Organizational Value Nexus and Espoused-Enacted Value Interplay: The Case of Sri Lankan Public Administration

The role of public value conflicts in public failure has been examined from a human and normative viewpoint, beyond commonly discussed economic concerns. Although the country’s public sector is frequently criticized for its poor performance and value-related issues, very little research has been conducted in the Sri Lankan context in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how espoused and enacted organizational values interact in Sri Lankan public administration. This study employs a qualitative case study research approach within the broader philosophical premise of interpretivism. Accordingly, data were acquired from top-level managers of the Sri Lankan public administrative organization through in-depth, in-person, semi-structured interviews and core regulatory documents. Thematic analysis was conducted by coding and classifying the data to generate themes. Two main categories emerged from the analysis: espoused and enacted. The organization's primary stated values—public interest, service boundless, good governance, and humanity and morality—came to light as being distorted to some extent by personal interests, subordination and dependency, distrust, inactivity, and apathy in its day-to day operations. The findings of this study provide fresh insights into existing knowledge on how the interplay of espoused – enacted values in public administration leads to public failures. Further, the study provides managerial implications that would aid public policymakers in the creation of practical plans for the alignment of public administration with the country's setting while keeping its avowed ideals. keywords - Espoused Values, Enacted Values, Value Congruence, Public Administration, Public Value Conflicts, Sri Lanka