Public Value is Knowable, Public Value Creation is Not

• Author: Timo Meynhardt
• Published date: 01 November 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/00953997211053500
• Date: 01 November 2021
• Subject Matter: Perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997211053500

Administration & Society

2021, Vol. 53(10) 1631 –1642

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997211053500

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Perspectives

Public Value is

Knowable, Public

Value Creation is Not

Timo Meynhardt1

Humility is key to public value, so is courage. For me, this is the message of

Prebble’s stimulating article. It comes at a good time, when public value

thinking is well-established, theorizing about it differentiates into more or

less normative schools of thought and empirical research is on its way—nor-

mal science as one could say. I read Mark’s argument as a wake-up call to

take public value thinking to a more process-oriented level and reflect about

the chances and risks of any intervention in the name of public value. It is a

characteristic of good theories to start and apply a development lens.

Prebble poses such a question when he is inquiring about the knowability

of public value or more precisely whether it is possible to “identify a prefer-

able course of action with sufficient confidence to justify adopting this

course” (p. x). As a consequence of his careful and most elegant reflection,

not surprisingly, his answer is: No, public value is indeterminate.

I both agree and disagree. Public value is knowable, public value creation

is not. While the process of how public value evolves over time is not know-

able, the result of public value creation is. In the following, I will argue in

what sense I see public value as knowable, and in what sense public value

dynamics is not. Given the nature of a commentary to another scholar’s work

it will only be possible to respond to selected thoughts and lines of argument

based on my own work.

1University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Corresponding Author:

Timo Meynhardt, Center for Leadership and Values in Society, University of St. Gallen,

Dufourstrasse 50, CH-9000, Switzerland.

Email: timo.meynhardt@unisg.ch

1053500AAS0010.1177/00953997211053500Administration & SocietyMeynhardt

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