review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    2. Lenka Benova & Ann-Beth Moller & Allisyn C Moran, 2019. "“What gets measured better gets done better”: The landscape of validation of global maternal and newborn health indicators through key informant interviews," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Josephine Borghi & Garrett W. Brown, 2022. "Taking Systems Thinking to the Global Level: Using the WHO Building Blocks to Describe and Appraise the Global Health System in Relation to COVID‐19," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(2), pages 193-207, May.
    4. Taufique Joarder & Asha George & Syed Masud Ahmed & Sabina Faiz Rashid & Malabika Sarker, 2017. "What constitutes responsiveness of physicians: A qualitative study in rural Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Taghreed Adam & Saad Ahmad & Maryam Bigdeli & Abdul Ghaffar & John-Arne Røttingen, 2011. "Trends in Health Policy and Systems Research over the Past Decade: Still Too Little Capacity in Low-Income Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    6. Edwine W Barasa & Anthony M Manyara & Sassy Molyneux & Benjamin Tsofa, 2017. "Recentralization within decentralization: County hospital autonomy under devolution in Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, August.
    7. Shilpa Surendran & Chuan De Foo & Chen Hee Tam & Elaine Qiao Ying Ho & David Bruce Matchar & Josip Car & Gerald Choon Huat Koh, 2021. "The Missed Opportunity of Patient-Centered Medical Homes to Thrive in an Asian Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-11, February.
    8. Hutchinson, Eleanor & Mundua, Sunday & Ochero, Lydia & Mbonye, Anthony & Clarke, Sian E., 2022. "Life in the buffer zone: Social relations and surplus health workers in Uganda's medicines retail sector," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    9. Coburn, Josie & Yaqub, Ohid & Chataway, Joanna, 2022. "Targeting research to address societal needs: What can we learn from 30 years of targeting neglected diseases?," SocArXiv 65ws7, Center for Open Science.
    10. Maryam Bigdeli & Shamsa Zafar & Hafeez Assad & Adbul Ghaffar, 2013. "Health System Barriers to Access and Use of Magnesium Sulfate for Women with Severe Pre-Eclampsia and Eclampsia in Pakistan: Evidence for Policy and Practice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-9, March.
    11. Kline, Nolan, 2022. "Health and immigration systems as an ethnographic field: Methodological lessons from examining immigration enforcement and health in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    12. Topp, Stephanie M. & Tully, Josslyn & Cummins, Rachel & Graham, Veronica & Yashadhana, Aryati & Elliott, Lana & Taylor, Sean, 2022. "Building patient trust in health systems: A qualitative study of facework in the context of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker role in Queensland, Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    13. Magrath, Priscilla & Nichter, Mark, 2012. "Paying for performance and the social relations of health care provision: An anthropological perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1778-1785.
    14. Colvin, Christopher J., 2022. "Understanding global health policy engagements with qualitative research: Qualitative evidence syntheses and the OptimizeMNH guidelines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    15. Claudia Nieto-Sanchez & Benjamin R Bates & Darwin Guerrero & Sylvia Jimenez & Esteban G Baus & Koen Peeters Grietens & Mario J Grijalva, 2019. "Home improvement and system-based health promotion for sustainable prevention of Chagas disease: A qualitative study," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-24, June.
    16. Taghreed El Hajj & Stefanie Gregorius & Justin Pulford & Imelda Bates, 2020. "Strengthening capacity for natural sciences research: A qualitative assessment to identify good practices, capacity gaps and investment priorities in African research institutions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, January.
    17. Mladovsky, Philipa, 2020. "Fragmentation by design: Universal health coverage policies as governmentality in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    18. Kerry Scott & Asha S George & Steven A Harvey & Shinjini Mondal & Gupteswar Patel & Rajani Ved & Surekha Garimella & Kabir Sheikh, 2017. "Beyond form and functioning: Understanding how contextual factors influence village health committees in northern India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    19. Obinna Onwujekwe & Enyi Etiaba & Chinyere Mbachu & Ifeyinwa Arize & Chikezie Nwankwor & Uchenna Ezenwaka & Chinyere Okeke & Nkoli Ezumah & Benjamin Uzochukwu, 2020. "Does improving the skills of researchers and decision-makers in health policy and systems research lead to enhanced evidence-based decision making in Nigeria?—A short term evaluation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Langford, Rebecca & Panter-Brick, Catherine, 2013. "A health equity critique of social marketing: Where interventions have impact but insufficient reach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 133-141.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:300:y:2022:i:c:s0277953621008212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.