Mission-Extrinsic Public Values as an Extension of Regime Values

• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095399713515873
• Subject Matter: Articles

Administration & Society

2014, Vol. 46(2) 199 –219

© The Author(s) 2014

DOI: 10.1177/0095399713515873

aas.sagepub.com

Article

Mission-Extrinsic Public

Values as an Extension of

Regime Values: Examples

From the United States

and the People’s Republic

of China

Karen Baehler1, Aviva Chengcheng Liu1,

and David H. Rosenbloom1

Abstract

The academic fields of public administration and public management are

diverging. Public management focuses primarily on the orthodox values of

efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and value for money. It views accountability

from the perspective of obtaining results (outcomes) defined in terms

of core mission objectives and the operations that are ancillary to their

achievement, such as deploying financial, human, and other resources

cost-effectively. Public administration is also interested in all of the above.

However, it retains the field’s broad interest in regime values and other

public values. This analysis seeks to provide a clearer conception of mission-

extrinsic public values and their centrality to public administration in the

United States and the People’s Republic of China.

Keywords

mission-extrinsic public values, regime values, China

1American University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

David H. Rosenbloom, Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public

Affairs, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016-8070,

USA.

Email: rbloom@american.edu

515873AASXXX10.1177/0095399713515873Administration & SocietyBaehler et al.

research-article2014

200 Administration & Society 46(2)

Introduction

The academic fields of public administration and public management are

diverging. Public management focuses primarily on the orthodox values of

efficiency, cost-effectiveness, favorable benefit−cost ratios, and performance

measurement. It is also concerned with the “tools” of public management and

the key elements of contemporary collaborative governance, including out-

sourcing, designing contracts, managing and monitoring contractors, and

steering within the framework of networks. It views accountability from the

perspectives of obtaining results (outcomes) and creating value for money.

Results are overwhelmingly defined in terms of core mission objectives and

the operations that are ancillary to their achievement, such as deploying

financial, human, and other resources cost-effectively. Public administration

is also interested in all of the above. However, it retains the field’s broader

interest in regime values and other public values that are often extrinsic to the

core missions of administrative agencies and programs.

Regime values embody normative preferences, beliefs, passions, and views

of government and society that are associated with a political community’s

founding and historical development (Rohr, 1978). Extrinsic public values are

generally less fundamental and more transitory. They are often embodied in

law and typically promote (a) broad political system attributes for “good gov-

ernment” and (b) specific macro-policy objectives. As Van Ryzin (2011) and

Wichowsky and Moynihan (2008) observe, such attributes and policies are

often related to trust in government and “citizenship outcomes” that are of

critical importance to vibrant democracy. These outcomes include social capi-

tal, efficacy, political participation, and civic engagement.

The desirability of specific public values is inherently contestable and

some contend that they are an impediment to cost-effective public manage-

ment. There is a long-standing debate over whether mission-extrinsic public

values can or should be created by the public administration community of

academics, practitioners, and pracademics. In this article, we seek to provide

a clearer conception of mission-extrinsic public values and their centrality to

public administration in the United States and the People’s Republic of

China.

Regime Values and the Problem of Mission-

Extrinsic Public Values

John A. Rohr called attention to the importance of regime values in public

administration. Initially focusing on the United States, he explained that

regime values are “the values of that political entity that was brought into