ABSTRACT
Public administration scholars accept that public service values guide administrators’ behavior. A part of the field recognizes that public servants play an active role during the implementation process through their daily use of discretion. Nevertheless, public administrators’ values are rarely linked to policy implementation and performance. In consequence, public policy evaluation seldom considers the role of the values of those implementing policy.
This study examines how public administrators’ values toward recipient citizens shape policy implementation and the resulting organizational performance. Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and the Section 8 HCV Program serve as the case study.
I conducted semi-structured interviews among directors, the Section 8 HCV Program's managers, and front-line practitioners at high-performing PHAs in the states of Florida and California. I identified administrators’ understanding, utilization, and origin of the public service values applied during their decision-making process. The findings suggest that public administrators’ values permeate implementation, influencing the Section 8 HCV Program's results and PHAs’ performance.
