Public Value & Leadership
How do organizations contribute to the common good, and how can leaders foster a public value orientation throughout their organization?
Our foundational research area examines the relationship between organizational activities and societal wellbeing. Building on over two decades of empirical and conceptual development at the University of St. Gallen and HHL Leipzig, we investigate how citizens perceive and evaluate organizational contributions across the four dimensions of public value — moral-ethical, instrumental-utilitarian, political-social, and hedonistic-aesthetic.
Central questions include: Which organizations are perceived as genuinely beneficial to society, and why? What distinguishes organizations that create lasting legitimacy from those that face a growing trust deficit? How do leadership practices, culture, and strategy shape public value orientation? And how can the relationship between leadership and societal value creation be understood in the context of the grand challenges of our time?
This research area generates both foundational theory and practical tools. The GemeinwohlAtlas studies (Switzerland, Germany) provide large-scale empirical evidence on public value perceptions across populations. The Public Value Scorecard translates the four-dimensional framework into a strategic management instrument used by organizations across sectors. The Leipzig Leadership Model connects public value creation with leadership practice by integrating purpose orientation, entrepreneurial spirit, responsibility, and effectiveness into a holistic framework for navigating the tensions between organizational success and societal benefit.
Key outputs include over 50,000 survey participants across three geographies, 30+ peer-reviewed publications in journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society, and Public Management Review, and applied partnerships with organizations including Fresenius Medical Care and the German Federal Employment Agency.
Current projects:
The Public Good Atlas is a large-scale, representative empirical study that measures how citizens perceive the contribution of large organisations to the public good.