Goal Achievement in Municipal Strategic Planning: The Role of Executives’ Background and Political Context

Strategic planning has been increasingly used by local governments worldwide to boost performance. While this can be seen as a technical and political process, the relationship between managerial qualifications, political context and achievement of strategic goals in local governments has been scarcely studied. This study explores these relationships using data from 137 Colombian municipalities at the middle and end of the 2016–2019 mayoral term. Findings suggest that midterm strategic goal achievement is associated with mayoral experience, particularly in the national government where the tradition of strategic planning is better established, and this relationship increases with higher levels of municipal council support. Certain traits of the chief planning officer, appointed by the mayor, also correlate positively with midterm goal achievement. End-term goal achievement is mainly associated with midterm paths. This research contributes to the performance management literature by highlighting the political-managerial interplay in strategic goal achievement.