What is special about the public service logic?

Abstract

The article addresses the issues of the public service logic (PSL), one of the avenues of studying public and municipal administration. Developing this concept will contribute to the theory and practice of providing public services in the Russian system of state and municipal government. Methodologically, the paper rests on the provisions of public administration, as well as the concepts of service-dominant logic and public service-dominant logic. It follows the principles of methodological individualism and interdisciplinary approach that allows adding the findings of the existing economic studies to our analysis. Among the research methods applied are comparison, content analysis and systematization. We have identified the following theoretical gaps that need to be bridged to develop the PSL: first, the lack of a scientifically grounded definition of “public service value” as a form of service co-production involving the seller and the buyer, and, second, determining behavioural characteristics of employees of public (non-profit) organizations rendering credence goods-related services. Thus, the PSL outlines an important research area, namely studying value co-creation mechanisms in the public sector. The research findings can be utilized to refine public policy and produce strategic documents for the development of non-profit organizations providing public services.