How top civil servants decide on cutbacks: A qualitative study into the role of values

Figures & data

Table 1. Administrative value families (adapted from Hood, 1991).

	Sigma-type values	Theta-type values	Lambda-type values
Focus	Matching resources to the tasks for given goals	Ensuring fairness and the proper discharge of duties	Ensuring the organization’s resilience and endurance
Goals	Improved efficiency, cost reductions	Adequate and fair governmental processes	Maintain government resilience, survive crises
Avoiding	Waste (inefficiency, slack)	Malpractice (unfairness, bias)	Breakdown (organizational catastrophe)
Values	Efficiency, frugality	Rectitude, legitimacy, honesty, accountability	Reliability, robustness, adaptability, security

Table 2. Overview of the respondents.

	Respondents
(Deputy) Secretary-general	5
(Deputy) Director-general	7
(Deputy) Director	14

Note: The ministries and gender of the respondents are not reported to safeguard their anonymity.

Table 3. Non-exhaustive coding scheme (matrix coding based on a NVivo code).

Open coding	Axial coding	Matrix coding
		Values	Proportional cuts	Targeted cuts
Efficiency;	Sigma-type Values	Sigma-type values	Interview fragments	Interview fragments
soberness
Righteousness;	Theta-type Values	Theta-type values	Interview fragments	Interview fragments
legitimacy
Robustness;	Lambda-type values	Sigma-type values	Interview fragments	Interview fragments
reliability

Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69(1), 3–19.

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