Public Value

"The ‘public value project’, as the authors called it, spoke to practitioners in the public and voluntary sectors long before it started to generate sustained scholarly attention. In what must be another gratifying move for its key pioneer, Harvard professor Mark Moore, this volume demonstrates amply that nearly three decades on, public value scholarship is thriving. It combines multidisciplinary theoretical contributions with ‘hands-on’ empirical studies, knowledge-expanding scholarship with improvement-seeking action research and covers local to international domains of application. As a cherry on the cake, it offers apt self-reflection on the public value of the academic enterprise itself. This is a must-read collection for anyone interested in how the common good can be conceptualised, assessed and pursued in practice." - Professor Paul ‘t Hart, Utrecht School of Governance & Netherlands School of Public Administration

"I have found the notion of Public Value has been one of the most helpful organizing principles when approaching public policy decisions. It provides a sophisticated, yet pragmatic framework for making high quality enduring decisions. There is a tendency in government decision making to start with the solution without adequately exploring the problem. This framework provides a systematic way in which the problem can be interrogated, support for it can be explored, and the capacity to implement any prospective solutions can be analysed. In my view the Public Value framework is an essential guide for public policy makers. This book explores in depth various issues around public value through the eyes of a range of leading authors on the topic." - Jay Weatherill, Former Premier of South Australia

"The most important development in the study of public management and administration in the last twenty-five years has been the introduction of the concept of public value. This volume explains, reviews and refines the concept and extends its application into many new areas." - Professor Allan Fels AO, Former Dean, Australia and New Zealand School of Government

"Adam Lindgreen and his fellow editors have brought together a timely collection of papers on the idea of public value in commercial, voluntary, and other organisations. The neo-liberal framework that has dominated social and economic thought for so long stresses individual benefit and advantage above all. The contributors to this collection take up older debates on social responsibility and collective welfare together with renewed debates on social value and communitarian concerns to sow the importance of reinstating ideas of public value and collective welfare in economic and social activities of all kinds. Of particular value is an emphasis on the public value of social science and the universities, moving us away for the overly narrow ‘relevance’ and ‘impact’ concerns that have dominated us for so long. These are crucial matters for all of us today and the book will help to establish a new agenda for both social science and public policy." - Professor John Scott CBE

"This international volume on the importance of business and other institutions in delivering public value is so very timely. Organizations, society and political leaders are now concerned about what impact our businesses and public institutions are making for the common good. As an academic in a global business school, one of the important questions we ask of our research is whether it will produce impact in policy or practice for the public good. The chapters in this extremely significant volume are of a very high order and answer most of the philosophical and other questions we all have in this arena—a must buy for anyone interested in public values from our institutions" - Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology & Health, ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

"Public value for stakeholders is the natural partner to long-term value for shareholders, united through a corporation’s purpose. Arguably, there can be no long-term value without public value since a corporation’s social function is the basis for earnings and hence the right/responsibility to perform. By merging theory and practice, Public Value: Deepening, Enriching, and Broadening the Theory and Practice demonstrates the need to further develop and implement public value as a key strategic element in the private sector, which has never been more important than now - in a time of radical transformation." - Julie Linn Teigland, Regional Managing Partner, Ernst & Young

"Public Value: Deepning, Enriching, and Broadening the Theory and Practice" brings together some of the world’s foremost researchers and practitioners in the field of public value. With the public value project still embryonic, this anthology takes stock of the public value project and considers its value and future direction. The anthology’s impressive collection of 24 chapters provide thoughtful discussions on why the public value project is so important. I heartily recommend this anthology as a timely, comprehensive, and insightful go-to public value anthology for both researchers and practitioners. Congratulations!" - Per Holten-Andersen, Rector of Copenhagen Busienss School

"After decades of neoliberal efforts around the globe to privatize and diminish the idea of what is and ought to be public, there is now a strong cross-national effort to publicize what is and ought to be public. What a welcome change that is for all of us who care about democracy, equity, justice, education, accountability, caring for our fellow humans, and other important public values! This wonderful new book shows just how important this burgeoning public value conversation is to the quality and resilience of our relationships to one another, our communities, our societies, and the world." - John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, USA