Public Value

Public Value was introduced for the first time in the international scientific debate in the second half of the ’90s and then spread to Italy as well in the early 2000s. Recently, Public Value entered the Italian institutional language with the Guidelines of the Civil Service Department (2017), the National Anti-corruption Plan of the National Anti-Corruption Authority ANAC (2019), and the National Council for Economics and Labour (CNEL) Reports of 2019 and 2020.

It can be seen as the joint and balanced improvement of the external impacts (economic, social, environmental, health, etc.) of the diverse categories of users and stakeholders and of the internal impacts on the health of the resources available to those concerned with creating it. Every citizen may have their own idea of Public Value. It is in fact a “kaleidoscopic” concept, subject to change depending on who views it, as well as on the time and space in which it is observed.

To generate Public Value, and therefore wellbeing, for the citizens and users of today and tomorrow, Public Administrations should be able to provide services in an effective and efficient way, taking into account the quantity and quality of the resources available. To create wellbeing, it is necessary to finalise performance towards Public Value and limit the risks that could compromise or reduce it, starting with taking care of health (economic-financial, organisational, professional, gender-related, infrastructural, digital and informational, etc.) of the organisation’s resources. The process of creating Public Value also involves other players such as other PAs, private operators and non-profit organisations which, working in Supply chains or Networks, improve the citizens’ level of wellbeing.

The impacts generated by these players on the wellbeing of their users and stakeholders should be programmed, measured and evaluated by means of specific impact indicators. It therefore becomes essential to identify methods for measuring and representing the Public Value created, based on the following key methods:

• a) a Meta-indicator of Public Value (composite indicator), constructed as the result of a coordinated architecture of performance indicators to be incorporated into the means of programming, measuring and evaluating the PAs;
• b) a Public Value Scale, able to measure how much the administration is creating or consuming Public Value compared to the initial conditions.

This area also includes the topic of integrated programming aimed at creating and protecting Public Value, by means of the PIAO instrument (Integrated Activity and Organisation Plan)