Hester Paanakker

Despite the acknowledgement of contextual differences on how values are enacted or prioritized, Huberts seems to appeal to a certain global commonality in value comprehension and value understanding. Perhaps not of the type of behaviour and the substance of the policies to enact them, and perhaps not of the extent to which they are prioritized over others. But, at the very least, his explanation discerns that the importance of the values he propagates, and to a lesser extent their foundational meanings, will be globally recognized and aspired to. Analysing two different case studies, this study reflects on the tenability of Huberts’ value panorama of seven central governance values and will examine this position for two different types of public contexts. These two case studies will put values in context along the lines of two specific administrative types of public service delivery: street-level craftsmanship and PPPs. 5.4 Case Study I: Public Craftsmanship at Street Level Lately, viewing the public office as a craft has gained renewed attention, both in the Dutch context (’t Hart, 2014; Paanakker, 2020) and beyond (Kunneman, 2012; Rhodes, 2015). In his sociological exploration of the concept, Sennett defines craftsmanship as an internalized motivation and competence for quality-driven work: the desire, skill and commitment “to do a job well for its own sake” (Sennett, 2008, p. 9). Translating this conception to the public domain of governance, Paanakker conceptualizes public craftsmanship at street level as the by public professionals internalized skills, practices and values to deliver good work (2019), and that reflect the tangible nature of the tasks they perform, their experiential knowledge, and the malleable nature of their service delivery (Lipsky, 1980; Polanyi, 2009; Rhodes, 2015). To gain insight into the street-level application of public values to real life practices, Paanakker examines street-level craftsmanship by assessing how public values matter to public professionals in the context of, and towards the object of, their work (i.e. the concrete public service they deliver). From a range of studies in the Dutch prison sector, three points that provide further insight into the contextuality of public values at street level can be highlighted. First, research into street-level craftsmanship signals how public professionals identify core values that differ significantly from the generic values that public value literature often puts forward. Values that are traditionally attributed to officials in the public sector at large, such as lawfulness, accountability, loyalty and efficiency, do not recur in professionals’ conceptions of good work at street level. In the case of prison officers for instance, respondents 124 Chapter 5