Received: 13 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/cjas.1644

RESEARCH ARTICLE
- -Revised: 18 June 2021 Accepted: 13 July 2021

Application of the Balanced Scorecard for strategy

reformulation: Perspectives from a Canadian municipality

Naqi Sayed | Camillo Lento | Michelle Henderson

Faculty of Business Administration,

Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Abstract
Ontario, Canada This study explores the application of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for
strategy reformulation and performance measurement of a Canadian munic-
Correspondence
Naqi Sayed, Faculty of Business ipality. This study is motivated by the trend of performance management tools
Administration, Lakehead University, 955 becoming more commonplace in the municipal sector, due to the New Public
Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B
5E1, Canada.
Management paradigm. Interviews with key stakeholders were conducted to
Email: [email protected] determine Key Success Factors (KSFs). A survey of broad stakeholders was
used to determine the importance of the KSFs and their multidimensional
causal relationships, using a multiple‐criteria, decision‐making method. We
find that economic growth plays a central role in the municipality's strategy,
and it is perceived to be primarily driven by management leadership, in
addition to economic diversity, Indigenous relationships, and increasing the
tax base.

KEYWORDS
Balanced Scorecard, key success factors, multi‐criteria decision‐making, municipal finances,
public interest

Résumé
Les auteures de cette étude se penchent sur l'application du tableau de bord
prospectif (TBP) à la reformulation de la stratégie et à la mesure du rendement
d'une municipalité canadienne. L’étude est motivée par le fait que les outils de
gestion de la performance deviennent de plus en plus courants dans le secteur
municipal, notamment en raison du paradigme de la Nouvelle gestion pub-
lique. Les auteures de l’étude cherchent à établir les facteurs clés de succès
(FCS) grâce à des entretiens auprès des principales parties prenantes. Cette
enquête a permis d’établir l'importance des facteurs clés de succès et de leurs
relations causales multidimensionnelles, grâce à une méthode de prise de
décision à critères multiples. Il ressort des résultats que la croissance écono-
mique joue un rôle central dans la stratégie de la municipalité et qu'elle est
perçue comme étant principalement déterminée par le leadership de la di-
rection, la diversité économique, les relations avec les autochtones et
l'augmentation de l'assiette fiscale.

Can J Adm Sci. 2021;1–19. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cjas © 2021 ASAC.

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MOTS‐CLÉS
facteurs clés de succès finances municipales, intérêt public, prise de décision multicritères,
tableau de bord prospectif

JEL CLASSIFICATION
M40

1 | INTRODUCTION linking the strategic goals and when generating the

measures and their values to be attained” (p. 452).
Rising expectations from all government levels regarding Although many cities have adopted a BSC, there seems to
performance and accountability to stakeholders have be a lack of a structured approach to developing a BSC
motivated many publicly funded institutions to adopt and its role in strategy development in public sector or-
performance management systems. In addition, the ganizations (Northcott & Taulapapa, 2012).
emergence of the New Public Management concept This study uses the BSC approach to identify Key
(Borins, 1995) in the Canadian public sector (Goh Success Factors (KSFs) for a mid‐sized Canadian mu-
et al., 2015) has accelerated local governments' perfor- nicipality, based on personal interviews with relevant
mance measurement use. In Canada, most legislated stakeholders. We also categorize the identified KSFs
measurement processes are based on financial statements based on the BSC perspectives and organize them in a
measures, as determined by the Public Sector Accounting coherent strategy map with multidimensional cause‐and‐
Board (PSAB), although some provinces, such as Ontario effect relationships, using the Decision‐Making Trial and
and Quebec, have attempted to incorporate mandated Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. The re-
non‐financial measures with limited success (Charbon- sults provide insights into stakeholder expectations from
neau, 2011; Charbonneau et al., 2015; Schatteman, 2010). a mid‐sized city, and how they synthesize into a coherent
Currently, local government performance management and actionable whole.
focuses primarily on financial measures that marginalize The results reveal that the Financial Stewardship
non‐financial performance measures (Kloot & Mar- Perspective is the most intimately connected with all other
tin, 2000). Specifically, many local governments that perspectives regarding cause‐and‐effect relations. The
adopted performance measurement systems do not focus Diversity and Growth Perspective is shown to be the most
on the determinants of achieving long‐term, sustainable important driving force with the highest potential to
improvements in internal processes, innovation, and contribute to other perspectives. The individual KSFs
learning and growth (Kloot & Martin, 2000). with the strongest relationship to other factors include
Non‐financial performance measures are essential for (i) economic growth; (ii) management/leadership;
a multidimensional interpretation of success that changes (iii) increasing the overall tax base; (iv) diverse economy;
over time and between stakeholders (Emmanuel and v) optimizing service levels. The economic growth
et al., 1990). The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) not only seeks KSF was perceived to be the single most crucial factor, as
a balanced approach between financial and non‐financial it had the highest ability to influence and be influenced
performance measures, but also significantly influences by other KSFs.
the strategy development process (Hoque, 2014; Tapinos This study makes several contributions to the existing
et al., 2011). BSC use in private sector organizations has literature. First, it fulfils the need for empirical BSC
been extensively reported and researched (e.g., Braam studies in organizations belonging to different sectors of
et al., 2007; Sayed & Lento, 2018). In recent years, the activity and of a different nature, such as public and
BSC has increasingly found its way into the public sector, private entities (Quesado et al., 2018). Second, this study
including local governments and municipalities (e.g., brings a structured approach to resolving issues facing
Chan, 2004, 2006), in response to the call for value‐driven municipalities in identifying their KSFs using stake-
approaches (Palmer, 1993). holder input and relationships among the KSFs (Alcan-
The use of Strategic Performance Measurement Sys- tara et al., 2012). Lastly, our study supports Ndevu and
tems (SPMSs), such as the BSC, in strategy development Muller’s (2018) assertion that the BSC can be used for
and (re)formulation is a continually growing area of local government, but leadership's role is of the utmost
research (Endrikat et al., 2020). An earlier paper by importance. Specifically, our study provides empirical
Ahn (2001) illustrates the use of the BSC in strategy support to the notion that stakeholders have high ex-
development and notes that there is a “lack of decision‐ pectations of city management/leadership regarding its
making aids for companies both when generating and critical role in affecting all other KSFs. Lastly, many
SAYED ET AL.
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issues faced by the subject municipality are typical to Municipal Affairs and Housing of Ontario, 2007). In
other mid‐sized municipalities. As a result, the BSC and addition, the MPMP intended to strengthen account-
strategy map can be used as a template to be customized ability at the local government level by informing citizens
by similar municipalities looking to develop a BSC and about municipal service plans, costs, and value.
strategy map. In 2003, the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs
This study is organized as follows: Section 2 presents and Regions implemented the Municipal Management
the theoretical background and motivation for the study; Indicators (MMI) program, which required municipal-
Section 3 presents the research design; Section 4 presents ities to measure 19 performance indicators. Seven in-
the results; and Section 5 discusses the contributions of dicators focus on financial health, with the remaining
the findings, their limitations, and future research 12 indicators related to various services such as snow
avenues. removal, sewage systems, street maintenance, and water
treatment. Charbonneau (2011) assessed the MMI's
usefulness and concluded that it resulted in no gains in
2 | PRIOR LITERATURE municipal accountability or improvement in municipal
performance.
2.1 | Municipal accountability in We identified two academic studies that have assessed
Canada the usefulness of Ontario's MPMP. First, Schatte-
man (2010) concluded that the Ontario MPMP perfor-
Most historical efforts on government accountability mance reports were not useful, provided little
have focused on financial reporting standards. For comparative data, and supported accountability only to
example, Baker and Rennie (2018) provide a historical the province of Ontario. Schatteman also found that
narrative of the events associated with developing a set municipal administrators did not appear to be investing
of accounting standards related specifically to govern- resources to create high‐quality or valuable reports, partly
ments in Canada. The Canadian PSAB was created to due to the lack of demand for these reports by citizens.
serve the public interest by establishing the generally Charbonneau et al. (2015) also analyzed Ontario's MPMP
accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to be adopted by data for over a decade to determine if mandatory per-
government entities. formance reporting would lead to improved service
The PSAB's conceptual framework states that the levels. Like Quebec's MMI, although they found no evi-
objective of financial reporting is to provide financial in- dence of service deterioration occurring over time, there
formation for accountability purposes to primary users. were only a few examples of mass service improvement.
Although primary users are broadly defined, historical Each municipality reported the measures of effec-
financial statements generally focus on economic tiveness and efficiency covered by Quebec's MMI and
accountability, yet they fail to incorporate non‐financial Ontario's MPMP. The measures were intended to be
measures, or social and environmental elements. As a analyzed by comparing a municipality against itself over
result, certain jurisdictions in Canada have adopted time or projected expectations. However, the mandatory
additional performance‐based reporting mechanisms to reporting programs stopped short of defining which
augment the financial statements. For example, Ontario, standard measures were of significance to a given
Quebec, and Nova Scotia have all created mandatory municipality's strategy, or the relationship between
systems to collect and transmit performance indicators measures. In the private sector, the BSC has been used to
for municipalities (Charbonneau et al., 2015). deal with these two issues.
In 2000, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North
America to mandate a broader performance measure-
ment program for all municipalities (Schatteman, 2010). 2.2 | The Balanced Scorecard
The Municipal Performance Measurement Program
(MPMP) was issued by Ontario's Ministry of Municipal The BSC emerged from the increasing performance
Affairs and Housing to foster innovation and account- management challenges that corporations faced in the
ability in local governments. The MPMP requires mu- 1980s and 1990s, where traditional financial measures
nicipalities in Ontario to provide an annual report on 54 were lacking (Bloomfield, 2002). Developed by Robert
measures of effectiveness and efficiency across 12 key Kaplan and David Norton (1996a, 1996b), the BSC
service areas related to local government operations, fire introduced three principles that link an organization's
and police operations, roadways, transit, water‐related BSC to its objective(s): (1) cause‐and‐effect relationships;
services, waste management, parks and recreation, li- (2) financial and non‐financial performance factors/in-
brary services, and land management (Ministry of dicators; and (3) linkage to financial goals.
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Based on a survey exploring the BSC and the strategy of the BSC by municipalities (i.e., Chan, 2004; Schobel &
development process, Tapinos et al. (2011, p. 897) Drogosiewicz, 2018).
concluded that “the organisations which use it [BSC] The two studies focused primarily on the BSC are
exhibit some significant differences in their strategy similar. Chan (2004) examined the BSC's use in Canadian
processes from those that do not.” According to Bisbe and and American municipalities by analyzing survey re-
Malagueno (2012), although SPMSs were conceived to sponses from 132 local governments in the USA and 52
facilitate strategy implementation, they can also influ- municipal governments in Canada during 2002. Resulted
ence strategic agendas and (re)formulate intended stra- indicated that most municipalities have developed mea-
tegies. A literature review on SPMS and strategy sures for various perspectives, with the greatest emphasis
development found that SPMSs can positively impact on financial performance, and the least emphasis on
performance (e.g., Hoque & James, 2000).1 innovation and change. It was also noted that the main
Skepticism has been expressed regarding the use- reasons for the BSC's underutilization by Canadian mu-
fulness of the BSC model. Norreklit (2000) argues that nicipalities are related to the lack of a supporting infor-
causal relationships across perspectives are more mation system, inadequate executive support, and
complicated and cannot be proven on a generic level. management preoccupied with short‐term problems
The BSC model fails to consider some of the variables (Chan, 2004). Schobel and Drogosiewicz (2018) con-
that include competition, technological developments, ducted a follow‐up study by administering a similar
or risk from strategic uncertainties (Norreklit, 2003; survey as Chan (2004) in 2016. They analyzed 62 survey
Norreklit et al., 2008), the human resource dimension responses and found a growing desire to improve per-
(Rillo, 2004); and the interactive nature of performance formance measurement among municipalities in Canada;
measures. however, here again, there was a heavy focus on financial
measures, and little emphasis on innovation and change
measures.
2.3 | The Balanced Scorecard in the In a more general setting, Pollanen (2005) analyzed
Canadian municipal sector survey responses from 334 senior municipal administra-
tors across Canada to find that performance measurement
Various municipalities across the globe have been was generally perceived as a favorable tool with much
adopting the BSC approach or similar performance potential; however, there existed a gap between actual and
management tools. As a result, there is a large body of desired use of measures, which was more ambiguous and
research exploring performance measurement tools at the challenging to define. They also noted that the use of per-
local government level. For example, studies have been formance measures in Canadian municipalities was
conducted on municipalities in countries across the largely voluntary and mainly used for internal purposes.
globe, including Germany (e.g., Greiling, 2005), New Hildebrand and McDavid (2011) interviewed municipal
Zealand (e.g., Northcott & Taulapapa, 2012), the UK (e.g., administrators and councilors as part of a case study in the
Jackson, 2011), and the USA (e.g., Niven, 2008). Jack- City of Lethbridge, Alberta. They found greater use of
son (2011) recently summarized 30 years of literature on performance measures when administrators and coun-
performance measurement in the public sector, focusing cilors believed that performance reporting was valuable.
on studies based in the UK and USA. However, they also noted that staff capacity to organize
There is much less research conducted in the Cana- data and report stood out as a significant barrier to
dian setting. The need for additional research in this adopting performance measurement.
domain could be why, in part, the Canadian Journal of
Administrative Sciences' special issue on government ac-
counting, auditing, and accountability, from a Canadian 2.4 | Research objective
perspective, included performance measurements as a
topic of interest in their call for papers (Baker, 2019). We Although municipalities have borrowed various perfor-
were able to identify 10 articles that focus on the broad mance management tools from the private sector, the
concept of performance measurement for Canadian BSC is one of the few comprehensive approaches that
government published during the last 20 years. Seven of allows for mission identification, strategy formulation,
the 10 articles focus on the municipal government by and process execution, focusing on translating strategy
exploring performance measures in general (i.e., Hilde- into a linked set of financial and non‐financial measures
brand & McDavid, 2011; Pollanen, 2005), mandatory (Kaplan & Norton, 2001). Non‐financial measures are
performance reporting regimes (i.e., Charbonneau, 2011; important in public entities, such as municipalities, as
Charbonneau et al., 2015; Schatteman, 2010), and the use objectives are generally non‐financial, ambiguous, and
SAYED ET AL.
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based on multiple stakeholder relationships (Kloot & rich environment, surrounded by forests and mineral‐
Martin, 2000). Therefore, the BSC is perceived as bene- rich land. It acts as a regional hub, providing goods and
ficial for public administrators to represent their citizens' services to smaller surrounding townships. It is relatively
interests, by sharing a narrative of the municipality's isolated from other metropolitan areas. Once supporting
achievements and performance towards its mission and many industries like forestry, mining, manufacturing,
goals (Chan, 2004). and pulp and paper, it was forced to adjust to labor‐saving
Prior research in the Canadian setting has relied technological change and was exposed to global compe-
mainly on survey data to describe the use of the BSC at a tition in resource industries. As it increasingly relies on
point in time (e.g., Chan, 2004; Schobel & Drogosie- the public sector for employment and continues to tran-
wicz, 2018), or to provide normative guidance related to sition to a more knowledge‐based economy, the city's
ideal approaches for implementing performance man- population and employment growth remain stagnant. As
agement systems (e.g., Pollanen, 2005). This study ex- the city grapples with changing environmental and other
tends the literature by illustrating how a municipality can pressing issues, it essentially represents problems com-
systematically develop a strategy map based on BSC mon to many Canadian mid‐sized cities and provides an
perspectives. excellent example for studying strategic choices based on
Outside of the municipal setting, performance mea- the BSC approach.
surement systems have been systematically developed
using the DEMATEL method (e.g., Sayed & Lento, 2018;
Stejskal et al., 2020). Our systematic research design, based 3.2 | Determination of key success
on the DEMATEL method, allows for broad stakeholder factors
representation (Pollanen, 2005), and the development of
unique and customized financial and non‐financial mea- The city's last strategic plan contained goals for 10 years
sures, in order to provide accountability beyond the limi- and consisted of 21 commitments the city aimed to ach-
tations and constraints of both PSAB's historical financial ieve, ranging from lifestyle to governance objectives. We
reporting and Ontario MPMP's standardized measures did not rely on the city's existing strategy to develop the
(Charbonneau et al., 2015; Schatteman, 2010). Our study is KSF and generated a new list of strategic choices, or
also the first known to explore causal relationships among KSFs, based on semi‐structured interviews with key
the financial and non‐financial measures for a munici- municipal stakeholders. We adopted a blank‐slate
pality. Therefore, this study addresses suggestions by approach to gain fresh perspectives.
Breux and Couture (2018) that a well‐functioning perfor- The selection criteria for the stakeholders to be
mance measurement system in a municipality should interviewed are important for determining KSFs, due to
promote internal accountability by evaluating the effects the multitude of municipal stakeholders. There are
of programs on the wellbeing of multiple stakeholders several approaches to establish the ascendency of stake-
(Pollanen, 2005). holders in a public service organization. These include
This study is timely, as recent fiscal restraints in public the power to influence issues about planning and their
expenditures have resulted in calls for increased account- power to influence service delivery processes (Winstanley
ability, continuous efforts to improve efficiency and et al., 1995); linkages in town centre management,
effectiveness, and results‐based management (Chan, 2004; identified as diffused linkage, functional linkages, and
Pollanen, 2005). That is, the “New Public Management” normative linkages (Grunig & Hunt, 1984); and their
concept (Borins, 1995) continues to move into the Cana- potential to threaten the organization versus the potential
dian public sector (Goh et al., 2015). This study also re- to cooperate with the organization (Savage et al., 1991).
sponds directly to previous calls for research related to the For this paper's purpose, the relationship was defined by
BSC's usefulness for local authorities (Iqbal, 2007), and for whether the interviewee's decisions or actions could
the need to provide accountability based on different affect the city positively or negatively, from either an
stakeholder perspectives (Pollanen, 2005). actual or perceived standpoint (Goulian & Merser-
eau, 2000). Multidimensional stakeholder salience
(Andriof & Waddock, 2017) to assign a weight to different
3 | RESEARCH DESIGN stakeholder views according to importance was not
determined to be a significant issue, since we only
3.1 | Research setting explored how KSFs interacted without ranking their
importance.
The study's subject is a mid‐sized city in Canada with a Semi‐structured interviews were conducted using
population of over 100,000 located in a natural, resource‐ questions based on previous research and adapted to a
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municipal government's unique circumstances (Chang & 3.3 | Approaches to multi‐criteria

Morgan, 2000; Niven, 2008). The interviews took place decision‐making
from November 13, 2018, to January 29, 2019. Partici-
pants were met at locations of their choice to ensure a The BSC's effectiveness as an indicator of the strategic
comfortable environment. We considered a topic to be direction relies on the strength of the relationship be-
exhausted once we reached the saturation point, whereby tween the BSC perspectives and the KSFs using a struc-
additional interviews produced less and less new infor- tured approach, with each measure assigned an
mation. We reached the saturation point after 15 appropriate weight (Leung et al., 2006). Standard multi‐
interviews. criteria decision‐making (MCDM) methods that employ
The 15 participants included eight external and seven elements and their weights include the Analytic Hierar-
internal to the city. They included councilors, depart- chy Process (AHP) (Bentes et al., 2012), the Analytical
mental managers from city offices, businesspeople and Network Process (ANP) (Leung et al., 2006), the Inter-
citizens, and a representative from Indigenous commu- pretive Structural Modeling (ISM) (Yadav, 2014), and the
nities. The individual interviews averaged 50 min in DEMATEL method (Gabus & Fontela, 1972).
length, with the shortest meeting running 30 min and the The main shortfall of AHP is that it does not account
longest around 100 min. The interviews were recorded for the interdependencies of different sub‐attributes
with an electronic device and later transcribed, sorted, (Leung et al., 2006). ANP, an extension of AHP, solves
coded, and evaluated to determine common or recurring this problem, but assigns equal weight to each cluster.
themes representing stakeholders. Some studies have used a hybrid ANP/DEMATEL model
Through an analysis of interview transcripts, more (e.g., Chen et al., 2011). ISM and DEMATEL are similar;
than 50 KSFs were identified manually by the authors. however, ISM relies on binary options, such as 0, 1, as
Several KSFs were collapsed through an iterative process cause‐and‐effect relationships between factors, whereas
by the authors to keep the process manageable. The DEMATEL considers the strength of the relationship
resulting KSFs were shared with interview participants using scales such as 0, 1, 2, 3. The DEMATEL method has
and revised based on their feedback to verify complete- been successfully applied in various fields, including
ness and accuracy. Following identification, each KSF management scenarios (Sayed & Lento, 2018; Wu, 2012).
was categorized according to the higher‐order BSC As a result, this study adopts the classical DEMATEL
perspective. Kaplan and Norton (1999) considered the method, an MCDM approach which is helpful in
recommended four perspectives as “a template, not a analyzing the cause‐and‐effect relationships among
straitjacket” (p. 34). Shih‐Jen and Yee‐Ching (2002) components in a complex system, while also highlighting
found that many governments use five perspectives; (i) the critical factors in a complex system (Si et al., 2018).
financial, (ii) customer satisfaction, (iii) operating effi- The DEMATEL method can also generate a map to
ciency, (iv) innovation and change, and (v) employee visualize the interdependence among the components of
performance. The City of Stuttgart in Germany uses (i) a complex system. A summary of the DEMATEL method
public task/service quality, (ii) organization/processes, is presented in Appendix. Readers interested in a more
(iii) employees, (iv) finance, and (v) future/development detailed discussion of the calculations underlying the
as the BSC perspective (Greiling, 2005). DEMATEL method should review Si et al. (2018).
Most of our identified KSFs were captured well
within the broad traditional model. However, in the
case of local government, citizens are customers as well 3.4 | Survey of DEMATEL matrices
as stakeholders. Consequently, we decided to add two
different perspectives representing both viewpoints. As Once the KSFs were determined based on the interviews,
a result, our exercise on the consolidation of KSFs a survey instrument was developed comprising two
produced the following five perspectives: (i) Diversity matrices for the DEMATEL analysis. Specifically, the
and Growth Perspective, (ii) Citizen Interests Perspec- matrices captured the causal relationship of the BSC
tive, (iii) Operations (Internal Process) Process, (iv) perspectives (Matrix 1) and the individual KSFs (Matrix
Organizational Learning and Support, and (v) Financial 2). It was challenging to enlist many participants because
Stewardship. Our approach is consistent with the survey instrument is relatively complex, requires a
Behn (2003), who detailed the need for public service significant time commitment, and a relatively intimate
to measure performance, but argued that only four knowledge of the city's issues. The survey was initially
perspectives was insufficient for public service. Table 1 sent to 31 individuals, including those who were inter-
presents the resulting five BSC perspectives and 22 viewed to extract the KSFs. We received 15 usable re-
individual KSFs. sponses (two‐thirds of the original interviewees).
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TABLE 1 Key success factors and BSC perspectives

KSF ID KSF label KSF definition

Diversity and growth perspective

D1 Economic growth The overall growth of the economy. Business entry versus exit.

D2 Diverse economy Having a variety of business and industries within the city and, to some extent, the
surrounding areas.

D3 Increase in population diversity Increasing the overall population and the variety of ethnic, cultural, and religious
backgrounds from which the citizenry originates.

D4 Partnerships/relationships Mutually beneficial relationships with private sector entities that can be utilized to
get tasks completed, at a lower cost, with less responsibility upon the city.

D5 Develop tourism/regional hub Expanding and capitalizing on the city's unofficial role as a regional hub.

D6 Ease of doing business Ease of access by reducing red tape in the form of licensing, zoning, and other
boundaries for organizations employing the city's citizens and thus providing
tax dollars to the city.
D7 Foster innovation Encourage valuable insights from within the organization of the city that help
provide future benefits.

Citizen interests perspective

C1 Optimize service level The level and quality of all essential services of the city, including but not limited to
Water, Sewer, Garbage Collection, Roads, Snow Removal, Parks, and
Recreation.

C2 Citizen engagement Two‐way interaction between citizens and council that gives citizens a stake in
decision‐making, to improve outcomes through transparency, accountability,
responsiveness, and inclusiveness.

C3 Indigenous relationships Foster better relationships with First Nations and individuals who identify as First
Nations, Indigenous, or Aboriginal and encourage their involvement in the
city's decisions.

C4 Community safety and wellbeing About the overall health, safety, security, and wellbeing of the stakeholders (e.g.,
the city's citizens and others who utilize the police, emergency services, and
healthcare services).
C5 Environmental responsibility An obligation to take actions that protect and improve the environment, along with
the city's interests.

(Continues)
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7
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T A B L E 1 (Continued)

KSF ID KSF label KSF definition

Operations (internal process) perspective

O1 Resource utilization Efficient use of stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that are
drawn on by the city in order to function effectively and/or the city's collective
means of supporting itself or becoming wealthier, as represented by its reserves
of minerals, land, and other natural assets.

O2 Operational efficiencies The level of proficiency with which the city performs the mandated and voluntary
tasks for the citizens, businesses, and others utilizing the offered services.
O3 Improve (internal) systems Tools, techniques, and processes that can be implemented to serve the citizens
better.

Organizational learning and support perspective

L1 Increase training opportunities (external) Providing time, resources, or a set of circumstances that makes it possible to engage
in external training for city council and City personnel.

L2 Training/mentoring (internal) Including other forms of learning (e.g., webinars, training sessions, and online
learning) to provide future benefit to the city's operations.
L3 Management/leadership Providing support for leaders within the organization responsible for setting
direction and ensuring a functioning operation.

Financial stewardship perspective

F1 Increase overall tax base The level of taxation in the community, including taxation for citizens, businesses,
and visitors.

F2 Balanced budget The financial plan for a defined period, which shows that expected income and
expenses be approximately equal.

F3 Healthy debt Tax money spent over the allotted budget should be used only for the right cause or
reasons but can be healthy/necessary if spending is justified.
F4 Financial reserves Excess funds that are not included in the budget for future events, needs, or
infrastructure. Requires proper management and utilization when
circumstances arise.
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SAYED ET AL.
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4 | RESULTS Figure 1 highlights the role of Diversity and Growth

Perspectives as the main cause factor and the role of
4.1 | Results from DEMATEL analysis Citizen Interest Perspectives as the main effect factor.
Figure 1 also highlights the Organizational Learning and
Our DEMATEL analysis began with the five broad BSC Support Perspective to be more of an effect factor. The
perspectives. Using Matlab software, we calculated the Organizational Learning and Growth Perspective, Opera-
initial direct influence matrix and the final total re- tional Perspective, and Financial Stewardship Perspective
lations matrix for the five BSC perspectives (untabu- seem to have a limited capacity to exercise net influence;
lated). Next, we repeated the DEMATEL analysis by however, the Operational Perspective and Financial
calculating the initial direct influence matrix and final Perspective seem to be intimately connected with other
total relations matrix for the 22 individual KSFs (unta- perspectives.
bulated). Table 2 summarizes the DEMATEL results Figure 2 reveals four different groups of KSFs based
based on the total relations matrix for BSC perspectives on four broad quadrants. First, factors in the top left
and the KSFs.2 corner display significant influence on other factors, but
Table 2 reveals that the Financial Stewardship their influence is limited to only a few factors. The most
Perspective ranks first, with a (D + R) value of 34.171. important of these include L1 and L2. Second, factors in
This suggests that the Financial Stewardship Perspec- the top right corner display significant capacity to
tive is at the core of the city's concerns, and inti- simultaneously exercise influence on many factors. These
mately connected to cause‐and‐effect relations with all include L3 and O3. Third, factors in the bottom right
other perspectives. Table 2 also indicates that the display a significant capacity to be influenced by changes
Diversity and Growth Perspective, with a (D – R) value in other factors and a high interdependent relationship
of 0.814, is seen as the most important driving force with others. Notable factors here include D1 and D2.
with the highest potential to contribute to other per- Finally, factors located in the bottom left display fewer or
spectives. Not surprisingly, the Citizen Interest moderate level connections with other success factors,
Perspective, with a (D – R) value of −0.975, is seen as and significant capacity to be influenced by other factors.
the factor that receives the most influence from other These include F3, F4, and D3.
perspectives.
Table 2 also presents the central role KSFs based upon
the (D + R) values. The central role KSFs include: D1, 4.2 | Development of strategy maps
economic growth; L3, management/leadership; F1, in-
crease the overall tax base; D2, diverse economy; and C1, Next, we next developed strategy maps as a visual guide
optimize service levels. The central role KSFs are to the importance and effect of each BSC perspective
perceived to have the strongest relationships with other and KSF on the city's overall strategic direction. A
KSFs. Of all the KSFs, D1 had the highest (D + R) value strategy map that displays all KSF relationships is
(i.e., 10.296), suggesting that it both influences and is complex and challenging to understand. For this pur-
influenced the most by other KSFs. Table 2 also indicates pose, significant relationships are isolated according to a
the main cause factors (i.e., the highest [D – R] values in threshold value. The determination of a threshold value
terms of the extent of influence these KSFs can exercise to identify significant relationships has been a subject of
over other KSFs) as L3; O3, improve (internal) systems; debate. Some propose relying on expert opinion; how-
L2, training/mentoring (internal); L1, increase training ever, the results are different for the same set of data
opportunities (external); and D7, foster innovation. These (Vujanović et al., 2012). Li and Tzeng (2009) proposed a
main causal KSFs are perceived to have the most sub- maximum mean de‐entropy algorithm (MMDE) to
stantial influence on other factors. determine threshold value; however, MMDE does not
Table 2 reveals the main effect factors (i.e., the lowest add much value to the analysis to justify additional
[D – R] values) for each perspective as (i) D3, increase computational complexity (Hsieh et al., 2016). Hsieh
population diversity; (ii) F4, financial reserves; (iii) F3, et al. (2016) proposed threshold value using Lenth's
healthy debt; (iv) D4, partnerships and relationships; and (1989) principles of distinguishing effect significance;
(v) C3, Indigenous relationships. The aforementioned however, this method is not widely adopted. Consistent
main effect KSFs are perceived to receive the most in- with Wu (2012), our study relied on values above the
fluence from other factors. third quartile, from the KSFs total relation matrix, and a
Figure 1 and Figure 2 visualize the DEMATEL anal- value above the average for the perspectives as a
ysis results in causal diagrams for the BSC perspectives threshold value to visualize the strategy maps. The
and KSFs, respectively.3 resulting strategy maps of the BSC perspectives and
 10
-

TABLE 2 Results of Relations (D + R) and their Influence (D – R)

D + Ra Ranka D – Ra Ranka
Prominence p KSF p KSF Notes Relation p KSF p KSF Notes
F—Financial Stewardship 34.171 1 F—Financial Stewardship 0.089 3

F1—Increase Overall Tax Base 9.2515 3 b F1—Increase Overall Tax Base 0.0681 6

F2—Balanced Budget 8.7272 13 F2—Balanced Budget −0.0474 12

F4—Financial Reserves 8.1442 19 F3—Healthy Debt −0.2956 20 d

F3—Healthy Debt 7.7456 22 F4—Financial Reserves −0.4226 21 d

O—Operational 33.745 2 O—Operational 0.155 2

O1—Resource Utilization 9.1180 6 O3—Improve (Internal) Systems 0.6567 2 c

O2—Efficiencies 9.1158 7 O2—Efficiencies −0.0152 11

O3—Improve (Internal) Systems 9.0805 9 O1—Resource Utilization −0.0504 13 d

C—Citizen Interests 31.867 3 C—Citizen Interests −0.975 5

C1—Optimize Service Level 9.1656 5 b C2—Citizen Engagement 0.0203 7

C3—Indigenous Relationships 8.9604 11 C5—Environmental responsibility 0.0047 9

C5—Environmental responsibility 8.4243 14 C1—Optimize Service Level 0.0022 10

C2—Citizen Engagement 8.2207 16 C4—Community Safety and Wellbeing −0.0861 14

C4—Community Safety and Wellbeing 7.9823 20 C3—Indigenous Relationships −0.2508 18 d

D—Diversity and Growth 31.844 4 D—Diversity and Growth 0.814 1

D1—Economic Growth 10.296 1 b D7—Foster Innovation 0.1277 5 c

D2—Diverse Economy 9.2166 4 b D6—Ease of Doing Business 0.0202 8

D7—Foster Innovation 9.0813 8 D1—Economic Growth −0.1660 15

D4—Partnerships/Relationships 9.0235 10 D2—Diverse Economy −0.2420 16

D6—Ease of Doing Business 8.7880 12 D5—Develop Tourism/Regional Hub −0.2471 17

D3—Increase Population Diversity 8.2598 15 D4—Partnerships/Relationships −0.2707 19 d

D5—Develop Tourism/Regional Hub 8.1819 18 D3—Increase Population Diversity −0.5410 22 d
SAYED
ET AL.
 SAYED ET AL.
- 11

individual KSFs are presented in Figure 3 and Figure 4,

Notes

A (D + R) score represents a KSF with the most connections with other KSFs. The “central role” KSFs are determined as the KSF in the 1st quartile of (D + R) score. We label these as the Critical Success Factors.
respectively.

c
c
Note that in Figure 4, the grey shading highlights the
five KSFs mentioned above that are at the core of the city
KSF
Ranka

3
4
strategy regarding its overall connections with other
factors.
p

0.9571

0.4274
0.3505
KSF

The main “effect‐factors” (lowest D – R value) receive the strongest influence from other factors. See Appendix for further details on the calculation and interpretation of (D – R).
5 | DISCUSSION

The main “cause‐factors” (highest D – R value) have the strongest influence on other factors. See Appendix for further details on the calculation and interpretation of (D – R).
D – Ra

−0.083

5.1 | Summary
p

In terms of broader perspectives, we find that the

L1—Increase Training Opportunities (external)

Financial Stewardship Perspective is intimately connected

L—Organizational Learning and Support

to cause‐and‐effect relations with all other perspectives.

Our results seem to support assertions that municipal-
L2—Training/Mentoring (internal)

ities assign great emphasis to financial performance

(Chan, 2004). We also find that the Diversity and
L3—Management/Leadership

Growth Perspective is seen as the most important driving

force, with the highest potential to contribute to other
perspectives. We labelled the KSFs with the strongest
relationships (i.e., KSFs with [D + R] scores in the first
decile) as Critical Success Factors (CSF). The CSFs
include (i) increase overall tax base; (ii) diverse econ-
Relation

omy; (iii) optimize service levels; (iv) economic growth;

and (v) management/leadership. The economic growth
KSF was perceived to be the most important, as it had
Notes

the highest ability to influence and be influenced by

other KSFs.
b

Overall, our findings suggest that economic growth

KSF

seems to be of greatest importance to stakeholders.

Ranka

17
21

The DEMATEL analysis suggests that management

p

leadership and optimizing service levels are important

See Appendix for further details on the calculation and interpretation of (D + R).
9.5423

8.2061
7.9184

in achieving various municipal objectives. While eco-

KSF

nomic diversity and increasing the overall tax base

seem to be strong avenues for economic growth, both
D + Ra

31.329

factors have an interdependent relationship with eco-

nomic growth. We found that some factors that
p

seemed important to our interviewees did not have a

L1—Increase Training Opportunities (external)

strong relationship with primary importance factors.

L—Organizational Learning and Support

These include citizen engagement, training and

p = BSC perspective; KSF = key success factor.

mentorship, healthy debt level, and community safety

L2—Training/Mentoring (internal)

and wellbeing.
L3—Management/Leadership

5.2 | Contributions to scholarship

T A B L E 2 (Continued)

This study makes several contributions to the academic

literature. First, it fulfils the need for empirical BSC
Prominence

studies in organizations belonging to different sectors of

activity and of a different nature, such as the public
sector (Quesado et al., 2018). This study adds academic
vigour to the extant literature on the BSC's use in
d
b
a

c
12
- SAYED ET AL.

F I G U R E 1 Causal relationship among BSC perspectives. The (D – R) for a given BSC perspective presents the direction of the
influence and indicates the net effect that the factor contributes to the system. A positive (D – R) suggests the factor is a “cause‐factor,”
while a negative (D – R) suggests the factor is an “effect‐factor.” The (D + R) for any given BSC perspective indicates the strength of
influence given and received for that respective factor. The (D + R) presents the degree of central role that the factor holds within the
system. See Appendix for further details on the calculation and interpretation of both (D – R) and (D + R). D = Diversity and Growth; C =
Citizen Interests; L = Organizational Learning and Support; O = Operations (Internal Process); F = Financial Stewardship

municipalities, which has been mostly confined to a 5.3 | Applied implications

practitioner's approach. Specifically, our study identifies
the relationship between different KSFs using a struc- This study also makes several contributions to practice.
tured approach, whereas the current literature is mainly Many of the issues faced by the subject municipality are
based on intuition and guesswork. largely similar to other mid‐sized Canadian municipal-
Second, our study responds to “…a need for public ities. Therefore, there is some generalizability of the BSC
administration, organization, and management theory to and strategy map presented in this study for municipal-
address, systematically, important aspects of public ities across Canada. We discuss five practical implications
managerial strategies in cases in which the potential of our findings.
impact of these strategies has significant human and long‐
term economic implications” (Stevens & McGowan, 1983,
p. 527). Along these lines, this research is consistent with 5.3.1 | BSC perspectives for municipalities
the role of accounting academics serving the public interest
to assist with public issues, in which the accountant's Kaplan and Norton (2006) proposed a BSC scheme where
unique expertise can be used (Parker, 2001) by adopting a the Financial Perspective is the final objective and at the top
structured approach to resolving issues facing municipal- of the BSC hierarchy. However, this may not be true for
ities in terms of identifying their KSFs using stakeholder non‐profit or government organizations, which are not
input and the relationship between them (Alcantara usually motivated by financial considerations. In post‐
et al., 2012). secondary institutions, the Financial Perspective was
Third, our study lends empirical credence to Ndevu found to be at the bottom of the BSC (Stejskal et al., 2020).
and Muller’s (2018) assertion that leadership's role is of While most of our KSFs fit neatly into existing BSC per-
the utmost importance in local governments. Our results spectives, our research confirms earlier assertions that a
reveal that stakeholders have high expectations of city BSC development for a municipality warrants more crea-
management/leadership regarding the critical role to tive perspectives. In broader terms, the Financial Perspec-
impact all other KSFs. However, it remains unclear if city tives are seen as more of an end rather than a means,
management can control many of the KSFs stakeholders indicating different priorities for municipalities from other
deem essential. non‐profit organizations. However, it is seen to fuel
SAYED ET AL.
- 13

F I G U R E 2 Causal relationships among KSFs. The (D–R) for a given KSF presents the direction of the influence and indicates the net
effect that the factor contributes to the system. A positive (D–R) suggests the factor is a “cause‐factor,” while a negative (D – R) suggests the
factor is an “effect‐factor.” The (D + R) for any given KSF indicates the strength relationship (given and received) and the degree of central
role that the factor holds within the system. See Appendix for further details on the calculation and interpretation of both (D – R) and
(D + R). D1 = Economic Growth; D2: Diverse Economy; D3 = Increase Population Diversity; D4 = Partnerships/Relationships;
D5 = Develop Tourism/Regional Hub; D6 = Ease of Doing Business; D7 = Foster Innovation; C1 = Optimize Service Level; C2 = Citizen
Engagement; C3 = Indigenous Relationships; C4 = Community Safety and Wellbeing; C5 = Environmental responsibility; L1 = Increase
Training Opportunities (external); L2 = Training/Mentoring (internal); L3 = Management/Leadership; O1 = Resource Utilization;
O2 = Efficiencies; O3 = Improve (internal) Systems; F1 = Increase Overall Tax Base; F2 = Balanced Budget; F3 = Healthy Debt; F4 =
Financial Reserves

matters of citizen's interest and investing in internal pro- emphasis on economic growth seems to be rooted in
cesses. Chan (2004) found that municipalities tend to history, as it was common for municipal governments
assign the greatest emphasis to financial performance. Our across Canada to promote local economic growth,
results, which are based on the cause‐and‐effect model, known as boosterism (Rudin, 1982). In our case, eco-
seem to support this general municipal position on the role nomic growth is primarily seen as the function of all
of the Financial Perspective. other perspectives, and seems to be intimately connected
with most of the elements of diversity and growth. Our
strategy map provides guidelines for our subject
5.3.2 | The central role of economic growth municipality's economic growth by highlighting the most
relevant factors. In order of importance, economic
Based on the number of significant connections in the growth is primarily seen as a function of management/
detailed strategy map, two of the most important KSFs leadership, increasing the overall tax base, innovation,
were economic growth and the role of management economic diversity, and improved internal systems.
leadership. Economic growth as an end objective may Increasing the overall tax base and economic diversity
not be surprising for a relatively isolated mid‐sized Ca- seem to have a strong interdependent relationship with
nadian city lacking a strong industrial base. However, an economic growth.
14
- SAYED ET AL.

5.3.3 | Indigenous partnerships

The subject of fostering Indigenous partnerships is not

new and is common to many Canadian municipalities
(Hanselmann, 2001). As the Indigenous population's
move toward urban areas has gained momentum, mu-
nicipalities are increasingly under pressure to address
changing demographics. It is also generally seen as a
critical focus area for local governments to develop
prosperous, inclusive communities. For example, the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities features Indige-
nous partnerships as a main focus area. A 2018 special
issue of the Public Sector Digest was dedicated to
Indigenous‐Municipal Partnerships and how they could
impact urban housing, refugee populations, water
health, and the implementation of the Truth and
Reconciliation Committee's (2015) call to action across
Canada.4
Our study provides preliminary, empirical insights
F I G U R E 3 Strategy Map for BSC Perspectives. The linkages into the role of partnerships with Indigenous commu-
presented in Figure 3 are based on the untabulated total influence nities for a municipality's overall strategy. Generally, our
matrix. The total influence matrix is available from the authors results suggest that Indigenous partnerships have a
upon request

F I G U R E 4 Strategy Map for KSFs. The linkages presented in Figure 4 are based on the untabulated total influence matrix. The total
influence matrix is available from the authors upon request
SAYED ET AL.
- 15

strong interdependent relationship with economic MMI and MPMP performance indicators, it is unclear
growth. Aside from economic development, the Indige- whether municipal stakeholder preferences are incorpo-
nous Partnerships KSF was not perceived to impact any rated into the development process. Furthermore,
other KSFs significantly. The strongest link to developing each regime's resulting indicators are designed to be
Indigenous Partnerships is perceived to be from a city's comparable across municipalities, resulting in all munic-
management and leadership team. This is consistent with ipalities being treated as equal and failing to consider the
the general theme discussed throughout this paper unique circumstances of a given municipality. Finally,
regarding city management and leadership expectations. performance indicators based on both programs are pri-
As a result, our findings suggest that city management marily either operational or financial, and do not explain
and leadership need to create the right conditions for how these indicators come together, interact, or support
such partnerships, which may add to economic growth. each other to achieve overarching objectives.
We do note that future researchers should continue to
explore this area by incorporating more Indigenous per-
spectives and respondents, to ensure that economic and 5.4 | Limitations and future research
social benefits are mutually beneficial for both Indige- directions
nous and non‐Indigenous populations. We also appre-
ciate the complexity of developing these partnerships, This research is not without limitations. First, this study
which span across issues that are not only economical, relies primarily on the expert opinion of the participants,
but include social, cultural, historical, and even judicial based on interviews and surveys. Since discerning cause/
dimensions. One possible initiative may be for munici- effect relationships is complex and depends on the re-
palities to take a proactive approach to determine their spondents' interpretation, some anomalies may appear
role in implementing the Truth and Reconciliation when two different surveys are used or how overall per-
Commission's call to action. spectives are framed. For example, while the Organisa-
tional Learning and Support Perspective exhibits negative
effects, all its components have a significant causal in-
5.3.4 | Fostering innovation fluence on others KSFs. A future researcher may wish to
confirm the links presented in our study through statis-
Our findings suggest that a municipality's role in innova- tical analysis of historical data, and the BSC for different
tion is essential as a means of achieving economic growth; city departments to demonstrate each department's
however, according to Chan (2004), municipalities tend to contribution toward multiple KSFs of the city.
place the least emphasis on this factor. Furthermore, Kloot Second, considering the complexity of municipal
and Martin (2000) reveal that local governments often pay governments and each municipality's uniqueness, the
little attention to innovation in their performance mea- findings presented in this study may not be generalizable
surement systems. As a result, our findings suggest a to all Canadian municipalities. Regardless, we believe
tension between a municipality's role in fostering inno- that our findings could be used as a guide for developing
vation and its ability to do so. Specifically, a municipality's a BSC for other Canadian municipalities. We encourage
role in fostering innovation is often a question of juris- future researchers to undertake comparative studies of
diction and blurred responsibilities across different gov- the BSCs adopted by different Canadian municipalities to
ernment levels, termed “entanglement” (Simeon, 1977). better understand the generalizable BSC elements.
Entanglement can lead to duplication, uncoordinated ef- Third, our data were collected before the COVID‐19
forts, inefficient use of resources, fragmentation, and pandemic. Understandably, our findings may need to be
ambiguity of responsibilities (Bradford & Wolfe, 2013). adjusted to the new realities resulting from the pandemic.
Therefore, our results suggest that fostering innovation is For example, public health and safety appear conspicuous
important for a municipality to achieve economic growth; by its absence, considering all the expectations of the
however, it is currently unclear how municipalities different levels of governmentamidst the global pandemic.
can do so while avoiding the negative consequences of Therefore, future researchers are encouraged to explore
entanglement. the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the
expectations of various levels of government, including
municipalities.
5.3.5 | MMI and MPMP Lastly, it is essential to note that two important
considerations may impact our findings' generalizability.
The KSFs based on our findings provide an interesting First, specific performance benchmarks may differ be-
comparison with the MMI and MPMP programs. In both tween municipalities regarding control, room for
16
- SAYED ET AL.

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18
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We present a brief summary of the calculations that un-
scorecard by municipal governments: Evidence from Canada.
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derlie the DEMATEL method. Additional details can be
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ment and the implementation of balanced scorecards in method based on the following steps:
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technique: A systematic review of the state‐of‐the‐art literature
2. Formulate the initial direct influence matrix based on
on methodologies and applications [Open Access]. Mathe-
Equation (1).
matical Problems in Engineering. https://www.hindawi.com/
journals/mpe/2018/3696457/ 2 3
z11 … z1j ⋯ z1n
Simeon, R. (1977). The Federal‐provincial decision‐making process.
6⋮ ⋮ ⋮ 7
In Intergovernmental relations: Issues and alternatives. Ontario 6 7
6 z
z ¼ 6 i1 … z ij … z 7
1n 7 ð1Þ
Economic Council.
4⋮ ⋮ ⋮ 5
Stejskal, K., Sayed, N., & Lento, C. (2020). Mapping stakeholder
expectations of a publicly funded post‐secondary institution: A zn1 … znj … znn
balanced scorecard perspective. Accounting and the Public In-
terest, 20(1), 104–137. 3. Prepare a normalized direct influence matrix based on
Stevens, J. M., & McGowan, R. P. (1983). Managerial strategies in Equation (2).
municipal government organizations. Academy of Manage-
ment Journal, 26(3), 527–534. z
X¼ � Pn P � ð2Þ
Tapinos, E., Dyson, R. G., & Meadows, M. (2011). Does the
max max1 ≤ i ≤ n j−1 zij; max1 ≤ j ≤ n ni−1 ½zij�
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4. Derive the matrix of total relations (full direct/indi-
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and
rect influence). The matrix of total relations (T)
Reconciliation Commission of Canada. National Centre for
Truth and Reconciliation. calculation is based on Equation (3), whereby I is the
Vujanović, D., Momčilović, V., Bojović, N., & Papić, V. (2012). identity matrix, X = [xij](n*n) is the direct influence
Evaluation of vehicle fleet maintenance management in- matrix, and limðX 2 þ ⋯ þ X K Þ represents the indi-
k→∞
dicators by application of DEMATEL and ANP. Expert Systems rect influence matrix; when 0 ≤ xij <1, then
with Applications, 39(12), 10552–10563. lim X k ¼ 0:
Winstanley, D., Sorabji, D., & Dawson, S. (1995). When the pieces k→∞

don’t fit: a stakeholder power matrix to analyse public sector �

restructuring. Public Money & Management, 15(2), 19–26.
T ¼ lim X þ X 2 þ ⋯ þ X k
k→∞
SAYED ET AL.
- 19

� " #
¼ lim X I þ X þ X 2 þ ⋯ þ X k−1 � n
X
k→∞
� � R ¼ rj 1)n
¼ tij ð5Þ
1 − Xk i¼1 1)n
¼ lim X
k→∞ 1−X

¼ XðI − XÞ−1 ð3Þ 6. The sum of D and R (D + R) for any given BSC
perspective or KSF indicates the strength of relation-
ship (both cause and/or effect) for the respective fac-
5. Lastly, calculate Dispatch (D) and Receive (R) values
tor. It presents the degree of central role that the factor
in order to analyze the results of influences and re-
holds within the system (Si et al., 2018).
lationships. The D and R calculations are based on the
7. The difference between D and R (D – R) for any given
total‐relation matrix (T = [tij]), as outlined in Equa-
BSC perspective or KSF presents the net effect the
tions (4) and (5), respectively.
factor contributes to the system (Si et al., 2018). A
" # positive (D – R), that is, D > R, suggests the factor is a
n
X
D ¼ ðdi Þn)1 ¼ tij ð4Þ “cause‐factor.” A negative (D–R), that is, D < R,
j¼1 n)1 suggests the factor is an “effect‐factor.”