CAF Implementation in Europe: A Content Analysis of the EUPAN 2025 Report

Quality management models implemented by public institutions in Europe follow the path to improvement and development of public services seeking to satisfy its stakeholders. Common Assessment Framework guides institutions toward their goals through implementation of enabler criteria and result oriented criteria. Even though the practitioners extensively present the key factors and challenges they concur during the application of the CAF model, the present paper identifies a gap in literature regarding empirical evidence about the uniform engagement of enablers and result oriented criteria of CAF model but also the excellence principles integration. Intended to address this gap, the research conducts a qualitative content analysis of the good practices reported in the 2025 EUPAN CAF report. Nominated good practices of CAF model implementation mostly emphasize enabler criteria: leadership, people engagement, and partnership and resources, which function as important determinants of institutional development. Additionally, this study underscores that result criteria addressing employee, citizen satisfaction and societal outcomes receive limited attention. By synthesizing insights from reported good practices, this research reveals an uneven application of excellence principles during CAF model implementation, because the institutions tend to prioritize continuous innovation and improvement, together with people development and involvement over result orientation, citizen/customer focus, and management of processes and facts principles. The findings on sustainability aspects indicate a prioritization of the implicitly addressed dimensions like innovation, resilience, learning and long-term orientation while SDGs, sustainable development and long term objectives remain relatively scarce. Reliance on a single report limits the potential for longitudinal analysis. Future research can extend to a longitudinal analysis of the EUPAN reports and determine which CAF criteria, excellence principles and sustainability dimensions intervene across different country contexts.