TY - JOUR
T1 - Value solidity in government and business: Results of an empirical study on public and private sector organizational values
AU - van der Wal, Z.
AU - Huberts, L.W.J.C.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - This article reports on a survey study of 382 managers from a variety of public and private sector organizations, on the values that guide sectoral decision making. Just as some important classical differences emerge, a number of similarities between the public and private sector appear to result in a set of common core organizational values. Furthermore, the data support neither increasing adoption of business values in public sector organizations nor flirtation with public values by business sector managers. This contradicts expectations in the literature on new public management and corporate social responsibility, suggesting public-private value intermixing. Value solidity seems the dominant feature in both sectors. Additional analysis shows that "publicness," the extent to which an organization belongs to the public or the private sector- rather than age, gender, years of service or a past in the other sector-strongly determines value preferences. © 2008 Sage Publications.
AB - This article reports on a survey study of 382 managers from a variety of public and private sector organizations, on the values that guide sectoral decision making. Just as some important classical differences emerge, a number of similarities between the public and private sector appear to result in a set of common core organizational values. Furthermore, the data support neither increasing adoption of business values in public sector organizations nor flirtation with public values by business sector managers. This contradicts expectations in the literature on new public management and corporate social responsibility, suggesting public-private value intermixing. Value solidity seems the dominant feature in both sectors. Additional analysis shows that "publicness," the extent to which an organization belongs to the public or the private sector- rather than age, gender, years of service or a past in the other sector-strongly determines value preferences. © 2008 Sage Publications.
U2 - 10.1177/0275074007309154
DO - 10.1177/0275074007309154
M3 - Article
SN - 0275-0740
VL - 38
SP - 264
EP - 285
JO - American Review of Public Administration
JF - American Review of Public Administration
IS - 3
ER -