Public Value Research Articles

Discourse, power and mobility of the smart city agenda in Brazil

In Brazil, we observe the first effort to federalize the smart agenda with the publication of the Brazilian Charter for Smart Cities in 2020. Inspired by the German Smart City Chart, it is the result of the mobility and global circulation of smart cities policy. Recognizing that strategic documents are capable of determining policies, projects and public investments, the article proposes to investigate and demystify the discursive practices that legitimize the smart agenda. Thus, critical reflections are proposed about risks and recombination of interests based on the mobility of the smart agenda and federal upscaling in Brazil. A comparative analysis between the two documents revealed the risks of a socio-technical bifurcation, erosion of public value and legitimation of technocratic planning.

Fostering innovative behaviours of public sector employees: the potency of innovation-based HR practices, risk propensity and error tolerance

PurposeAlthough the innovative behaviour of public employees is critical for the creation of public value and meeting of public interests, the authors are uncertain about the role of the human resource (HR) system in affecting individual behaviour as past studies tended to discuss innovation at the organisational level of analysis. Based on corporate human resource management (HRM) literature, the authors draw from the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) model to examine the influence of innovation-based HR practices on work-related risk propensity and innovative behaviour and the moderating role of perceived error tolerance of public sector organisations.Design/methodology/approachDyadic data were collected from supervisors and their subordinates in various public sector organisations in the UAE. The authors collected valid responses from 100 managers and 200 employees.FindingsThis study's findings demonstrate that the HR system in the public sector shapes employees' behaviour at the individual level of analysis, consistent with the corporate HRM literature. The authors reveal that innovation-based HR practices significantly promote employees' innovative work behaviour because they trigger their inclination and disposition to take risks. Furthermore, the authors provide evidence that such risk-taking propensity at work is heightened under the conditions of a high level of error tolerance by the organisational management.Practical implicationsThis study's findings point out the importance of implementing innovation-based HR practices, such as recruitment, reward and training, to drive public sector employees' innovative work behaviour as they could galvanise their risk-taking propensity and, subsequently, innovative behaviour. Public sector managers also need to develop an innovation culture tolerant toward employees' mistakes to further foster employees' work innovativeness. Policy wise, this study's findings could be integrated into the national innovation strategy to drive the national growth in the UAE.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the drivers behind innovative behaviour among public employees, which is a less researched area, especially in a non-Western context.

Public value of accreditation in the continuous improvement of Education Degree Programs in Costa Rica

The different accreditation processes of undergraduate degrees are the object of research due to the value of international recognition based on their accreditation. Thus, accreditation has become the preferred means of monitoring and evaluating the quality of higher education and observing universities' impact on society. The present study is part of a broader research focused on developing a doctoral thesis. It is framed in the qualitative interpretative paradigm of an emergent exploratory type. The main objective is to identify the public value generated by accreditation in the continuous improvement of undergraduate programs accredited by SINAES (an anagram of Sistema Nacional de Acreditación de la Educación Superior, National System of Higher Education Acceditation), in the field of education in Costa Rica. Five in-depth interviews were conducted to learn the perceptions of the key informants who participated in the accreditation process of the six selected degree programs. The results show the public value that accreditation produces in the continuous improvement of Education Degree Programs through ten categories that cover the achievements, benefits, results and effects of the contribution of SINAES in the continuous improvement processes of higher education. In conclusion, accreditation has become one of the determining factors when selecting an Education Degree Program in Costa Rica. The processes carried out by SINAES are perceived as legitimate and of excellence in developing these types of quality certifications.

Precision public health in the making: examining the becoming of the "social" in a Swiss environmental health population-based cohort.

Expanding the concept of "precision" or "personalized" medicine, personalized health and precision public health designate the use of various kinds of data-genomic, other omics, clinical, or those produced by individuals themselves through self-tracking-to optimize health interventions benefiting the whole population. This paper draws on an ethnography of the implementation of a population-based environmental health cohort to shed light on the reconfigurations brought about by the "personalization" of public health in Switzerland. Combining human biomonitoring and molecular epidemiology, this cohort aims to advance the science of the exposome, a notion referring to the totality of exposures to which individuals are subjected over their lifecourse. Addressing the tension between holism and reductionism, this paper points to the important gap between the promissory horizon of the exposome and the realities of practices. Situations of reductionism are defined as moments of friction and negotiation between different rationales and values, exposing what makes the science of the exposome, including its material, economic, institutional, and methodological constraints, as well as its imaginaries and values. Rather than opposing holism and reductionism, I emphasize that they constitute two sides of the same coin, as they both pragmatically enable action and produce situated versions of the social. This empirical case shows how reductionism operates at the chemical, biological, and populational levels to produce public health scientific and social values. It thus contributes to contextualizing the pragmatic and strategic choices made by scientists, as well as the values they favor, in a research environment marked by the predominance of biomedicine over public health. It shows how the reductionism of the "social environment" was made for a better social integration of the cohort into the Swiss political and scientific landscape of public health. Bringing together actors involved in public health and questions of environmental exposures, this cohort can be interpreted as a biomedicalization of public health research, as well as an attempt to socialize it through the broad category of the exposome.

Public Values Program Santunan Kematian Bagi Masyarakat Miskin di Kabupaten Bojonegoro

This research aims to explain the public value of the poor death compensation program in Bojonegoro Regency as perceived by the general public. The Death Compensation Program for the Poor in Bojonegoro Regency is designed to provide assistance to poor heirs whose family members have died as a manifestation of the concern of the Bojonegoro Regency Government. This research uses Mark Moore's public value theory, Legitimacy and Support, Operational Skills, and Substantial Value. This research uses a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. In this study, a purposive sampling strategy was used to identify informants. Through research it is known that the Death Compensation Program for the Poor in Bojonegoro Regency has received support from the community, from an operational capability perspective supported by quality human resources, technology and finance. In terms of substantial value, it has benefits from economic value, social and social value, and political value. Although there are still several obstacles, especially in terms of data filling by the public and telecommunications networks.

Using a Public Value Management theory to identify features of citizen-centric e-governance in Namibia

Background: The utilisation of e-government by citizens in Africa remains limited due to resource constraints and various socioeconomic challenges. Nevertheless, Namibia, for example, has shown a strong interest in adopting and implementing e-government, as evidenced by the periodic release of policy frameworks encouraging this use.Objectives: The aim of this research was to comprehend the expectations of Namibian citizens regarding e-government. Specifically, the study focused on identifying the key components of a citizen-centric e-government framework. A citizen-centered e-government can generate value for citizens according to Public Value Management.Method: A mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative) was used to gather data. Namibian government officials were engaged through interviews while a questionnaire survey was used to collect data from citizens. Exactly 196 respondents took part in the study.Results: The findings show that citizen-centric e-government could be attained by using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in meeting socially desirable outcomes, enhancing the efficiency of public organisations and the delivery of public services.Conclusion: Governments need to embrace citizen-centric e-government and avail a supportive infrastructure to improve adoption. Citizens need to see the opportunity of deriving value from e-government use for early adoption.Contribution: This study extends the public value theory to e-government. The study found minor differences or additions in terms of what participants value in this context. For instance, participants in this study value a complete e-service for e-government, efficiency that saves time and money, openness that promotes data government, and a need for funding for such projects.

Surveillance Capitalism in Mental Health: When Good Apps Go Rogue (and What Can Be Done about It)

Research shows that a large proportion of the world’s population has experience with mental health difficulties, and reliable as well as scalable care is urgently needed. Digital mental health seems to be an obvious solution to provide the better delivery of care but also the delivery of better care. With an imagined future of real-time information sharing, improved diagnosis and monitoring of mental health conditions, and remote care, supported by advances in artificial intelligence, many tech companies have emerged over the last three decades to plug the treatment gap and provide services. The evidence base seems compelling: some online treatments have the capability to treat individuals quite successfully. However, the introduction, utilisation, and expansion of digital mental health technologies have not always focused on public health only. Using a surveillance capitalism perspective, this paper approaches the democratisation–privatisation dichotomy in digital mental health with a critical lens. In particular, the paper details how (commercially valuable) mental health data are extracted, “shared”, and claimed as an asset by big tech companies. Reviewing the terms, conditions, and practices of ten popular mental health apps, the paper polemically argues that mental digital health cannot unlock real value for society—better treatment, good quality care, and efficient delivery—if power, politics, and profits remain in the hands of big tech companies. To conclude, the paper draws attention to contemporary discourses that seek to promote democracy and public value for digital mental health apps, technologies, and solutions.

Microfoundations of Dynamic Capabilities for Social Innovations in Small Non-Profit Organizations

The promotion of social innovations by non-profit and business organizations has gained increasing interest. Yet, there has been limited research on routines that organizations use to facilitate social innovations. This paper uses a dynamic capabilities framework to understand the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities for social innovation in small non-profit organizations. Through analysis of routines of 20 small organizations in five European metropolitan areas, the paper demonstrates that many microfoundation aspects resemble generic abilities of opportunity identification, alliancing, user engagement, networking, and organizational learning. However, their orientation toward public values requires incorporating commitments to social value and principles of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability, into different organizational processes. We suggest that social impact does not always require substantial investment and can be achievable through modest changes such as repurposing surplus resources. Building flexible routines that enable such incremental changes is a key element of organizational capability to adapt to changing contexts.

Rethinking value in public management

AbstractWith the ascent of the concept of public value, the theory and practice of administration have shifted from a focus on management, effectiveness and efficiency (as espoused in New Public Management) towards an agenda of public value creation. This has resulted in a large, heterogenous number of scholarly publications on public value. In this paper, we review this important body of work from the period 1994 to 2019, discuss it critically and propose a few avenues for future research – especially in terms of conceptualizing public value. We do so by using a mixed‐methods approach, incorporating semantic‐network analysis, which allows a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the field of public value. In this article we show in great detail how the literature on public value has evolved and is configured, categorize how value is defined and measured within the literature, introduce a novel mixed‐methods approach for literature reviews, and provide three conceptual contributions including (1) digitalization in public value theory can expand our understanding of citizens, (2) public value is more than just public, and (3) visualizing public value through controversy maps. Finally, we provide suggestions for further research.

Dfg dfg dfg df dfg 76u e76u e56 u 7e6 ue7 ue7 uj r jyj qr ry jqr

The article examines the main problems of the XXI century, the overcoming of which led to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015, replacing the Millennium Development Goals. The authors systematically consider the governance process in sustainable development, paying particular attention to the structural-functional and information-behavioral subsystems of governance. Also, special attention is paid to the development of information technology and civil society, as well as other changes that took place in the late XX – early XXI century. These changes have influenced the concepts of public administration, which are fundamental to achieving the SDGs. The article aims to determine the methodological approaches necessary for the functioning of the public administration system in the context of sustainable development. The main research method used was a bibliographic study, both descriptive and analytical. The analysis of scientific literature allowed the authors to conclude that the following modern concepts of public administration in the context of sustainable development can be implemented: "management of public values," "digital citizenship," "political networks," "smart (receptive/reflective) governance," results/goals-based management, FAST-concept, "Open Government," and "Activating State." The importance of involving people in addressing sustainable development issues related to significant social, economic, and environmental problems, policy-making, and public service delivery is hardly disputed today. As shown, modern concepts are aimed at enabling citizens to participate in such processes. These include access to and availability of information and the development of communication technologies, including social media. In the XXI century of Knowledge Societies, the most creative solutions will be created through open interaction and reliance on shared resources. The extraordinary events (the pandemic and the war in Ukraine) have significantly slowed down the process of achieving Sustainable Development Goals and, in some cases, made it impossible to achieve any results for some goals. As a result, a new model of public administration in the context of sustainable development will be required. The prospects for further research include defining a new concept of public administration and its provision, which will consider the advantages of modern concepts and ensure their synergistic effect so that the sustainable development agenda is adopted not only by the state but also by business and society.

Cities for citizens! Public value spheres for understanding conflicts in urban planning

Identifying the diverse and often competing values of citizens, and resolving the consequent public value conflicts, are of significant importance for inclusive and integrated urban development. Scholars have highlighted that relational, value-laden urban space gives rise to many diverse conflicts that vary both spatially and temporally. Although notions of public value conflicts have been conceived in theory, there are few empirical studies that identify such values and their conflicts in urban space. Building on public value theory and using a case-study mixed-methods approach, this paper proposes a new approach to empirically investigate public value conflicts in urban space. Using unstructured participatory data of 4528 citizen contributions from a Public Participation Geographic Information Systems in Hamburg, Germany, natural language processing and spatial clustering techniques are used to identify areas of potential value conflicts. Four expert interviews assess and interpret these quantitative findings. By integrating quantitative assessments with the qualitative findings of the interviews, we identify 19 general public values and nine archetypical conflicts. On the basis of these results, this paper proposes a new conceptual model of ‘Public Value Spheres’ that extends the understanding of public value conflicts and helps to further account for the value-laden nature of urban space.

Public Value-creation Through Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in COVID-19 Management: Policy Lessons from India

The COVID-19 pandemic had posed significant challenges for public health systems worldwide. Countries had been experimenting with innovative solutions to address the crisis. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising technology in this regard, with its potential to improve disease detection, contact tracing, and vaccine distribution. The Government of India had administered more than 1,000 million vaccines in a short period since the outbreak of COVID-19, that is, in March 2020. The government harnessed the potential of AI for providing services to citizens during this uncertain time. This article aims to explore the potential of AI in creating public value in the context of COVID-19 management in India. The analysis is based on primary and secondary sources such as research articles, reports published by government and non-government organisations, online databases, and discussion papers. The findings of the study suggest that AI played a critical role in enhancing the effectiveness of COVID-19 management in India. The application of AI has led to significant improvements in disease surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment, thereby creating public value. The study highlights that the assimilation of AI-enabled services increases the citizens’ participation and overall satisfaction and enhances public trust in the government initiatives. The study recommends for a supportive policy environment which fosters innovation and collaboration between stakeholders in leveraging AI. The study also highlights the need for a robust regulatory framework which ensures data privacy and security.

What Is The Public? A Pragmatic Analysis of a Core Concept in Public Administration

Abstract The discipline of public administration has grappled with concepts regarding the public for well over a century. Scholars from public opinion, public choice, and public value(s) have analyzed myriad elements of administration related to the public. Scholars also have applied numerous concepts from philosophical pragmatism to public administration. However, detailed explorations of the fundamental concept of the public remain surprisingly sparse. The public remains eclipsed by administration. In this essay, I analyze the concept of the public focusing on the works of John Dewey. Viewed through this lens, publics emerge when social interaction generates unreglated effects on communities that respond by organizing collective or state action, a process which I refer to as the realization of the pragmatic public. I juxtapose the theory with multiple extant literature on public administration, including public choice, transaction costs, and public value(s). I identify consistencies and inconsistencies to provide a pluralistic yet coherent framework in the hope of revealing points of departure for future theory development. Finally, I reframe and extend the pragmatic public by applying the insights of contemporary scholarship in networks and complexity theory.

Leadership in Regional Collaborative Governance: Evidence from the Integration of China’s Yangtze River Delta

Regional collaborative governance is a valuable topic in current theoretical and practical research. Embedding leadership theory into the field of regional collaborative governance can provide a dynamic perspective for understanding the complex collaborative process. The existing research on leadership is not suitable to explain the process of regional horizontal collaboration. Based on the prudent reflection of Bolman et al.’s four-frame leadership theory and Huxham et al.’s cross-organizational leadership framework, and combined with the forward-looking thinking of the public value theory, this study puts forward the leadership framework of regional collaborative governance: Collaboration structure is the carrier, political management is the guarantee, operation management is the tool, participants are the main body, and creating public value is the purpose. This study takes the demonstration zone of green and integrated ecological development of the Yangtze River Delta as a case to verify the theoretical framework. This study has enriched the theoretical map of regional collaborative governance leadership, established a more general theory of public value creation, and had implications for the practice of regional collaborative governance around the world.

Demystifying Simple Random Sampling Technique under Public, Private Public (PPP) Projects and Value for Money (VFM) studies: Benchmarking from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)

Demystifying Simple Random Sampling Technique under Public, Private Public (PPP) Projects and Value for Money (VFM) studies: Benchmarking from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)

Public Accountability Mechanisms, a Panacea to Improve Policy in South African Municipalities: Navigating through the New Public Management to Create Public Value and Effective Service Delivery

Public Accountability Mechanisms, a Panacea to Improve Policy in South African Municipalities: Navigating through the New Public Management to Create Public Value and Effective Service Delivery

What's going on in there? Canadian government policy labs and public value management

AbstractGovernment‐based policy labs have established themselves across the Canadian policy landscape. This article argues these labs contribute to public value management. We begin by reviewing the public value management literature, followed by Canadian contributions to the policy lab literature. Then, our inventory of 35 current Canadian government‐based policy labs is descriptively analyzed, including trends in spatial concentration, the tools and methods employed, their focus areas, the number of years in existence, and their primary role in the policy process. We randomly selected nine of these labs, provide more details of their activities, and present a preliminary public value management typology to analyze policy labs.

Public service innovation to fight corruption: metrics and policy in Mexico 2019–2022

The purpose is to identify and analyze some innovations in public services, PSI, between 2019 and 2022 to evaluate their attempts to deter corruption in a context where the current government’s Mexican public sector has been improving its capacity to fight corruption as the most critical problem. The research is designed to describe 12 PSI selected from the national level. Their innovativeness is measured through an INDICO index adapted from technology firms, which mainly has added a perception of its public value besides their use value. Corruption is measured based on the neo-institutional approach on three axes: public–private relations, its organization, and the agents’ behavior. The question is to measure the impact of the innovations in deterring corruption, which is estimated by the difference in magnitude between the current and the previous one.The findings are:The neo-institutional theory highlights corruption-related aspects rooted in public–private relations, however, complemented with social and management approaches.The INDICO index measures, based on a pre-established 10-point quantitative maximum scale distributed between components on capacity -knowledge of the service, training, design, peer evaluation through external links- and on innovation results in public services—its legitimization through public value, and its possible replication (diffusion), which an expert in the field of innovation qualitatively evaluates.The impact of the selected Public Service Innovations shows that there is a positive effect in reducing the level of corruption. The more systemic or institutionalized corruption is, the more difficult it is to develop effective strategies proving their long-term value.The PSIs have been managed by the government’s leadership founded on legitimate authority, secured from the victory in the 2018 elections in Mexico, enabling it to put forward its top-to-bottom anti-corruption program. A more extended period, a group of experts, and more cases are desirable to assess PSI sustainability. However, the methodology could be extended to other contexts for policymakers or practitioners in public services and corruption.

The 2022 Vaccines Against Shigella and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VASE) Conference: Summary of breakout workshops

The global public health nonprofit organization PATH hosted the third Vaccines Against Shigella and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VASE) Conference in Washington, DC, from November 29 to December 1, 2022. This international gathering focused on cutting-edge research related to the development of vaccines against neglected diarrheal pathogens including Shigella, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Campylobacter, and non-typhoidal Salmonella. In addition to the conference’s plenary content, the agenda featured ten breakout workshops on topics of importance to the enteric vaccine field. This unique aspect of VASE Conferences allows focused groups of attendees to engage in in-depth discussions on subjects of interest to the enteric vaccine development community. In 2022, the workshops covered a range of topics. Two focused on the public health value of enteric vaccines, with one examining how to translate evidence into policy and the other on the value proposition of potential combination vaccines against bacterial enteric pathogens. Two more workshops explored new tools for the development and evaluation of vaccines, with the first on integrating antigen/antibody technologies for mucosal vaccine and immunoprophylactic development, and the second on adjuvants specifically for Shigella vaccines for children in low- and middle-income countries. Another pair of workshops covered the status of vaccines against two emerging enteric pathogens, Campylobacter and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella. The remaining four workshops examined the assessment of vaccine impact on acute and long-term morbidity. These included discussions on the nature and severity of intestinal inflammation; cellular immunity and immunological memory in ETEC and Shigella infections; clinical and microbiologic endpoints for Shigella vaccine efficacy studies in children; and intricacies of protective immunity to enteric pathogens. This article provides a brief summary of the presentations and discussions at each workshop in order to share these sessions with the broader enteric vaccine field.

Why Citizens Engage in Co-Production: A Theoretical Framework and Experimental Evidence

Co-production has been embraced as a robust strategy to improve service quality and create public value. Despite growing interest in citizens’ motivations to engage in co-production, there remain some major gaps in the literature. This study proposes a theoretical framework of factors that influence co-production and offers experimental evidence as to the effects of those factors from an online survey experiment with a sample of 1,297 Koreans. The findings show that public service motivation, driven by normative motivations, is associated with greater willingness to co-produce. We find little effect of monetary or non-monetary rewards, input legitimacy, or individual characteristics such as education or income. The findings suggest that to cultivate successful co-production, governments must depart from the traditional short-term approaches to citizen engagement based on instrumental motivations and instead promote normative motivations to develop public support for co-production over the long term.