Neoliberal governing through social enterprise: Exploring the neglected roles of deviance and ignorance in public value creation
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12588 |
| Author | Pascal Dey,Simon Teasdale |
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE
Neoliberal governing through social enterprise:
Exploring the neglected roles of deviance and
ignorance in public value creation
Simon Teasdale
1
| Pascal Dey
2
1
Glasgow School for Business and Society,
Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
2
Department of People, Organizations and
Society, Grenoble Ecole de Management,
Grenoble, France
Correspondence
Simon Teasdale, Glasgow School for Business
and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University,
Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK.
Email: simon.teasdale@gcu.ac.uk
Funding information
Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/
Award Number: ES/J021709/1
This article makes a case for paying greater attention to how infor-
mal relationships between government officials and civil society
practitioners impact processes of public value creation. Drawing on
data from a five-year qualitative longitudinal study, we illuminate
how civil society practitioners deviate from the formal objectives
of social enterprise policies in order to create what they see as hav-
ing public value. Through a process of theory elaboration, we dem-
onstrate how government officials’wilful ignorance of, or informal
collaboration in, such deviance, precipitates forms of public value
that are consistent with wider political objectives. Our analysis
adds nuance and granularity to the debate on public value by draw-
ing attention to the arcane ways it may be informally negotiated
and created outside of the public sphere. This opens up new empir-
ical and theoretical opportunities for understanding how deviance
and ignorance might be symbiotically related in processes of public
value creation.”
1|INTRODUCTION
The world in which public administration is practised has shifted dramatically since Moore’s (1995) seminal work on
public value, which demonstrated how public officials maximize the resources available to them to create value for
society. Public administration scholarship has adapted accordingly, paying attention to the shifting dynamics and con-
ditions under which public value is created, placing particular focus on processes of co-creation and deliberation
between various state and non-state actors (Bryson et al. 2017) with a particular focus on the role of Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) in creating what has value for society. However, what were intended as analytical concepts
have been too easily misinterpreted as prescriptive guidelines which delineate how public value ought to be created
(Cairney et al. 2016). While the language of collaboration has permeated policy discourse in countries such as the
United Kingdom (UK) (the focus of our research), integrative public leadership (Crosby and Bryson 2010) must neces-
sarily be practised in the context of existing forms of governance within—and by—a public sector that is resistant to
challenges to established ways of working (Osborne and Strokosch 2013).
Received: 1 October 2017 Revised: 11 January 2019 Accepted: 21 January 2019
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12588
Public Administration. 2019;97:325–338. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 325
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