Professional managers, public values? The delicate balance between corporatization and stewardship to society

Abstract

Corporatization is a trend in local public service delivery. However, research into how public values can be preserved after corporatization has lacked. This study analyses what factors underlie the presence of ‘public values’ in municipally owned corporations (MOCs). I find that the best predictor of stewardship to society in MOCs is their strategic managerial autonomy. This finding challenges the literature on public value failure, which argues that government by proxy should lead to lesser public values. Instead, it is plausible that increasing autonomy after corporatization can shield service delivery from political rent-seeking, which can protect public values.