Public Value Creation Research Articles

Public Value Creation: The Essence of Strategic Management in Public Administration

This insight highlights the concept of creating public value by public managers through the assets entrusted to them by the public, including public money, authority to regulate private actors, and the pre-existing public spirit. To achieve this, public managers need to have entrepreneurial skills and a restless, value-seeking imagination to identify and exploit opportunities for public welfare. However, this management style requires a full understanding and adherence to democratic legitimation and public accountability processes. Finally, I emphasizes the importance of public managers focusing on creating public value, as it provides a framework for effective public service delivery and the advancement of the common good.

Public value creation and robotic process automation: normative, descriptive and prescriptive issues in municipal administration

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight problems and opportunities for introducing digital automation in public administration (PA) and to propose implications for public value creation of robotic process automation (RPA) through the perspective of good bureaucracy as a guiding framework.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper addresses the purpose by applying three normative ideal types: Weber’s ideal type for a bureaucracy, new public management and public value management. This paper synthesizes an analytical framework in conducting case studies of the implementation of RPA systems in municipal administration.FindingsThis paper contributes to new insights into public value creation and digital automation. The following four implications are proposed: the deployment of RPA in municipal administration should emphasize that organizing administrative tasks is essentially a political issue; include considerations based on a well-grounded analysis in which policy areas that are suitable for RPA; to pay attention to issues on legal certainty, personal integrity, transparency and opportunities to influence automated decisions; and that the introduction of RPA indicates a need to develop resources concerning learning and knowledge in the municipal administration.Originality/valueThis paper is innovative, as it relates normative, descriptive and prescriptive issues on the developing of digital automation in PA. The conceptual approach is unusual in studies of digitalization in public activities.

Exploration and Integration of Institutional Isomorphism Factors and Role of Social Media to Creating Public Value

Creating public value has attracted much attention from the government sector due to worldwide rising well-being. While creating public value has become more relevant for public managers and policymakers, it has not been adopted in developing countries instead of developed countries. Therefore, the policymakers represent the government, and public managers must demonstrate a commitment toward individuals to ensure their public value aligns with the new public administration movement. Despite the absence of a strategic plan for creating public value, individuals increasingly call for improved well-being by increasing pressure on institutions or using social media to achieve these demands, especially in countries with a democratic system. Because of this, a newly coined theoretical framework to adopt public value creation (APVC) was developed based on the traditional model of public value creation by enhancing a new institutional theory in line with the role of social media. It is based on research that shows how public value theory, new institutional theory, and social media's mediating effects create public value. It also extends the current literature on public management and strategic management. The paper provides new insights into public administration for public value creation in developing countries.

What the public wants and how it is best served: forensic scientists’ perceptions of the drivers of public value creation

Government agencies are embracing the rhetoric of public value, but what does the empirical evidence tell us about drivers of its creation? One critical source of insight are the practitioners who turn public investment into public value through complex forms of labour. This article identifies how public value is interpreted and created by forensics scientists in the Criminal Justice System using Q Methodological interviews. The results indicate that two very similar types of forensic scientist exist The study finds that while the decisions of scientists are grounded in their expertise, their public value motivations are to ‘add value’ to the public through their science. They serve the citizen through their science. They do not serve the consumer, client or victim directly. The findings also indicate that there is a need to recognise hidden forms of value-added activity that take place upstream in public-value chains, ensuring that there are systems in place to maximise their impact downstream. Points for practitioners Forensic scientists are motivated to serve the public, not the consumer or customer. In order to build capacity within Criminal Justice Systems, agency leaders need to build a relationship based on mutual professional respect rather than a supplier–consumer relationship. If administrative reform is to be guided by academic research, practitioners should use the language of public value rather than the language of new public management. Public value is often created through inter-institutional value chains that can conceal the contribution of upstream value-added activity to desirable public outcomes. It is critical that the value-added process is traced on an inter-institutional basis, and maximised through effective forms of inter-institutional collaboration.

Covid-related educational policies in action: a system dynamics view

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of street-level bureaucrats and the triggering of co-creative processes.Design/methodology/approachThe study proposes a qualitative system dynamics (or SD) approach describing the implementation of Covid-related educational policies in Italy. An insight model, made of causal loop diagrams, integrates the selected multi-disciplinary literature and institutional sources, secondary data from national and local reports (about Palermo, the fifth largest metropolitan city in Italy) and insights from a panel of school street–level bureaucrats.FindingsThe study provides an insight into the impacts of governmental decisions (school closures and the subsequent need to activate distance learning during the first wave of Covid-19) at a local level. Specifically, it portrays the influences of managerial and professional discretion, infrastructural equipment and socio-economic factors favouring/deterring co-creative educational processes.Practical implicationsThe SD model highlights vicious/virtuous circles in policy implementation and suggests new managerial paths for education, more routed towards public value creation and less attached to bureaucratic procedures and the unquestioning application of performance culture.Originality/valueThe paper proposes an original and holistic approach to dealing with policy making in education and its managerial features. The research findings are considered important, not only to face the current emergency, but also to pro-actively think about the post-Covid era.

Change for performance improvement in the Tanzania Ports Authority, a public sector organization in Tanzania

PurposeThis study is about the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), a central institution in the country that has seen efforts towards improved performance in terms of cargo handled and revenue generated from port operations. This study identifies the actions that were taken by public institutional leaders as a result of political leadership call for performance improvements and implications therefrom for sustainable performance. It attempts to engage with both change and public value theories to make sense of TPA efforts and implications as a result.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted at TPA headquarters in Dar-es-Salaam and involved the management and other staff members. The study design was descriptive and exploratory. Data collection involved mostly the use of semi-structured questionnaires and review of documents.FindingsThe study reveals that the efforts to improve performance at the TPA indicate success in terms of cargo handled and revenue increases. Factors that support change and factors that impede change efforts were also identified making reference to Lewin's change theories and ADKAR (awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement) model. The varied level of improved performance is attributed to the emphasis on change factors and the origin of change that do not give the human element the requisite concern. The quest for performance improvement in the public sector organization is also found wanting on the failure to place the requisite emphasis on public value creation both in processes set in motion and the desired outcomes. A more planned systematic change, championed or internalized within the organization by internal players, specifically TPA's management, is also proposed for a better and more consistent sustainable change in performance at TPA and possible in other public organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is about an organization within a change context that is driven by the top leadership of the country. There have been studies on TPA but not as a change process and not yet after 2015 when the country witnessed a very strong leadership. According to Kets de Vries (2016), powerful leadership in Africa has had little to show and a legacy to be lauded. Therefore, there might be some relevance to contribute to the reasons why most African leadership fails, if that is the case.Practical implicationsPerformance can be achieved through change efforts that are driven by the country's top leadership when the context is right and support factors are present. What can be elusive is sustainable performance creating public value and that endures despite changes in the country's leadership, particularly when internal leadership of a public organization is not the change champion and is basically toeing a line, and the change process is not holistic. A more systemic approach to efforts to create strong organizations as opposed to strong individuals in leadership may be key to sustainable change in similar institutions in Tanzania and Africa.Originality/valueThe study is based on change management models that have gained long-term interest of both scholars and practitioners. It explores a performance-seeking initiative in a developing country's context that is driven by top country's political leadership. It is thus unique because the institutional leadership had to be in stride with national level changes that was centered on efforts to improve service delivery and to counter corruption and complacency in public institutions. It has also attempted to link change theories and public value creation in the quest for improved public performance.

Structuring Public–Private Partnerships for Public Value: Analysis of Two Transportation Infrastructure Case Studies

This study examines public–private partnerships (PPPs) in terms of providing public value and analyzes the structuring of PPP contractual agreements to achieve public values of accountability, transparency, responsibility, responsiveness, and quality. We focus on transportation PPP projects utilizing case studies of the I-495 and I-95 PPP projects in northern Virginia. Review of contractual documents governing the PPPs and analysis of supplemental data related to PPP outcomes is conducted. We examine the creation and maintenance of public value through the process and performance elements of the contractual agreement. Study findings provide insight into how the roles, relationships, and interactions of the public and private partners, reflected in process and performance elements, are incorporated into agreements to ensure public value.

Leading smart city projects: Government dynamic capabilities and public value creation

This research studied the effect of different combinations of government capabilities (innovation capability mix) on public value in smart city-framed innovation projects. The study drew on the public value theory, the collaborative public innovation approach and the dynamic capabilities theory to devise a conceptual framework that links government capabilities and public value. Insights from smart cities and literature on public innovation were also used to identify a range of intra-organizational and external collaboration capabilities of governments that should lead to valuable public sector innovation. These capabilities were combined inductively through factor analysis, which was applied to a sample of 143 innovation projects in Spanish municipalities, leading to four forms of innovation capability mix. A factor analysis regression was then estimated. Overall, the study found that ‘citizen-oriented management’ (i.e., outstanding innovation-oriented internal management coupled with strong collaboration with citizens) and ‘provider focus’ (i.e., outstanding collaboration with providers) seem to have a positive influence on three dimensions of public value (i.e., efficiency, effectiveness and societal challenges). By contrast, ‘citizen and expert focus’ (i.e., outstanding collaboration with experts and citizens) and ‘peer focus’ (i.e., outstanding collaboration with other governments) do not contribute to any of the three dimensions of public value. While project type was studied, it was found that its isolated effect was limited, although analyzing it provided some interesting findings.

Covid 19 - some Lessons from Public Administrations for Humanistic Management

In order to understand how the logic of public management can enrich humanistic management’s practices, the current paper will analyze the managerial practices adopted by public administrations within a situation of emergency, a condition where the specific features of the public management can emerge more clearly. Specifically, it will focus on the ways in which the municipality of Bergamo (one of the hardest-hit cities) have reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic, outlining interesting managerial practices especially from the point of view of Humanistic Management’s theory. Such interest resides also in the fact that although the Humanistic Management’s field of research has dealt with a wide range of topics (including human development, emancipation and progress), so far, however, it has not yet considered public administrations, whose role is by definition oriented towards human development through the creation of public value. The analysis of public management through the lens of Humanistic Management can be useful in various respects. Above all, the difference between public administrations and private enterprises can also lead to a very much different process of value creation, based on collaborative forms of production as well as relational and reflexive forms of management. In accordance with the Humanistic Management framework, also business organizations must generate social wellbeing. From this point of view, the lesson of public administrations can be extremely useful for business organization and management alike.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC VALUE: AN ASSESSMENT OF NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of Public Value in the management and administration of Local Government in Nigeria. As the third tiers of Government, Local Government have the best potentials to foster generation of public interests through creation of public value in the management processes based on hominization of the functions which the third tiers of Government were established. To attain its goals, it adopted theoretical and conceptual review of literatures whereby descriptive and multidimensional frameworkwill help improve and better public services deliveries, improved administrative performance and creation of social value at the grassroots level. Limitation: The new concept of Public Value creation in Local Government administration in Nigeria will need conceptual and theoretical practices to validate the much expected good governance as the third tiers of Government which should aid visionary and missionary leadership to thegrassroots governance as its strives to deliver impactful social amenities and social governance as obliged in the federal constitution. This paper adopted narrative approach and observatory methodinto the strategic advantages and coherent approaches in bringing values to provision of public services and delivering their constitutional obligations through public utilities and services provisions, develop innovative and efficient service delivery. It ended by addressing hindrances in delivering of public values utilities and recommend panaceas for better services delivery and adoption of public value to the system.

Public Value and Citizen-Driven Digital Innovation: A Cryptocurrency Study

ABSTRACT Public value theory was conceived in a time before the far-reaching consequences of the digital era were fully realized, without sufficient explicit consideration of the dynamic and disruptive shifts that might occur on the technological frontier, especially when driven by civil society. As such, the disruptive and citizen-driven nature of many digital technologies, such as cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, has yet to be incorporated into the public value discourse. This article examines the relevance of the public manager to disruptive digital innovations, arguing that value creation is a function of addressing the digital aspirations of citizens, and making technological disruption into a conduit for public value co-creation that is driven by citizens. This is accomplished through mechanisms such as regulatory and policy initiatives that ensure public managers strike a balance between innovation and accountability. It theorizes this using Moore’s strategic triangle to foresee a role for proactive engagement by public managers in citizen-driven public value creation that balances innovative impulses and stronger accountability.

Value processes and lifecycles in networks for public service innovation

ABSTRACT Public administrations, to innovate public services, seek strategies beyond market-like mechanisms and claim for clear paths such as lifecycles. This research bridges service management theory and theory of public management to further how networks for public service innovation mediate public value creation; the study, by integrating both theories and the public service logic approach, discusses the dynamic interactions throughout networks evolution (lifecycle). A theory is elaborated, advancing the relevant role of networks lifecycles in public service innovation lifecycles. The research, lastly, offers several propositions to improve (meta)governance of networks for innovation of public services.

Beyond Public Management Theories: The Creation of Public Value Through Co-Production

Purpose: This paper presents a review of the role of co-production in the public sector and discusses how co-production can help public administrations to create better public value for contemporary society. Approach/Methodology/Design: Employing a qualitative approach, this study builds on the strategic triangle which depicts public value generation in the public sector. This framework shows how and why co-production is more valuable than classical management theories when public value generation is concerned. Data for this study has been collected through databases searches. The study follows a disciplined process in conducting a literature review as suggested by Webster and Watson (2002)—using keyword searches in ProQuest and Google Scholar. Findings: The paper argues that co-production can help to overcome the many limitations linked to traditional administration theories regarding public value creation. The results from the review indicate that co-production aim at improving the performance of the existing public services by actively involving service users in co-designing and improvement of public services. It shows how service experience can be integrated with the overall life experience of citizens. Practical Implications: The study has both practical and theoretical implications. It contributes by identifying co-production as an alternative means for value creation in the public sector. This is significant for theory development and empirical research. For practitioners, co-production helps to evaluate the performance of their organizations effectively. Originality/Value: Despite the significance of public value, few scholars pay attention to co-production as a means to generate public value. Co-production accounts for the need of the citizen in the production process of public value.

Public value creation and appropriation mechanisms in public–private partnerships: How does it play a role?

AbstractScholars have extensively investigated public value creation and appropriation concerning public services delivered strictly by the government and public–private arrangements, such as public–private partnerships (PPPs). However, such studies often focus on value for money and economic performance criteria. This study examines how public value can be created and appropriated in PPP settings and how public value mechanisms can influence these phenomena. Considering that the literature lacks an integrated and structured analytical framework to assess such phenomena, this conceptual article addresses four mainstream PPP topics regarding public value mechanisms (information sharing, public and private capabilities, risk governance, and stakeholder orientation), which can be associated with PPPs' public value creation (destruction) and appropriation (misappropriation). Thus, this article highlights a need to evaluate PPPs in terms of public value creation beyond the economic performance criteria and fills the literature gap by proposing a public value creation and appropriation framework.

Comprehensive land improvement innovation for rural revitalization: Public value creation and realization

Comprehensive land improvement innovation for rural revitalization: Public value creation and realization

The Governance Of Arzew Port: Between The Pressure Of An Economic Challenge And The Creation Of Public Value

Algeria is oriented towards the promotion of non-hydrocarbon exports. The value of this enterprise is due to reach five billion dollars in 2021.This new economic policy should rely on the dynamic of ports platforms. The port is a complex organisation similar to a network company, it is an implantation location for companies concerned with optimizing their import/export operations. The port of Arzew is a main gateway for Algerian exports. For non-hydrocarbons, Customs notes that five products exported to western Algeria totaled more than 75% of non-hydrocarbon exports. These are mineral or chemical nitrogen fertilizers (urea), anhydrous ammonia oils, finished products from the steel industry, cement and others. Today, ports must be exemplary in terms of governance policy, installation, infrastructure and logistical tools. Certainly, a new role is taking shape and imposing itself on the port authority, its new functions are described as ‘new governance agenda’. This concerns its role, which is called upon to contribute with other actors in all areas (environmental, economic, social, territorial, etc.). Increasingly, ports have become creators of public value. This concept is closely linked to the establishment of collaborative governance because of the importance of stakeholders. public value is the result of the coordination of different actors-networks, with this in mind, authors insist on making the link between public action and the stakeholders by clarifying the objectives and purposes of the public products and services that must include the production of value not only for the individuals directly affected but also for the communities concerned. Nowadays, ports must be exemplary in terms of governance policy, installation, infrastructure and logistical tools. The objective of our research is to examine the governance in place in supporting non-hydrocarbon exports in a Algeria west region. The approach pursued in this work is based on the applicability of a model of the creation of public value or ‘network governance’. The results obtained have made it possible to highlight the positive impact of port facilities on exports, while the governance in place is of capital importance.

Public organisations and innovation for smart and sustainable working

Public organisations are developing the potential of information technology to drive smart working as collaborative innovation in order to shape sustainable organisation for public value creation. Smart working is emerging as a new way to enable the work relationship as a framework which fosters collaborative innovation. Public organisations are embracing smart working mind set and practices as a way to enhance collaborative innovation and achieve sustainability as a vision for innovation and change in managing res publica, developing the social and human side in collaborative smart working by using the potential of information technology.

Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure

Policy failures are often assumed to be unintentional and anomalous events about which well-intentioned governments can learn why they occurred and how they can be corrected. These assumptions color many of the results from contemporary studies of policy learning which remain optimistic that ongoing policy problems can be resolved through technical learning and lesson drawing from comparative case studies. Government intentions may not be solely oriented toward the creation of public value and publics may not abide by government wishes, however, and studies of policy learning need to take these “darksides” of policy-making more seriously if the risks of policy failure are to be mitigated.

Corruption and Public Value in Malaysia

Purpose: This paper explores the interrelated relationship between corruption and public value in Malaysia. It examines the government s creation of public value and why these values become meaningless in the face of systemic corruption pervading the country. This review aims to identify the areas of concern that had nurtured the practice of corruption in Malaysia s public sector and how these areas of concern can be strengthened to rebuild the citizen or rakyat s trust in the integrity of the public sector. Method: Over several decades, the Malaysian governments have launched important initiatives to counter corruption. This paper focuses on only two government initiatives as a reference. The first initiative refers to the three different approaches undertaken by the Mahathir government in the early 1980s. These included- the Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy initiative (1981), which had Leadership by Example (1983) as a central theme. These initiatives were followed by the campaign for the Inculcation of Islamic Values Policy (1985). The second initiative refers to the National Anti-Corruption Plan launched by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in 2019, under the Mahathir 2.0 government. The present Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has also adopted this plan. Using the examples of these two Malaysian governments anti-corruption initiatives, this paper examines the values espoused by the government, almost four decades apart, to instill integrity in the public sector. Results: High corruption in the public sector has led to a serious public trust deficit, threatening the country s economic development and social cohesion. Public integrity remains evasive when the interests of a few override those of the larger population. With rampant corruption, the delivery and quality of public services to the citizens become problematic. Conclusion: This paper recommends the way forward in rebuilding trust and public value in Malaysia. Institutional reforms, empowering the public, and encouraging the participation of civil society organizations are some of the measures proposed to overcome the scourge of corruption in Malaysia.

Citizen’s Participation as Co-Producer in Licensing

. To improve the image of the bureaucracy, which is still complicated and difficult, causing the public's reluctance to take care of their own permits, the one-stop integrated service and investment office (DPMPTSP) Province of DKI Jakarta initiated the implementation of the PTSP Keliling Kampung as part of the PTSP Ruang Publik Program. The activity was carried out using the Co-Production concept which includes the role of citizens’ participation in it. The purpose of this study is to see the extent of citizen’s participation as co-producer in licensing service activities through co-production forming factors and involvement in each phase of the service cycle. This research was conducted through a post-positivist approach with qualitative data collection methods. The results of the study show that in these activities community participation as co-producers has been seen with the active involvement of the community in the form of providing resources in service activities and licensing assistance, the motivation of the community as a voluntary public service provider, and the creation of private and/or public value in the form of outputs or outcomes. Seeing community involvement in the service cycle phase, including in the commissioning, designing, delivery, and assessment phases, in these activities community participation as co-producers has reached the assessment phase. This activity has achieved social benefits and the active role of the co-producer starting from the planning stage to the evaluation and assessment stage in the licensing service activity.