The Path from Values to Value: A Case Study Within the Public Sector

Abstract

The paper investigates the driving role of Intellectual Capital (IC), which is emerging from the ongoing change in the managerial approach in the Italian public sector. Drawing upon data collected from a case study regarding a local transport public utility, we intend to analyze the virtuous path that leads from values to value, focusing attention on the centrality of the soft dimension of human behavior (values) in improving the organization’s performance (value). The case study allowed us to highlight how, in a few years, it was possible to design and implement a strategic plan, based on the three pillars of IC – human, structural and relational capital. Before managerial change, the public utility investigated was characterized by a deep lack of awareness of its intrinsic capability to face the challenge coming from the request for rationality, which is at present determining the new scenario in the entire public sector. Our research offers a contribution to the debate on the relevance of Intellectual Capital in the public sector, giving evidence of good practices that can be developed in other similar contexts and supporting a theoretical background with further advancement in managerial tools. We have also identified the relevant role of the system of internal control and the implications of that system in the accountability path.