Performance management has been carried out in the governments worldwide. However, many researches have shown that performance measurement would not guarantee the use of performance information. The use of performance information becomes the biggest issue in performance management (Moynihan and Pandey, 2010, p849). The current researches focus on various uses in different political context and could not give out a general accepted answer. In this paper, I will define the use of performance information as routine decision making behavior. The routine decision making is not only repetitive behavior, but also the position of research objective in decision makers’ motivation and government decision making system. The basic hypothesis is that the position of performance information use in government decision making system will influence result of performance information utilization. The position shows in three aspects: performance information use in government decision making system, the decision makers’ motivation, and the institutional settings. This paper is based on the documentary research and intensive interview of case study in China. The research shows that the position of performance information use lies far behind our anticipation. It explains the situation from a new perspective. This analysis also gives insights to other routine behavior in the government.
