Delivering public value by selected government departments in South Africa – Perceptions of senior managers

Abstract

is of the services provided by government and how they can best manage the effective delivery of such services is through the ‘public value’ lens. According to Meynhardt, Brieger and Andere (2017), the question of public value, which is far more difficult to measure than mere financial performance, preoccupies public sector managers. Grant et al. (2014) add that the role of public managers in public value creation is to steer networks of delivery and maintain the overall capacity of the system. That said, since government services are widely utilised, the notion of public value places the broader community at the centre as a collective beneficiary availing themselves of government’s collected provisions (OECD 2019). Yotawut (2018) defines public value theory as ‘an approach that explores how public organisations operationalize the principles of public value by focusing on the role of public engagement which Background: Over the years, the expectations of both the public and private sectors regarding value have changed significantly, thereby increasing the need for government departments to revisit their public-value creation model. Aim: This study sought to explore perceptions of senior managers in selected national government departments in South Africa with regard to the influence of information sharing, process innovation, stakeholder analysis and engagement in the relational governance and public value. Setting: The respondents were 230 senior managers from the five national government departments who, over time and in various groups, attended the Executive Development Programme hosted by the National School of Government. Methods: A quantitative research approach involving a cross-sectional survey design was followed in the study. Data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: In the study a strong, positive relationship was found between information sharing, process innovation, stakeholder analysis and relational governance. Further, a strong positive relationship between relational governance and public value was also established. Conclusion: Based on the perceptions of senior managers, government departments seeking to deliver superior public value need to focus primarily on managing their relational governance. To that end, it is vital that they develop their information-sharing and process innovation, as well as stakeholder analysis and engagement.