Disentangling the notion of value in public services: evidence and future directions from a systematic literature review

“Value” is a popular yet contested construct in Public Administration and Management research, and has gained increasing attention in relation to the value creation process in public services. Despite the close connection between value and public services, the field lacks a clear understanding of what value is actually about and, consequently, what is created within services. We contribute to this debate through a systematic literature review of 140 records across disciplines to detect how value is defined in the field of public services and the main features of the value creation process, with a specific focus on its beneficiaries, mechanisms, levels and stages, providing an unprecedented conceptual mapping of the intersection between the concept of value and public services. We conclude by outlining several research avenues to further advance the field, calling for a shift from a theory of value creation in public services to a theory of public value creation in services.