| Summary: | This thesis adopts an institutional approach as a tool of organisational analysis. The main purpose of the thesis is to examine how newly adopted institutions work in practice in specific contexts. Using Korea as a case study on the Performance Management Systems (PMSs) of Executive Agencies (EAs), it traces the roles of formal and informal institutional rules in the performance management of organisations. The study provides evidence showing that the formal rules of PMSs of EAs are quite different from their operational practices. These differences have, to some extent, an impact on overall performance of EAs. It also shows that informal aspects in the civil service, such as public officials' values, attitudes and administrative practices, have a mainly negative effect on performance management. However, the study also shows that some informal rules, as exemplified by organisations with a `strong culture', may have a positive effect on the performance management of EAs. Finally, the study shows that managerial autonomy, as one of the formal rules of PMSs of KEAs, has contributed to improving organisational performance after agencification by enabling KEAs to achieve better performance. However, the findings suggest that this is linked to better performance only when managers have the actual freedom to manage. The main contribution to knowledge of this Korean case study of agencification relates to the relationship between public administration and institutionalism
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