Thesis title: The Impact of an Internal Monitoring and Evaluation System on Public Project Performance: A Case Study of the Municipality of Rome's PNRR Initiatives.
The effective governance of Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) mandates
robust oversight, yet literature lacks empirical studies on the internal impact of digital monitoring
systems within public administrations. This thesis addresses that gap by conducting a qualitative
single-case study of the Internal Monitoring System (SMI) in the Municipality of Rome's PNRR
Department to establish the causal mechanisms that influence its performance. The study
employed an integrated methodological approach, utilizing pattern matching to synthesize findings
across the three theoretical domains: M&E, Digital Governance, and Organizational Behavior.
The analysis established that the SMI's impact is fundamentally bimodal, exhibiting a critical
Efficiency-Effectiveness Trade-Off. The system achieved high Effectiveness by enforcing data
standardization and providing a verifiable platform for Upward Accountability, successfully
meeting the legal mandate for PNRR compliance. However, it suffered from low Internal
Operational Efficiency, a deficit causally linked to a Digital Governance failure: the
Interoperability Barrier with other systems. This flaw generated mandatory double work for
Project Managers (RUPs), which fueled predictable rational organizational resistance.
The thesis concludes that the system’s design represents a strategic trade-off where the Principal
(PNRR Department) prioritized the strategic necessity of External Accountability over the
operational goal of Internal Efficiency. This research contributes to academic theory by empirically
validating this causal model within the PNRR context, providing insights into why digital
transformation in compliance-driven public sectors accepts internal costs to secure strategic
external success.