The concept of excellence in public service delivery has moved from a focus on speed and cost, as exclusive measures of public service delivery, to a broader and all-encompassing concept that includes the capacity for co-creating public value, trust, and managing volatility. From 2020 to 2025, the state has experienced a series of shocks and increased demands for digital-first, inclusive, and transparent public service delivery. During the period, research has been conducted in the following areas that are related and integral to each other, namely, public value and ecosystem thinking that redefines public value beyond customer satisfaction; service excellence and quality management that articulates principles, models, and measurement systems; digital transformation and algorithmic governance that reshape the channel and processes of public service delivery; and operational excellence, co-production, and innovation capacity that translate strategy into sustained performance. This paper synthesizes the research evidence of the last five years and develops an integrative framework of public service excellence that is applicable for public services that experience the logistics of public service delivery, such as transport, border control, urban permitting, and regulatory interactions. Using the PRISMA 2020 reporting guideline as an outlining framework for the systematic review process 1, this paper establishes a mapping of the evidence on how public service excellence is achieved in public service design and measurement and governance. The synthesis of the evidence indicates that public services that achieve public service excellence always involve the design of the citizen’s journey and public service delivery discipline (Lean and standard work), measurement of public service performance within the logic of public service to serve citizens that balances access, responsiveness, and quality 7, and understanding trust as an output of reliability, fairness, and integrity and openness 8, 9. Digital channels for public value increase with public service quality and the reliability of information provided. Digital channels are seen to increase inequalities among citizens due to digital divide and the opaqueness of algorithms used 10–12. A blueprint for public service excellence maturity is proposed to link public service excellence standards 2, 3 to innovation capacity 13 and algorithmic governance of public value 14.
Suhail Adel Abdo Sarhan (Tue,) studied this question.