Public Value Dimensions: Developing and Testing a Multi-Dimensional Classification

Abstract

Further integration of the public value literature with other strands of literature within Public Administration necessitates a more specific classification of public values. This article applies a typology linked to organizational design principles, because this is useful for empirical public administration studies. Based on an existing typology of modes of governance, we develop a classification and test it empirically, using survey data from a study of the values of 501 public managers. We distinguish among seven value dimensions (the public at large, rule abidance, balancing interests, budget keeping, efficient supply, professionalism, and user focus), and we find systematic differences between organizations at different levels and with different tasks, indicating that the classification is fruitful. Our goal is to enable more precise analyses of value conflicts and improve the integration between the public value literature and other parts of the Public Administration discipline.

Keywords:

• public value dimensions
• empirical test of value classification

Notes

¹The concepts of value and public value are contested. For discussions, see Beck Jørgensen (2007), Bozeman (2007), Hodgkinson (1996), and Van der Wal (2008).

²For each correlation, we constructed an index consisting of the scores of all investigated items except the items which are part of the two indexes in the correlation in question. This index was then used as a measure of the general tendency to answer that all values are important and accordingly included as a control variable.