The SERVICE Framework: A Public‐service‐dominant Approach to Sustainable Public Services
| Author | Tony Kinder,Zoe Radnor,Isabel Vidal,Stephen P. Osborne |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12094 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 26, 424–438 (2015)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12094
The SERVICE Framework:
A Public-service-dominant Approach
to Sustainable Public Services
Stephen P. Osborne, Zoe Radnor,1Tony Kinder and Isabel Vidal2
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 1Loughborough University,England, UK, and 2University of
Barcelona, Spain
Corresponding author email: Stephen.osborne@ed.ac.uk
In this paper we argue that the new public management has been a flawed paradigm for
public services delivery that has produced very internally ecient but externally ineec-
tive public service organizations. Subsequently we develop the SERVICE framework for
sustainable public services and public service organizations. This framework is rooted
within the public-service-dominant business logic and emphasizes the need for a focus on
external value creation rather than internal eciency alone.
Building upon the call of Ashworth et al. (2013) for
more theoretical critique and development of pub-
lic management theory, the central argument of
this paper is that the premises that underlie much
contemporary public management theory, in its
guise as the new public management (NPM), are
flawedand have led to variableresults in implemen-
tation. Far from creating the basis for sustainable
public service organizations (PSOs) this body of
theory has actually undermined their sustainabil-
ity by encouraging a short-term, introspective and
transactional approach to the delivery of public
services (McLaughlin, Osborne and Chew, 2009;
Radnor, 2007). We oer an alternative to this,
based within the public-service-dominant frame-
work forpublic services delivery (Osborne, Radnor
and Nasi, 2013). We argue that it is essential for
PSOs to move beyond the transactional approach
and take a relational and public-service-dominant
approach that emphasizes three elements: building
relationships across the public service delivery
system; understanding that sustainability derives
from the transformation of user knowledge; and
professional understanding of the public service
delivery process which is predicated upon the
inalienable co-production with service users.
Consequently this paper is in three parts. The
first part develops a critique of the NPM and poses
the ‘new public governance’ (NPG) as an alter-
native to it. The second part of the paper then
oers a framework within whichto situate sustain-
able business models for a whole range of PSOs
−the SERVICE framework. The final part of
the paper highlights its contribution and impli-
cations for theory and practice. Further, because
this paper is a conceptual and theoretical one,
the research agenda at the end of the paper de-
tails the research needed in the future to empir-
ically test, validate and develop the framework
proposed.
We emphasize thatin proposing this framework
we are not creating it from first principles. On
the contrary, it draws upon and is embedded
within an emerging strand of public management
research and theory over the last decade and more
(e.g. Benington and Moore, 2010; Dahler-Larsen,
2014; Gains and Stoker, 2009; Guthrie, Ball and
Farneti, 2010; Klijn, 2008). What our framework
does is build upon these insights and develop
an integrated context within which to entrench
sustainable business practice for PSOs over the
next decade, and beyond.
© 2015 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
To continue reading
Request your trial