The concept of value in public sector reform discourse

Abstract

This article focuses on the increased uses of concepts of value in discourse about public sector reform. This increased attention to questions of value is partly due to the adoption of values taken from business and economics; value creation, value added and efficiency, and the adoption of analogies from and the language of the market. But it is also due to a growing concern with a lack of attention to the non-tangible or non-economic, political, moral and ethical aspects. Thus, two adversary value sets and both adherents and opponents of new public management reforms unite in a (mis-) conceived agreement over the focus on values. This fundamental value dichotomy may also explain why there seem to be a never-ending struggle to create adequate result indicators and measures of public sector performance. In addition to the complexity of public service provision, one explanation may be that the different values and rationalities of public sector services are in fact incompatible.