Nonparametric methods for measuringconcordance between rankings: a case study on the evaluation ofprofessional profiles of municipal directors

The various areas of public administration management have, for several years, been the subject of considerable review, including legislative review. The particular importance of the need to redefine identities and responsibilities, as well as the knowledge and skills of the personnel operating in the field, has been recognised. In this context a study was set up in association with the National Association of the Communes of Italy (Veneto section) which aimed to reconceptualise the municipal director profile. The study involved an initial stage in which privileged witnesses were interviewed through a Delphi survey in order to chart the dimensions constituting the municipal director’s profile. Based on the dimensions identified, a questionnaire was prepared and presented to a sample of municipal directors from the communes of the Veneto. The questionnaire was split into two parts: firstly, the director was asked to assess the importance of possessing the qualities indicated by each item; secondly the director was asked to express an opinion in relation to the usefulness of investing in each of the dimensions. With regard to both parts of the questionnaire, it is of interest to obtain a ranking of the items. A method for constructing preference rankings based on the nonparametric combination procedure has been proposed to compete with the usual method based on the arithmetic mean. Subsequently in order to verify to what extent the rankings related to the two parts of questionnaire concord, a new permutation test for the evaluation of concordance between dependent rankings has been applied.