What Explains the Differences in the Evaluation Practice? An Examination of the Civil Servants in the Central Cantonal Administrations: Berne and Lucerne

How can we explain the differences in the evaluation practice of the civil servants in seven Swiss central cantonal administrations of Berne and Lucerne? This is the question to answer in this article using a broad survey of the civil servants which for the first time analysing the individual evaluation practice at the cantonal level. For this reason the term evaluation practitioner is used (measured to the in this article elaborated evaluation prac-tice index EPI) which covers three different aspects of evaluation practice: evaluation knowledge, doing and using of evaluations. A special focus is the examination of policy field characteristics and the relationship to the evaluation practice of the civil servants. Further tested influences to examine the evaluation practice are organizational, socio demographic and institutional characteristics.