Public Values Research in the 21st Century: Where We Are, Where We Haven’t Been, and Where We Should Go

Abstract

This introductory article addresses current gaps and future challenges in PV research. It suggests avenues for viable PV research in the 21st century in terms of content, context, and methodologies. In doing so, it argues how the contributions to this special issue contribute to meeting some of these challenges and how they complement and sometimes confront each other. To conclude, this article shortly introduces each of the seven individual contributions that make up this special issue.

Keywords:

• cultural context
• public administration
• public val+ues
• public values perspective

Notes

¹ In 2006, researchers were invited to participate in a research workshop on public values hosted by the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) at the annual conference, which took place in Milan. The background was clear. Although workshops on ethics, corruption, and the like could be found on international conferences, the workshop conveners (Barry Bozeman, Georgia Tech, and Torben Beck Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen) were unsatisfied with the marginal attention at international conferences and also wanted a broader perspective. In 2008, University of Copenhagen hosted a research workshop on public values and public interest (this time, the conveners included Mark Rutgers, Leiden University). The workshop concluded by founding the Public Value Consortium. This consortium has no rules, no statute, and no obligations besides an agreement that a workshop should be organized every second year. The next workshop took place in Leiden (convened by Mark Rutgers and Patrick Overeem, both Leiden University) in 2010, followed by a workshop in 2012 at University of Illinois in Chicago (conveners were Mary Feeney, University of Illinois, and Stephanie Moulton, Ohio State University). In January 2015, the American Review of Public Administration published a symposium based on a selection of papers from the Chicago Workshop. The fourth workshop took place in 2014 at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore (convener by the author of this editorial and editor of this special issue Zeger Van der Wal). The papers in this special issue were presented at the 2014 Singapore workshop. A fifth workshop will take place in January 2016 at Arizona State University.