Public Value Management, Measurement and Reporting

The concept of public value is widely discussed in the literature (Moore, 1994), as is its realization and measurement. Since late last century, the debate on public sector reform has been marked by the emergence of theories, concepts and values around the paradigm of new public management (NPM) (see, Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992; Guthrie et al., 1999) and now network governance and public services (Broadbent and Guthrie, 2008). The concept of public value has been increasingly associated — usually within the expression ‘public value management’ — with the process of public administration modernization. However, how public value is conceptualized and practised is an important question. Therefore, the contemporary debate has shifted on how the public sector can meet community expectations in regards to issues of fiscal crisis, sustainability and providing public services. Understanding the gap between expectations of citizenship and resources available for public services is an important topic worthy of debate. However, an equally important topic is how public value is identified, managed, measured and reported. The aim of this book is to commence a dialogue about public value management and measurement and the reporting of public services in relationship to theory and practice. What is unique about this book is that over 80% of the contributed papers are associated with public value and engagement with practice. These authors not only provide a continental European perspective, but also Australian, Swedish, and English perspectives. That is, many of the contributions focus on explicit implications for practice in the public sector and public services. Many of the articles selected for this volume illustrate the complexities, development and potential for the management, measurement and reporting of public value in particular contexts. The articles are presented in three parts, with each part having a central theme. Part A is the introduction and overview. Part B is the majority of the book and provides 11 papers, which are case studies and empirical investigations into aspects of public value management, measurement and reporting. The final Part C consists of several papers that are more theoretical in nature and contribute to the ongoing debates in the literature. All articles in this series were the subject of independent refereeing and editing, that is, a double blind review process and considerable commentary and editing. We thank all the reviewers involved in this project.