New development: Value destruction in public service delivery—a process model and its implications

Abstract

IMPACT: Public services do not necessarily lead to value creation. Instead, they can destroy value and make service users’ lives worse. In this article, we reflect on the growing discourse on ‘value destruction’ and make two contributions. First, we distinguish three characteristics of value destruction perspective. Second, we offer a parsimonious process model of value destruction. We suggest to policy-makers and public managers that value destruction can occur at any stage of public service design/delivery, damaging individual citizens and/or the whole society. There is no one-size-fits-all countermeasure, but contingency planning and a whole picture, dynamic thinking, are important.