ABSTRACT
Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 226 Public Value and the Nonprofit Sector ..............................................................227 Nonprofit Origins of Public Value in the United States .................................... 228 Conceptual Ambiguity of Public Value ..............................................................229 Nonprofits and the Creation of Public Value .....................................................231
Introduction Since Mark Moore (2000) coined the term “public value,” scholars of public administration and related fields have considered the concept primarily from the perspective of the public sector, for the purpose of informing public management (Alford and Hughes, 2007; O’Flynn, 2007; Williams and Shearer, 2010, pp. 1367-1384; Benington, 2011, pp. 31-49). From the public sector perspective, public value is advanced when government contributes tangibly to society by producing infrastructure and services that benefit citizens, and intangibly when it acts beyond its traditional role as policy maker, taxing authority, arbiter, and the like to create the best possible outcomes (Stoker, 2006). Public value may also align with the sensibilities of public administrators and managers through their aspirations, vision, and most importantly, their strategies to manage relationships with for-profit and nonprofit service providers to serve the public during unsettled times (Moore, 2000). According to Beck Jørgensen and Bozeman (2007), public values are principles guiding public managers that contribute to the common good and have elements of altruism; are sustainable environmentally and financially; sustain democracy; and stimulate the public to perceive government as stable, dignified, and trusted as an institution (Stoker, 2006; Alford and Hughes, 2007; Nabatchi, 2012). An extensive literature review on the topic by the Warwick Business School’s Institute of Governance and Public Management (Williams and Shearer, 2010) confirms these observations.
