Table Of ContentPublic Service Logic
This book is 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, together with new
empirical evidence from emerging research.
Public Service Logic challenges 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 de-
velopments in public management, it has also had significant limitations
and weaknesses. This book presents an alternative to this, as a frame-
work 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 services are under-
stood as services and not as products and that, consequently, public ser-
vice 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 the strategic and operational management of public service delivery,
their performance management and the development and innovation of
new forms of public services. It will be of interest to researchers and stu-
dents in the fields of public management and public administration, as
well as to policy makers and public service managers.
Stephen P. Osborne holds the Chair of International Public Management
and is Director of the Centre for Service Excellence at the University of
Edinburgh Business School, Scotland, UK.
Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management
Series editor: Stephen P. Osborne
The study and practice of public management has undergone profound changes
across the world. Over the last quarter century, we have seen
• increasing criticism of public administration as the over-arching framework
for the provision of public services,
• the rise (and critical appraisal) of the ‘New Public Management as an emer-
gent paradigm for the provision of public services,
• the transformation of the ‘public sector’ into the cross-sectoral provision of
public services, and
• the growth of the governance of inter-organizational relationship as an es-
sential element in the provision of public services.
In reality these trends have not so much replaced each other as elided or co-
existed together – the public policy processes has not gone away as a legitimate
topic of study, intra-organizational management continue to be essential to the
efficient provision of public services, whilst the governance of inter-organiza-
tional and inter-sectoral relationships is now essential to the effective provision
of these services.
Further, whilst the study of public management has been enriched by contribu-
tion of a range of insights from the ‘mainstream’ management literature it has also
contributed to this literature in such areas as networks and inter-organizational
collaboration, innovation and stakeholder theory.
This series is dedicated to presenting and critiquing this important body of the-
ory and empirical study. It will publish books that both explore and evaluate the
emergent and developing nature of public administration, management and gov-
ernance (in theory and practice) and examine the relationship with and contribu-
tion to the over-arching disciplines of management and organizational sociology.
Books in the series will be of interest to academics and researchers in this
field, students undertaking advanced studies of it as part of their undergraduate
or postgraduate degree and reflective policy makers and practitioners.
Public Service Logic
Creating Value for Public Service Users, Citizens, and Society Through
Public Service Delivery
Stephen P. Osborne
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Critical-Studies-in-Public-Management/book-series/RSPM
Public Service Logic
Creating Value for Public Service Users,
Citizens, and Society Through Public
Service Delivery
Stephen P. Osborne
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Stephen P. Osborne
The right of Stephen P. Osborne to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-44335-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-00915-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
For Bex and for Frank – the two lights of my life that make
everything worthwhile.
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
About the Author xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Acknowledgements xvii
1 Reforming Public Service Delivery – Successes
and Failures 1
Introduction 1
The Shadow of the Past 3
The Theoretical Basis of Contemporary PAM: A Flawed
Approach? 4
Reforming Public Services I: Efficiency and Effectiveness 5
Reforming Public Services II: Enhancing User
Participation and Engagement in Public Service Delivery 12
Reforming Public Services III: Conclusions 17
2 The Foundations of Service Management and Marketing 28
The Evolution of Service Management and Marketing
(SMM) Theory 28
Challenges to the Traditional SMM Framework 31
Service Logic 34
The Impact of Digital and Smart Technology 38
Conclusions 38
3 The Evolution of Public Service Logic I 41
Public Service Delivery and Management in
Contemporary Society 41
PSL and Public Policy 43
The Public Service Ecosystem and PSL 45
The Production of Public Services – an SMM Perspective 47
Conclusions: PSL and the Production of Public Services 63
viii Contents
4 The Evolution of Public Service Logic II 74
The Dimensions of Value in Public Service Production and
Use/Consumption 74
The Production and Use of Public Services and
the Creation of Value 78
A Three-Factor Model of Public Service Value Creation 80
Integrating PSL 95
Value Destruction and Co-destruction 98
The Implications of Digital and Smart Technology for PSL 106
5 The Public Service Ecosystem 116
The Public Service Ecosystem 116
The Public Service Ecosystem as a Process 117
Value Creation and Production within the Public
Service Ecosystem 120
An Integrated Example: The Public Service
Ecosystem in Action 129
6 The Implications of Public Service Logic I 135
PSL and Public Policy 135
PSL and the Supply Side (i) – The Pre-conditions
of Value Creation in Public Services Delivery 137
Service Design and Co-design 146
Interim Conclusions: Key Challenges for Public Service
Managers in the Pre-production and Design/Co-design of
Public Services 151
PSL and the Supply Side (ii) – The Production of Public
Services Delivery by PSOs and Value Creation 153
PSL and the Supply Side (iii) – The Co-production of
Public Services Delivery by PSOs and Value Creation 156
7 The Implications of Public Service Logic II 165
The Public Service Experience, Service User Satisfaction
and Well-Being, and Public Service Outcomes 165
PSL and the Demand Side – Creating Value in the
Lives of Public Service Users 166
Integrating the Production and Consumption of
Public Services 169
PSL in Action: Three Exemplars 170
Contents ix
8 Conclusions and Future Directions 176
Conclusions: PSL and Its Implications for Theory,
Research, Policy, and Practice 176
The Shadow of the Future for PSL: A Research Agenda 178
Index 185
