Public Value and Public Administration

Governments and nonprofits exist to create public value. Yet what does that mean in theory and practice?

This new volume brings together key experts in the field to offer unique, wide-ranging answers. From the United States, Europe, and Australia, the contributors focus on the creation, meaning, measurement, and assessment of public value in a world where government, nonprofit organizations, business, and citizens all have roles in the public sphere. In so doing, they demonstrate the intimate link between ideas of public value and public values and the ways scholars theorize and measure them. They also add to ongoing debates over what public value might mean, the nature of the most important public values, and how we can practically apply these values. The collection concludes with an extensive research and practice agenda conceived to further the field and mainstream its ideas.

Aimed at scholars, students, and stakeholders ranging from business and government to nonprofits and activist groups, Public Value and Public Administration is an essential blueprint for those interested in creating public value to advance the common good.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Discerning And Assessing Public Value: Major Issues And New Directions

PART I: Helping Managers Focus on Creating Public Value
Chapter 2 Political Astuteness As An Aid To Discerning And Creating Public Value
Chapter 3 Building Deliberative Capacity To Create Public Value: The Practices And Artifacts Of The Art Of Hosting
Chapter 4 Joining Minds: System Dynamics Group Model Building To Create Public Value
Chapter 5 Weighing The Public Value Of Alternative Methods Of Providing Public Services: Toward A Contingency Framework
Chapter 6 The Creation Of Public Value Through Step-Change Innovation In Public Organizations

PART II: Measuring and Assessing Public Value
Chapter 7 How Can Cost-Benefit Analysis Help Create Public Value?
Chapter 8 Creating A Public Value Account And Scorecard
Chapter 9 Public Value Mapping
Chapter 10 Public Value: Turning A Conceptual Framework Into A Scorecard
Chapter 11 In The Eye Of The Beholder: Learning From Stakeholder Assessments Of Public Value

PART III: Measuring and Managing Performance
Chapter 12 Creating Public Value Using Performance Information
Chapter 13 Putting Public Value To Work: A Framework For Public Management Decision Making
Chapter 14 Shared Responsibility For The Common Good: Measuring Public Value Across Institutional Boundaries