Public Service Logic (Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management)

This bookis based upon and extends the theoretical and empirical work of the author over the last decade. It integrates material deriving from his previous conceptual and empirical work in this field, combined with new empirical evidence gathered from a large cross-European Commission H2020 research project on value creation in public service delivery that the author is currently coordinating.

Public Service Logicchallenges the product-dominant assumptions of the New Public Management (NPM) about the nature and management of public service delivery. Whilst the NPM has led to some important developments in public management, it has also had significant limitations and weaknesses. The book presents an alternative to this, as a framework for the future delivery and reform of public services globally. It draws upon the extant literature in the field of service management to argue for a Public Service Logic (PSL) for the delivery of public services. This situates public service delivery within the vibrant and influential field of service-dominant research and theory. It argues that effective public service management requires both that these service to be understood as services not products and that, consequently, such management requires a focus on value creation as its over-arching rationale.

The book presents a major new framework of value creation for public service delivery as a basis for public service reform, explores the role of service managers and staff and of citizens and service users in this value creation process, and evaluates the implications of this new framework for both the strategic and operational management of public service delivery, performance management and the development and innovation of new forms of public services. It will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of public management and public administration, as well as to policy makers and public service managers.