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Unpacking value destruction at the intersection between public and private value
Author(s) -
Cui Tie,
Osborne Stephen P.
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12850
Subject(s) - public value , conceptualization , value (mathematics) , business value , public service , conceptual framework , sociology , public relations , economics , political science , social science , computer science , microeconomics , profit (economics) , machine learning , artificial intelligence
Public services do not always create value. Rather, when poorly organized and/or delivered, they can destroy value and make service users' lives worse. However, such “value destruction” is presently weakly conceptualized in public management theory. Consequently, this paper is devoted to the empirical examination of value destruction and hence its conceptualization. At the heart of the paper, we recognize the multiplicity of public value and private value objectives in complex public service environments and the dyadic tension between these two value constellations. Drawing upon qualitative data derived from public carbon reduction projects, we establish a conceptual framework. This framework accounts both for the types of value destruction and for the tension between public and private value. Subsequently, the framework disentangles the value destruction concept into four categories: value ignorance, value disproportion, value backlash, and value exploitation. Finally, the implications of this new conceptual framework for public management theory and practice are explored.