Strategic decision-making in the public sector has become increasingly complex because policymakers and public managers have to weight multiple values in order to make informed decisions. Specifically, they have to simultaneously take into account the policy framework set by elected officials as well as the expectations from citizens and other external parties. At the same time, creating public value has gained prominence within public management as the result of an emerging public administration paradigm (i.e. New Public Governance). New Public Governance considers a broader set of values beyond only the rule of law of the Weberian bureaucracy and efficiency and effectiveness linked to New Public Management, with a particular focus on values associated with democracy.
Given the recent emphasis on (a) the creation of public value in the New Public Governance Era and (b) the need for public value assessment during public-sector decision-making, this paper aims to provide an evidence-based overview of the public value assessment tools used within strategic decision-making processes in the public sector. Hereby, the paper unravels the rather abstract notion of public value by investigating the actual tools used to assess public value. In doing so, the paper explicitly links literature on Strategy-as-Practice – which centers on the importance of boundary objects such as strategic management tools – and literature on public value.
To achieve the defined aim, we synthesize empirical research on the assessment of public value by means of a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA-method. The research question of the review is: What is known about the assessment of public value within strategic decision-making processes in the public sector? The SSCI in Web-of-Science was searched using keywords “public valu*” and “soc* valu*” in the article title. This search yielded 780 articles. We included the keywords “soc* valu*” because the terms social value and societal value seem to be related to public value and are often used interchangeably. Next, the 780 articles were screened on title and abstract and, when needed, by reading the full text. Only empirical articles that report tools to assess public value(s) within strategic decision-making processes in the public sector were eligible for inclusion.
As a result, we included 102 articles published between 1975 and 2017 in the review, of which 29 articles on “public valu*” and 73 on “soc* valu*”. The articles on “public valu*” appear predominantly in the Web-of-Science categories of Environmental Studies (31%), Environmental Sciences (28%) and Ecology and Geography (both 14%). The articles on “soc* valu*” appear predominantly in Environmental Studies (26%), Environmental Sciences (25%) and Health Care Sciences and Services (23%). Further analysis will be conducted to reveal (a) the theoretical foundations of and assumptions underlying public value, (b) the conceptualization and operationalization of public value, (c) the tools used to assess public value and (d) the outcomes resulting from public value assessment. We aim to conclude with a research agenda for future studies on the assessment of public value and discuss the implications of our findings for practice and theory.
Strategic management and public service performance in the New Public Governance era
180410_Paper_setup_IRSPM_2018_Huijbregts_final.pdf 