Public Value Management: Challenge of Defining, Measuring and Reporting for Public Services

The concept of public value is widely discussed in the literature (see Alford & O’Flynn, 2009; Moore, 1994, 1995), as is its realization and measurement (see Moore, 2005, 2006, 2013; Talbot, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011).

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 & Guthrie, 1992; Guthrie, Olson, & Humphrey, 1999) and now network governance and public services (Broadbent & 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. The two movements (NPM and public value management) represent two different responses to two long-standing questions: what are the best ways to manage public services in order to optimize the relationship between resources, services and citizens? And how do we account for performance and such relationships appropriately (Cuganesan, Jacobs, & Lacey, 2014)?