Unveiling the Relationship Between Cultural Values and Public (Dis)Value: The Mediation Role of Corruption Perception and Citizen Trust

ABSTRACT In recent years, much emphasis has been placed in the literature on understanding the dynamics by which public value is created and destroyed, by analyzing how cultural values contribute to these dynamics. This paper aims to explore the mediation role of corruption perception and citizen trust in explaining the relationship between cultural values and public value destruction or public dis/value. The results of this work should explain why similar public initiatives could generate or destroy public value. Partial least square‐based structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) was used to empirically examine the mediation effect of the perception of corruption and citizen trust in explaining the relationship between cultural values and public value destruction. The authors consider the public initiatives to fight the pandemic in EU countries as these measures determine the dyadic tension between the public and private constellation. Findings show that power distance and indulgence determine public dis/value, positively and negatively, respectively. Furthermore, the corruption perception and citizen trust mediate the relationship between cultural values and public dis/value. This work determines a further step for research by identifying the role that cultural dimensions play in the generation of public value. More specifically, governments must consider their own cultural values when they implement initiatives that can impact private interests. In this case, similar initiatives can create public value in some contexts and destroy it in others.