Thomas Elston and Han Wong have published an article in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory examining whether informational, low-stakes accountability is ineffective.

The results are striking and challenging. Local governments that are notified of, but not penalised for, a serious failure in service delivery nonetheless initiate a series of turnaround behaviours. Leadership attention towards the problem area increases; control over that department is centralised; and resources are shifted from peripheral to core activities, all compared with a matched control group. These findings encourage the challenge of conventional wisdom and promote thinking outside of the box when designing systems of public service accountability.