People, service and trust: is there a public sector service value chain?

Abstract

This article reviews the evidence for the existence of a ‘public sector service value chain’, offering a new way of thinking about what Bouckaert and his colleagues have called the micro-performance approach to improving trust and confidence in public institutions (Bouckaert et al., 2002). In particular, the article focuses on the role of service delivery in enhancing citizen trust and confidence. But it does so in the context of a broader model, one that links service delivery to other important aspects of management performance, especially people management. The article refers to this model as the ‘public sector service value chain’, drawing on work by Heskett and others in the private sector (Heskett et al., 1994, 1997). The article reviews evidence for links between employee engagement (satisfaction and commitment) and client satisfaction in the public sector, and between public sector client satisfaction and citizen trust and confidence. The article identifies the five main ‘drivers’ of service satisfaction in the public sector, and reviews both purported ‘drivers’ of employee engagement as well as data documenting the influence service delivery appears to have on citizens’ trust and confidence in Canada. The article outlines a forward research agenda, to identify the drivers of staff satisfaction and commitment, as well as drivers of trust and confidence in public institutions, and to determine whether the proposed links in the ‘public sector service value chain’ can be empirically validated.