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PUPOL 2nd International Conference

Leadership for Public and Social Value

The Open University, Milton Keynes (UK), 6th-7th April 2017

“Toxic Leadership in the destruction of Public Value: the toxic case of Land of Fires”

(P. Esposito*, P. Ricci**)

Abstract: The theme of public (dis) value which conceptually refers to an inversion of Public Value that is

when attempts are made to destroy Public Value, has been scarcely covered and approached in the literature.

(Esposito, Ricci, 2015). The current paper has a twofold objective. First of all, to observe the different

causes of Public (dis)Values. Second, a case study will enable to give an example of PV destruction caused

by negative co-production of toxic and disruptive political leadership, in compromised contexts. The

research aims to explore the different types of public (dis)value, in the sense of 'public value destruction',

examining the relationships with negative leaderships co-production of crony capitalism (Kang, 2002;

Macey, 2014) in the (ab)use of power. This is a theoretical paper with a case study which makes use of semi-

structured interviews. The case method can help to understand the complexities of 'the negative corruption

effect', and State Capture (Esposito, 2012; Esposito, Ricci, 2015), which is also characterized by forms of

capital rationing that affect both current and future communities. The study analyzes the factors resulting

from toxic leadership and negative co-production in the destruction of Public Value within a an already

compromised context as in the case put forward in the “Land of Fires” (Saviano, 2007, 2015). The

communities affected by toxic contamination in the Italian region of Campania have had to confront the

challenge of proving a direct causal connection between exposure to pollutants and health issues, given a

long history of waste mismanagement. Although medical studies have been conducted, the social and

political debate is still static (Iengo, Armiero, 2017)

This paper may help both scholars and practitioners to identify the best strategies to offset (dis)value factors

by offering tools enabling the search of adequate leadership and managerial policies are more likely to cope

with the destruction of Public Value.

Key words: public (dis) value, negative leadership, disruptive leadership, toxic leadership, (ab)use

of power, biopower, public integrity, criminal organizations, Camorra

_____________

*Paolo Esposito, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at the University of Sannio in Business Administration. He

has authored peer-reviewed papers and made many conference presentations and track chair. E-mail:

paolo.esposito@unisannio.it. Corresponding Author.

**Paolo Ricci is Full Professor in Public Management at the University of Sannio. He is a Scientific

Coordinator and President of GBS (Social Report Group). He has authored peer–reviewed papers and made

many conference presentations and track chair. E-mail: ricci@unisannio.it.

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“Toxic Leadership in the destruction of Public Value: the toxic case of Land of Fires”

(Esposito P., Ricci P.)

-

1. Introduction (1045 W)

The theme of public value (PV) has been the subject issue that the academic community has treated

in the latest years (Moore, 1993, 2013). However, little attention has been given in the literature as

far as the public (dis)value issue is concerned. (Esposito and Ricci, 2015). The current paper has

two main aims. First of all, to observe the different causes of Public (dis)Values. Second, to

observe a case study will enable to give an example of PV destruction that would help examining the role

of political and managerial leadership (Heifetz, 1994; Pedersen, Hartley, 2008; Mattei, 2009; Morse, 2010;

Bennister, 2016; Bennister, ‘t Hart, Worthy, 2017) in public sector (Van Wart, 2003; Boin, 2005; Getha-

Taylor, Holmes, Jacobson, Morse, Sowa, 2011; ‘t Hart, 2014; Rhodes, ‘t Hart, 2014) in already

compromised contexts, as negative public value co-creation (Bryson, Sancino, Benington, Sørensen, 2016).

The current paper has a twofold objective.

Amongst the different causes determining cases of public (dis)value it is possible to list

circumstances of organised crime infiltrations in public goods, corruption, negative leaderships as

(ab)use of power, or (ab)use of law (Benish, Levi-Faur, 2012; Benish, Maron, 2016), State Capture

(Esposito, 2010; Esposito, Ricci, 2015), vote abstention (McNally, 2016) and tax evasion (Esposito

and Ricci, 2015), as well as all public integrity violations as developed by Huberts (1998: 28-30), to

support the private interests of crony capitalism (Kang, 2002; Macey, 2014) in the management of

public interests, services and money.

The research aims to explore the different causes of public (dis)value, in the sense of 'public value

destruction', examining the relationships with negative and disruptive leaderships in the (ab)use of power as

it is shown in the case of “Land of Fires” (Saviano, 2015; Armiero, Iengo, 2017).

The issue of corruption according to a managerial perspective, hence, as a destroyed public value,

has received scarce attention in the public management literature. Scholars have paid lesser

attention to those actors (subjects) who, through a negative, distruptive, ab(usive), or toxic

leadership (Whicker, 1996; Bryson, Crosby, 2005; Lipman, Blumen, 2005; Pellettier, 2010:

Heppell, 2011), are to destroy public value or concur to its destruction by instilling elements of

intoxication and contamination through a negative public value co-creation (Bryson, Sancino,

Benington, Sørensen, 2016) and a co-production of private values and interests in the management of

public services and money. This paper has the ambition to understand the different dimensions

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within the Italian context of public (dis)value (Bozeman, 2002, 2007; Van Der Wal et al., 2006,

2013; Esposito, Ricci, 2014).

PV is a concept that has been used in all stages of its creation, going through its transformation up

until its destruction, in order to define the characteristics of public governance when assessing the

sustainability of public policies (Thompson, 1991; Moore, 1995; Boyne, 1999; Broadbent and

Guthrie, 2008; Benington, 2009; Benington and Moore, 2011). PV is created or destroyed by

political capital, that being a specific component or sub-configuration of social capital (Putnam,

1993, 1995), lies behind political leadership and, arguably, it shows a complex and ever-changing

combination of ideologies, skills, relations and ligatures (Dahrendorf, 1994: 42, 193; Bryson,

Crosby, 2005). In the pursuit of a greater clarity on the different perspectives of PV, some scholars

have attempted to clarify the PV as a concept according to different criteria (Wal and Huberts, 2008;

Van Der Wal et al., 2006, 2013; Bennington, Moore, 2011; Bennington, 2009, 2015). Moreover,

scholars have approached their research from many different conceptual angles. ‘Even though the

existence of literature reviews, classification systems and conceptual maps are based on rather

narrow assessments of the topic. Perhaps it would be more accurate to argue that scholars have

touched upon various galaxies of rather than the entire universe’(Van Der Wal et al., 2013: 2). For

example, Beck Jorgensen and Bozeman construction of the PV universe (2007) contains 72

categories of PV, classified according to the kind of public administration whose values have

specific effects. Beck, Jorgensen and Bozeman's article (2007) identifies a method of inventorying

PV, reviewing and interpreting the relevant literature on the subject (Jorgensen and Bozeman, 2007:

354), suggesting some categories of PV (or constellations) within the PV universe. Nevertheless,

their study relies on a relatively narrow review of the literature which uses British, American and

Scandinavian public administration journals from 1990 to 2003, only. The authors explain that

considering PV out of any specific context enables an easier analysis: ‘values are set free from

partial understanding and from deadlocked, polarized debate, making it possible to construct new

perceptions and judgments’ (Jorgensen, Bozeman, 2007: 357, 358).

Beck, Jorgensen and Bozeman's article also highlights that there are few available systematic

studies on PV concept and that the frameworks they provide could be used as a starting point for

future investigations, including those involving case studies.

The approach followed by Bozeman and Jorgensen is also the starting point to highlight several

issues using the 'constellation-based' reference model, which shows, nevertheless, both pros and

cons of the PV production (Jorgensen and Bozeman, 2007). This study differs from the one that

Jorgensen and Bozeman have advanced and other previous ones, not only on its focus on Public

(dis)Value (a new dimension of the PV concept) but more specifically on how PV is destroyed and

re-generated. The study may help both scholars and practitioners to identify strategies to offset

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(dis)value factors that could have managerial implications.

The study addresses the following research question

(RQ): Is it possible to visualize a dimensional and qualitative link between toxic leadership in the

destruction of PV?

In order to address the RQ, the case about the destruction of PV is analysed. This study, in fact, is a

first step toward the understanding of Public (dis)Value which seems to fill a gap in the current

literature on PV destruction, negative leadership and toxic leadership.

2 Methodology

The research is based on a literature review, visualizing a theoretical framework, useful to

investigate the nature of the link amongst variables and the dimensions producing negative

leadership and corruption in the Italian case in the toxic destruction of PV. The relation between the

destruction of PV and political and managerial leadership, instead, will not be analysed as it has

already been confirmed from scholars and previous literature reviews.

This is a theoretical paper which makes reference to a case study. The case method can help to

understand the complexities of 'the negative corruption effect' which is also characterized by forms

of capital rationing that affect both current and future communities. In general, the case method

(Yin, 1989, 1995), has the double aim of detailing the main characteristics of the phenomena and to

understand the dynamics of a given process. From a methodological point of view, the development

of a case study represents a “strategy of research that is concentrated on the comprehension of the

dynamics that characterizes specific contexts”(Eisenhardt 1989, p. 532). Qualitative approaches and

forms of research in action (Fayolle, 2004), allow to describe, explain and understand situations in

their own dynamics and their own evolution. The case study method represents a valuable tool to

‘capture’ different dimensions of Public (dis)Value, from the analysis of bad practices, and to

suggest criteria for further action (Craig, 2003).

The method is inductive/deductive, through the analysis of the literature on the subject and an

empirical analysis conducted through the assessment of surveys delivered to a selection of elected

administrators of those municipalities located in the “Land of Fires” toxic triangle, that is in the

northern periphery of Naples.. The geographical scope of the investigation has only referred to

municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants where policy exceeds the local civic responsibility

and relations among elected, voters and political parties could reasonably be regarded as more solid

or consolidated balances.

After an in-depth study of national and international literature about integrity distortions

(corruption, tax evasion, ab-use of power) and New Public Management (from now on NPM)

theories, Italian local governments and their model of governance are explored following an

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inductive/deductive method.

The analysis of the extent of corruption achieved by some Italian local governments in crisis, is

measured on the basis of the responses to a semi-structured questionnaire delivered to councillors

and public managers. The main objective of this analysis would be to understand the potential link

between good governance practices and a suitable accountability system which is able to improve

loyalty and participation of citizens as well as stakeholders (Hood, 2000; Borgonovi, 2005).

Therefore, the paper aims to measure the political commitment that undertakes responsible policies

through the engagement of stakeholders into strategic decision-making processes ruling out client

and patronage behaviour.

Through the qualitative investigation of the surveys, this paper attempts to analyse which are the

key factors in defining political accountability and how transparent and efficient public governance

model might improve government performance in managing public resources, in providing public

services and in getting better inter-governmental relationships. This research work would not pursue

a critical perspective on accountability (Mulgan, 2000, 2003; Considine, 2002; Scott, 2000, 2006;

Mashaw, 2006; Black, 2008; Lodge, Stirto, 2010; Byrkjeflot, Christensen, Laegreid, 2014) and the

limits of transparency (Stirton, Lodge, 2001; Roberts, 2009; Messner, 2009) whereas for its being

experimental and exploratory, it finds itself in the first stage of a more wider research on possible

methods in assessing accountability.

3. Understanding Public (dis)Value and negative co-production of PV

The motivation behind this research makes reference to the debate initiated by Moore in 1995 when

he started his investigation on the issue of quality in PA (Jorgensen and Bozeman, 2007: 361).

Through a further elaboration, it developed into a model representing an alternative to NPM – that

was later named as Public Value Management (Stoker, 2006; O'Flynn, 2007; Alford and O'Flynn,

2009). Therefore, the main driver to conduct this research has been the awareness of the multi-layer

physiognomy of notion of PV and the implications which might arise on the level of public

governance. It is a matter of fact that men are empowered to create or destroy value, either for

themselves or for others, by setting in place actions which are socially conceived. The latter are

valuable to the extent that their value, which is not exclusively financial, is such that:

1) it exists since it is part of the main purposes of human action;

2) it is of a hybrid nature whereas it is approached from different angles and perspectives;

3) it transforms itself and it is measureable by taking into account social, cultural, environmental

and anthropological factors which affect its creation (Esposito and Ricci, 2015). In other words, in

the attempt of value pursuit, there is the awareness that the value is public whereas it affects

individuals’ choice and actions. Value, in fact, is created or destroyed any time an individual is

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called to uphold actions which are relevant and congruent to the delivery of public service

(Denhardt J. and Denhardt R., 2003; Kelly et al; 2002). Disvalue is given when actions fail to

pursue their initial goal.

Taking into account the limitations deriving from failing to fulfil collective needs, corruption

spreading across the Italian public sector enables distorting public policies themselves, where

public (dis)value, i.e., the destruction of value, is due to failure in producing political capital. An

irrelevant investment on political capital throughout democratic processes of representation is

likely to destroy value – (dis)value – which hinders developing sustainable and transparent public

policies in favour of arbitrariness and abuse of political power. This explains the erosion of PV as

well as the inextricable connection which exists between the community, conceived as an ethical

infrastructure, and its citizens with their own community’s identity and sense of belonging (Moore,

1995; Stoker, 2003; Benington and Moore, 2011). The latter portrays a rather complex phenomenon

which shows how the power of control, which the legitimate exercise of the State can be also

exercised by entities alike organised and operating under the same legitimate tools use in the public

sector, i.e., public resources and the abuse of authority on all those being co-opted into the

corruption’s loop.

4. Visualizing the dark side of Leadership: negative, disruptive and toxic leaderships

Complexity leadership theory (Heifetz, 1994; Uhl-Bien, Marion, McKelvey, 2007; Storey, Hartley,

Denis, ‘t Hart, Ulrich, 2017) is conceived as a mutual relationship between a leader and a follower.

The former turns to the power of influence in order to persuade individuals to emphasises on the

achievement of organizational ends against the pursuit of their personal goals (Hogan & Kaiser,

2005). Most of the literature on leadership in the last five decades has mainly stressed on finding

out possibilities to determine what good or effective leadership can be (Higgs, 2009) which gives a

rather romantic view of leadership. By this perspective, leaders play an heroic role in their

distressed organisations (Bligh, Jeffrey, Pearce, Justin, & Stovall, 2007). Here comes the

assumption made by Burns (2003, as cited in Higgs, 2009) about leadership being essentially good

while denying any possibilities of negative sides that might lead organisations to failure or decline

(e.g. Mellahi, Jackson, & Sparks, 2002; Whicker, 1996).

Only recent studies have deepened the issue of the darker side of leadership by emphasising on its

features, causes, outputs, results at the aftermath of known disasters due to the conduct of unethical

leadership. These studies have been conducted on the basis of scant empirical studies with a

qualitative and exploratory in nature that have contributed to give a brighter picture of the dark side

of leadership. Yet, those have failed in meeting the epistemological goals that scholars advocated

(e.g. Yukl, 2001) whereas they have not considered a stringent and consistent definition of the dark

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side of leadership. Conversely, literature has paid more attention to specific dark side-behaviour

related issues to the extent that the definition turns to be self-fulfilling and reinforces their approach

(Leung & Cooper, 2003; Quigley, 2009). On this occasion, specific terms were coined in order to

define the dark side of leadership behaviour and read as ‘petty tyrants’ (Ashforth, 1994); ‘toxic

leadership’ (Benson & Hogan, 2008; Whicker, 1996); ‘destructive leadership’ (Einarsen, Aasland, &

Skogstad, 2007); ‘bad leadership’ (Kellerman, 2005); ‘leadership derailment’ (Tepper, 2000) and

‘aversive leadership’ (Bligh et al., 2007). The assumption that Ashforth (1994) put forward referred

to specific leaders’ behaviour practising harassment; indifference and lack of concern toward his

employees or self-aggrandisement that would damage the organization’s set-up goals and challenge

the well-being of its people. By the same token it comes Schilling’s argument (2009) that, in a

recent study, demonstrated that dark side leadership expresses when leaders behave in such a way to

obtain personal achievements at the expenses of organisational goals. Other dark side behaviour

make reference to other influential findings which, as Higgs pointed out (2009), include abuse of

power; damage made on individuals through excessive control and rule breaking to satisfy personal

needs. By the Leaders exhibiting these behaviours are perceived as untrustworthy, overly ambitious

and disingenuous by followers (Hogan, 1994). Followers behaviour and situational variables also

contribute to highlight the dark side of leadership when the former show engagement in power

game; they lack self-esteem; they tend to idealise their own leader or have unmet psychological

needs (Conger, 1990; Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007). What helps the powerful dyadic relationship

between the leader and the follower is the external conducive environment that steers an

organisation towards decline, destruction or success (Padilla et al., 2007) and facilitates the

expression of behaviour at the top level, as well as the level of procedures and organisational

processes (Schilling, 2009). One of the major problem resulting from the existing definitions about

the dark side of leadership relate to the fact that they consider a narrow theoretical position and

leave the multidimensionality of leadership, which include the relationship’ s dynamics between the

follower and the environment aside. Some authors such as Einarsen et al. (2007) suggest a

definition for ‘destructive leadership’ as: the leader, supervisor or manager’s systematic and

repeated behaviour that violates the legitimate interest of the organisation by undermining and/or

sabotaging the organisation’s goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and/or the motivation, well

being or job satisfaction of subordinates.

Moreover, Einarsen et al. (2007) consider that ongoing leader behaviours can be seen as the primary

source of influence over outcomes for organisations and followers; secondly the definition does not

make reference to other important personal elements that may have implications on the leaders’

behaviour (Hogan & Hogan, 2001; Hogan & Kaiser, 2005). Thirdly, no account is taken as far as

power relationships are concerned (Elias, 2008; Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 1995; Raven, 1993).

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Against the failures of this definition, there has been the attempt to interpret the dark side of

leadership as the leader’s ongoing pattern of behaviour, based on his/her relationships with the

followers and the environment, which ultimately leads to a negative outcome at the level of the

organization. The picture is that the leader’s (ab)use of power and his/her self-interest becomes

predominant compared to the original values, goals and ethics of the organization aiming at

ensuring followers’ satisfaction.

This interpretation unleashes several advantages: firstly, since there is no leadership without

followership, the definition emphasises on the degree of follower’ contribution in the process of

leadership making given the prominent role that followers play in leadership performance.

Unfortunately, the existing literature does not cover the issue of followers having an impact on

leadership making considering that, yet, followers may contribute to negative organisational

outcomes when behaving unethically and threatening the leader’s position (Padilla et al., 2007).

Secondly, the definition includes reference to those situational variables considered to have an

impact on leader’s behaviour (Hersey & Blanchard, 1995). Thirdly, it acknowledges that fact that

abuse of power and self-interest, from both sides, can be implicit so as to undermine Padilla et all’s

argument (2007) that followers are susceptible, instead. It can be the case that followers may show

attitude of self-interests that are more likely to actively contribute to the creation of ongoing

negative results into the organisation.

There is little empirical evidence which define the clear-cut causes for performing a dark side

leadership that depend on a wide range of factors showing that a constructive leader shifts to a

destructive leader because of personal attitudes or situational elements. Both, if combined, generate

destructive behaviours (Maccoby, 2004). There would the case where a ‘good’ leader when

confronted with a time of stress, may exacerbates his/her personal positive characteristics to the

extent that he/she turns to be to far autocratic and oppressive. Such a behaviour mainly causes what

Kellerman (2004, 2005) defined as an, ineffective or unethical leadership. Nevertheless, there are

many assumptions which relate a dark side leadership with personality disorders such as narcissism

(Benson & Hogan, 2008; Goldman, 2006; Hogan & Hogan, 2001; Kets de Vries, 1997); failure of

vision (Conger, 1990); corruption of charisma (DeCelles & Pfarrer, 2004); lack of emotional and

socio-political intelligence (Hogan & Hogan, 2002 as cited in Burke, 2006; Goleman, 2000) or non-

leadership (Skogstad, Einarsen, Torsheim, Aasland, & Hetland, 2007). Kellerman (2004, 2005) and

Whicker (1996) postulated that incompetent leaders are harmful for the future of their organisation

since they show a cautionary approach which is deleterious for the growth of the organisation since

it results in their failure in creating, hence delivering, eventual positive changes.

The issue of destructive leadership builds upon Yukl’s (2006: 3) definition of leadership as ‘‘a

process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person over other people’’ in a group and

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organization. Borrowing Yukl’s interpretation of ‘‘intentional influence’’, it could be argued that

destructive leadership shows a narrow definition that applies to a repeatedly inappropriate leader

behaviour which is aimed at influencing followers directly (Harvey et al., 2007; Schyns and

Schilling, 2013; Thoroughgood et al., 2011, 2012b). A destructive leader, therefore, should

intentionally and explicitly act in a harmful manner and make use of coercive, harassing and

abusive tools against his/her follower (Delbecq, 2001; Ferris et al., 2007; Harvey et al., 2007; Reed

and Bullis, 2009). This perspective has several limitations and, amongst those, considers that

leaders have, from scratch, bad intentions and their behaviours are always destructive. Against this

view, instead, recent studies have demonstrated that bad-mannered leaders have produced positive

results in the short term whereas they have empowered followers by increasing their motivation and

performance (Kellerman, 2004; Padilla et al., 2007; Shaw et al., 2011). Other studies, found that a

destructive leader may simultaneously display good and bad, destructive and constructive

behaviours (Einarsen et al., 2007; Hogan and Hogan, 2001). By this perspective, scholars on

leadership have singled out the need for establishing other different theoretical constructs. Counter

to the above discussion, scholars focusing on destructive leadership have recently changed the

research, which leveraged on the issue of leaders’ intentionality, into the destructive leader’s

capacity enabling the creation of negative outcomes for the organisation (Krasikova et al., 2013;

Padilla et al., 2007). This perspective unleashes new scenarios: Einarsen et al. (2007), for instance,

have observed that by the same way unintentional acts are part of destructive leadership, the latter

can be also determined by factors such as ignorance, insensitivity, or incompetence that are as

much destructive as intentionally reckless behaviours. Moreover , other authors such as Skogstad et

al. (2007) and Aasland et al. (2009) pointed out that another destructive form of leadership is given

by a passive behaviour which is widely conceived to be as extremely harmful for organizations.

5. Investigating the link of negative co-production of value between toxic leadership and toxic

destruction of PV

The dark side of leadership in the destruction of public value: which link?

Recently, the dominant approaches in public management have been based on market-driven

management which have been underpinned by a novel and more sophisticated form of

managerialism described as "neo-managerialism”(Brodkin, 2011). It is also argued that neo-

managerialism has influenced the theories on administrative leadership, which is championed by

market driven management, since it advocates that administrative leaders should be better seen as

public entrepreneur. Assumptions have been put forward about the fact that considering public

entrepreneurs according to a neo-managerialist perspective threatens democratic governance. This

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view has been largely discussed and criticised from the democratic accountability’s perspective and

its dominant behavioral assumption of “Neo-Managerialism” of administrative leadership (Terry,

1998), reinventing government (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992) with ethical sensitivity in the effective

exercise of power in an organization (Menzel, 2003; Bryson, Crosby, 2005;). According to Terry,

borrowing the definition of entrepreneur from the private sector and applying it to the public sector

is both “inappropriate” and “dangerous” as it is found in his statement: “we should abandon the

misconceived quest to reconcile public entrepreneurship with democracy. Public entrepreneurs pose

a serious threat to democracy because of the nagging accountability problem” (Terry 1998). Scarce

attention has been given in business management literature to the issue of corruption, viewed

according to its managerial perspective, as a phenomenon of destroyed PV. In addition, scholars

have paid lesser attention to the subjects who, through a negative, distruptive (ab)usive ad toxic

leaderships (Whicker, 1996; Bryson, Crosby, 2005; Lipman, Blumen, 2005; Pellettier, 2010:

Heppell, 2011), are to destroy PV or concur to its destruction by instilling elements of intoxication

and contamination. .

The creation of a 'grey area' around the two authorities has been predominant in the latest years due

to the proliferation of public mismanagement incidents that have resulted in facts of corruption

being the main causes of Public (dis)Value (Menzel, 2000:23, 2003; Della Porta, Vannucci, 2012).

“It is well documented that corruption has negative effects on economic growth, support for

democratic institutions, the allocation of scarce resources (McNally, 2016), and social trust (Cho,

Kirwin, 2007; Clausoen, Kray and Nyiri, 2011; Uslaner, 2008; Lambdsorff, Taube an Schramm,

2005; Rose-Hackermann, 1999; Hunnington, 1968:64)”. Corruption is a management problem

“more than a question of individual criminal actions”. It can be viewed as the product of systemic

failures (OECD, 1997) since it is “a malignant tumor that surrounds the most vital and active

ganglia in the country and does not seem to go away” (Court of Auditors, 2011, 2105).

6. Value created and destroyed

Men are empowered to create or destroy value, either for themselves or for others, by setting in

place actions which are socially conceived.(Denhardt J. and Denhardt R., 2003; Kelly, Mulgan and

Meurs, 2002). Theoretically, disvalue is given when actions fail to pursue their initial goal.

Our approach led us to identify three constellations. The first two are the toxic and disruptive

political leadership and its generation of dis-value, or degeneration (destruction) of value. The third

constellation is described in the final part of the case study. In this constellation, accountability

(part of the sixth constellation in Jorgensen, Bozeman, 2007: 368) and its various manifestations

are useful tools to tackle or prevent the destruction of value (dis-value), and to address the

transformation and re-generation of new value.

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The figure below shows the reticular pattern according to which political capital, that is part of

social capital (Putnam, 1993), can be weakened and compromised by different factors which can

destroy public value, since they can either satisfy social desirability or cause (un)happiness amongst

the community s a whole.

Fig 1: (Determinants of toxic political leadership)

Public Dis-Value = f (political leadership);

Political leadership = f (electoral abstention, ab-use of power, ideological dilution, poor regulation,

low representation, dependability, accountability, State Capture, lobbying, nepotism, corruption, tax

evasion, control and transparency).

T1 = determinants of toxic political leadership = f (Ab-use of power, ideological dilution, poor

regulation, low representation, lobbying, nepotism, corruption, tax evasion, control, transparency)

T2 = individual and existential damage

T3 = weakening of the State

T4 = weakening of the market

T5 = weakening of control

T6 = reputational damage

T7 = damage to public integrity

T8 = damage to public integrity over time - future generations

T9 = dependability and lack of autonomy

Toxic Political

Leadership

Corruption /Tax

evaion/Lobbyng

Abuse of power / washing

Bad Regulation/State

Capture

Skills,representatio

n

T8

T9

T10

T11 T12 T13

T14

T1aa

a7

T15

T16

T7

T6

T5

T4

T3

T1 T2

RQ

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In the literature, although the given limitation related to the discrepancy between the delivery of

economic goods and the capacity in fulfilling collective needs in a state of scarce resources,

corruption spreading across the public sector contributes to distort reality and the significance of

public policies in Italy where public disvalue, i.e., the destruction of value is due to the loss of

political leadership in toxic and disruptive contexts.. Disvalue is substantiated in circumstances of:

electoral abstention;

tax evasion;

lack of planning and control systems in favour of internal stability pacts;

lack of social cohesion as regards to taxation due to the set up of an incomplete and

confused federal system as a form of (ab) use of power;

tax amnesty leading to increased levels of local, regional and national taxation which does

not correspond to the quality of public serviced provided;

lack of financial coverage to due off-balance-sheet management and off-balance-sheet debt;

asymmetric information between guidance and control activities conducted by local

authorities.

Fig. 2:

(Constellations of the public dis-value universe)

T1 = lack of revenue to fund public policies for citizens

T2 = individual and existential damage

T3 = weakening of the State

T4 = weakening of the market

T5 = weakening of control

Public

(dis) Value

Accountability

Control Systems

Voice/Transparernc

y

Legitimacy

T8

T9

T100 T11 T12 T13

T14

T1aaa7

T15

T16

T7

T6

T5

T4

T3

T1 T2

RQ

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T6 = reputational damage

T7 = damage to public integrity

T8 = damage to public integrity over time - future generations

T9 = dependability and lack of autonomy

An irrelevant investment on political capital throughout democratic processes of representation is

likely to destroy value – (dis)value – which hinders developing sustainable and transparent public

policies in favour of arbitrariness and abuse of political power. This explains the erosion of PV as

well as the inextricable connection which exists between the community, conceived as an ethical

infrastructure, and its citizens with their own community’s identity and sense of belonging (Moore,

1995; Stoker, 2003; Benington and Moore, 2011). The latter portrays a rather complex phenomenon

which shows how the power of control, which the legitimate exercise of the State can be also

exercised by entities alike organised and operating under the same legitimate tools use in the public

sector, i.e., public resources and the abuse of authority on all those being co-opted into the

corruption’s loop. This phenomenon seems not be affected by the current financial crisis since it

represents the ideal situation in which the value of assets in the hands of organised crime is boosted.

Examples of this are healthcare mismanagement, illegitimate appointments, a frequent use of

negotiated procedures, an opaque system of public procurement, EU fraud schemes and scams

related to local tax collection, appointments related to the performance and delivery of local public

services, which have been perhaps the most striking case of ‘cost of democracy’ since the ‘70s

(Esposito, 2012). The companies involved, mainly sponsored by politicians whose main goal was to

ensure administrative continuity through the establishment of durable electoral pacts, showed poor

industrial strategies and were plagued by financial scandals (Della Porta and Vannucci, 2012;

Esposito, 2012). Possible causes of corruption in the delivery of public services are portrayed in the

“map” of public (dis)value (Figure 1) which shows the significant pressure exerted by political

parties on the regulatory process.

14

Figure 3: Possible causes of negative co-production of value between political leadership and

destruction of PV a ‘map’ of negative co-production of value

.

Figure 3 shows what has already been highlighted by the Italian Court of Auditors (2011, 2015).

Political leadership heavily affects negative leadership with decisions made by civil servants,

suppliers and politicians in order to determine the private destination of public resources (Esposito,

2012; Esposito, Ricci, 2015, 2016). Their political leadership lacks transparency, particularly when

it is aimed at satisfying private rather than collective interests. More specifically, the “map” of

public service delivery which highlight the causes of disvalue, which was also examined by the

Italian accounting judiciary (Court of Auditors, 2011, 2015), demonstrate instances of low public

and political responsibility, or, in other words, of social irresponsibility (Ricci, 2011). The drafted

map also highlights the growing importance of negative leadership of political parties determined

by (ab)use of power and (ab)use of law, that have produced public (dis)value in the form of

corruption in public procurement procedures, as well as public service management (Shah, 2007;

Esposito and Ricci, 2015).

Regulator

Supplier / civil servant / Politician

Citizen - User

Producer / Provider

Power (ab)use

Competing manufacturers/ producers

Regulatory process

Appointing relation

Service delivery

Negative

Political

Leadership

Managerial

Leadership

(-)

Public

(Dis)value

Power)

(Ab)use of

Power

(-)

(Ab)Use of

Law (-)

Corruption

15

7. Toxilogical Profiles in the toxic destruction of PV. The case study of Land of Fires (2023 W)

Campania is one of the most critical amongst the other twenty Italian regions as far as the issue of

toxic contamination is concerned. In fact, communities in this region have to face the threatening

problem of pollution affecting their health conditions due to a protracted mismanagement of waste

over time. It could be argued that a direct causal connection exists between pollution and mediocre

health conditions of the Region of Campania’s inhabitants as the wide range of medical studies have

confirmed against the static debate in the political and social realm (Saviano,2007, 2015, Iengo,

Armiero, 2017). This statement is true when referring to the Italian Ministry of Health’s declaration

in September 2014 claiming that the increasing rates in cancer incidents were merely related to the

mediocre people’s living standards. However, this claims is countered by the evidence collected in a

specific site in the Northern periphery of Naples, called the Land of Fires, showing that hundreds of

children have been dying for rare diseases. By this token, it would be more appropriate to argue that

these facts determined by a high level of dioxin contamination in the areas describe a typical

phenomenon of toxic destruction of PV where PV is generated by a toxic and disruptive managerial

and political leadership

Environment and health protection have been ignored while setting up and implementing measures

and management plans aimed at building a system of complex waste treatment infrastructural

system in Campania which has, ultimately, revealed to be rather ineffective. This explains a chronic

symptom which is proper Italian and which explains a particular phenomenon related to organised

crime infiltration and corruption at all levels. The issue of waste management in the Region of

Campania emerges with the creation of a parallel and illegal waste market after organised crime

infiltrated the local and regional waste management and planted RDF plants containing toxic waste.

Because of poor budgets, municipalities are unable to provide waste management service by setting

up public owned companies. This critical situation creates the fruitful grounds for creating

alternative businesses which are directly connected with organised crime and authorities at all

levels. From 2001 up until 2003, the Italian Anti-Mafia Agency conducted control and monitoring

activities which discovered that in the Province of Naples, 3 companies operating in the waste

management out 21 resulted not to have connections with organised crime. Against this official

situation, companies have continued to proliferate under different names and people but with the

same office and tools. Campania, in fact, is ranked at the top level of the Italian chart of

environmental crime..

16

Figure 4: Illegal fires in the Provinces of Naples and Caserta (Source: www.laterradeifuochi.it)

For twenty years the Region of Campania is known for having been affected of dioxin and polluting

substances. The province of Caserta, especially, is famous for two reasons: firstly, its geographical

configuration shows numerous natural caves which are well-suited for hiding waste; secondly,

Caserta is under the control of the organised crime family of Casalesi clan who firstly initiated the

waste business. Nevertheless, the province of Naples as a whole fuelled by organised crime such as

the Land of Fires, the Italian name of “Terra dei Fuochi” demonstrates.

This is an area located between Giugliano, Qualiano and Villaricca is unfortunately known for its

columns of smoke resulting from the illegal waste burning. It is worth saying that there are about 17

illegal fires every day (see Figure 7).

The Region of Campania hosts the largest illegal waste dump in Europe which is located in the so-

called triangle of death which cut across the municipalities of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano.

The region has recently counts an increased number of deaths which have been caused by cancer

and other diseases. High rate of cancer-related death are due to pollution created by illegal waste

disposal conducted against the national established rules and regulations.

17

Figure 5: Toxic Triangle of death

.

Several researches, conducted by the World Health Organization, and the Italian Health Institute

and the National Council of Research of the Region of Campania have collected data on cancer

incidents and congenital abnormalities in 196 municipalities for the period 1994 and 2002.

Researches have demonstrated that a high incidence of cancer was found in the period under

analysis and in particular, in those areas in which waste disposal management was uncontrolled. .

The main difficulty encountered in this research paper relates to the determination of causality

relation and in the establishment of a relationship between increased death and congenital

malformation rates and waste disposal.

The area of Acerra, for example, hosts an illegal waste disposal and accounts of a significant

presence in the soils as well as in the air of threatening and nasty pollutants such as dioxins,

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) so that already in 1987, the Ministry of Environment defined

Acerra as being at high risk of environmental crisis.

During the year 2007-2008, the illegal burning of waste, especially of copper coming from wires, is

responsible for releasing dioxins into the atmosphere: only in the first three months 2007 about

30,000 kilograms of waste were burnt on agricultural lands with a revenue of more than €118,000.

18

Table 1: Cancer death rate in the Toxic Triangle of Land of Fires

Cancer death rate

In the following table, the death rate for every more

common cancer that appear in the triangle of death, is

reported. These data are according to the study published

by The Lancet Oncology.

Cancer Italy Campania ASL NA4

Liver (men) 14.0 15.0 38.4

Liver (women) 6.0 8.5 20.8

Bladder (men) 16.6 21.7 22.9

Bladder (women) 3.8 4.2 4.3

Central Nervous

System (men) 6.2 7.1 8.5

Central Nervous

System (women) 4.8 4.1 5.6

(Source: Kenior, Mazza, 2004)

The authors of this paper have conducted a survey on 60 municipalities of the Region of Campania,

a sample given by the 44,3% of the overall municipalities which have been dismissed since the

early ‘90s and which are located in the “Lanf of Fires”. Box 1 shows that 60 municipalities out of

77 were contaminated by toxic leadership.

(Box 1: Municipalities dismissed from organised crime Infiltration in the Toxic Triangle of Land of Fires)

Acerra, Arienzo, Aversa, Bacoli, Brusciano, Caivano, Camposano, Cancello ed Arnone, Capodrise,

Capua, Carinaro, Carinola, Casagiove, Casal di Principe, Casaluce, Casamarciano, Casapesenna,

Casapulla, Caserta, Castel Volturno, Castello di Cisterna, Cellole, Cervino, Cesa, Cicciano,

Cimitile, Comiziano, Curti, Falciano del Massico, Francolise, Frignano, Giugliano in Campania,

Grazzanise, Gricignano di Aversa, Lusciano, Macerata Campania, Maddaloni, Marcianise,

Mariglianella, Marigliano, Melito di Napoli, Mondragone, Monte di Procida, Nola, Orta di Atella,

Parete, Pomigliano d'Arco, Portico di Caserta, Pozzuoli, Qualiano, Quarto, Recale, Roccarainola,

San Cipriano d'Aversa, San Felice a Cancello, San Marcellino, San Marco Evangelista, San Nicola

19

la Strada, San Paolo Bel Sito, San Prisco, San Tammaro, San Vitaliano, Santa Maria a Vico, Santa

Maria Capua Vetere, Santa Maria la Fossa, Sant'Arpino, Saviano, Scisciano, Sessa Aurunca,

Succivo, Teverola, Trentola-Ducenta, Tufino, Villa di Briano, Villa Literno, Villaricca, Visciano

Boscoreale, Boscotrecase, Castellammare di Stabia, Ercolano, Pompei, Portici, San Giorgio a

Cremano, Terzigno, Torre Annunziata, Torre del Greco, Trecase

In 20 years time, 12 municipalities out of 60 in the whole Region of Campania and 9 of them out of

25 in the province of Naples have been dismissed twice. All of them showed heavy financial

troubles and incapable of guarantee the delivery of mandatory public services. The survey was

conducted in the period where some municipalities were dismissed three times and one of them, in

particular, four times (the latter is the case of Casal di Principe which is the headquarter of

Casalesi’s organised crime family).

The above mentioned research on the dismissed municipalities in the Region of Campania has the

aim of conducting a context analysis, hence, to assess the state of the art of reporting and

monitoring systems set up by local authorities. Unfortunately, once the questionnaires were

delivered, politicians, council members, secretary generals and top managers did not provide

answers which were otherwise meant to verify the knowledge and usage of tools for waste

management.

8. Some evidence from “Land of Fires” case study

Local authorities dissolved in the toxic triangle of “Land of Fires” pursuant to art. 143 Decree

267/2000. From 1991, when the Law came into force, up until September 2009, these count 60

municipalities and represent the recipients of the survey which were delivery to support the

qualitative investigation.

A semi-structured questionnaire has been submitted to the sample municipalities in order to assess

accountability through some key factors able to evaluate the level of accountability achieved.

According to authors, analyzing the responses of the questionnaire, it’s possible to inflect seven key

factors with the aim of understanding the importance that accountability has for the local

governments’ representatives interviewed when planning and controlling activities while attempting

to improve citizens’ loyalty and participation.

A suitable accountability system may improve managers’ social responsibility and responsiveness

toward their stakeholders enabling them able to evaluate the actions taken and the results achieved

(Cardillo, 2008). According to Perks R. (Perks, 1993) the term public accountability may be applied

to any entity that expresses responsibility toward the public community.

20

The questions proposed in the questionnaire allow authors to evaluate how municipalities adopt

each of the seven key factors of Ricci’s scale. This process is useful to understand and assess the

accountability level and political commitment in order to take political and strategic decisions. For

this reason the authors are going to assign a score on the responses collected in the questionnaire

taking into account the number of possible solutions suggested by authors per each question.

As regards the first of the seven key factors, all municipalities interviewed realize the planning

process through the implementation of the Anticipatory and Programmatic Relation (60%) and the

Electoral Mandate Program. None of those has ever adopted the General Developing Program and

this can be explained because that is not yet deemed to be a mandatory document for municipalities.

To support the management in the strategic and operative decision making process, each one adopts

a cost accounting system (50%); only the 30% is to implement accrual accounting system probably

due to the complexity of policies and strategies. The roles and responsibility for administrative

officers are defined by the Administrative manager and by the Mayor, while Town Clerk and Chief

Executive do not exercise relevant powers. The subjects and officers responsible to measure the

performance as well as results are the Internal Audit office or an external appointed Assessment

Team. Only for three municipalities the Town Clerk is responsible to evaluate performance (see

previous table). This is a paradox because, according to authors, actors responsible to assign role

and responsibilities should not be the same subjects which are responsible to conduct performance

measurement. In order to run officers and activities, the major part of the interviewed municipalities

adopt financial and accrual accounting without a systematic bookkeeping process. Other ones

consider financial accounting the best tool for results and activities’ measurement.

There isn’t an extended accounting system adopted by the interviewed municipalities whereas, by

looking at the following activities, they only use financial accounting instruments.

For some municipalities, managerial control has been implemented only recently (2008/2009), with

the exception of one municipality which established that, at first, in 1999.

Internal Audit has both control and collaborative function. Half of the sample municipalities

interviewed, municipalities have a share in Public Utility Companies, and only the 30% of

municipalities have a specific Department and a suitable accounting system in charge of monitoring

controlled companies.

Taking into account the external accountability, the surveys have also abalysed the extent of

external communication capacity of distressed Local governments by making use of transparent

tools. Although the financial crisis has generated a wrong and distorted use of public resources by

politicians and parties in power, municipalities have not adopted any Social Reporting process nor

they are knowledgeable of what Standards or Guidelines for Social Reporting are.

21

Social Responsibility could be considered as a culture of “being transparent and responsible”. In

those Municipalities where organised crime infiltration and corruption have been so pervasive that

the City Councils have resigned, social reporting process highlights low inclination towards the

context in which the entity operates and towards citizens and stakeholders. All this refers to the

absence of any form of social control or community empowerment.

Internet stands as the most tool for external communication followed by e-mail and newsletter. Only

in one case there is the existence of a television or radio channel. The website is up-dated every day

in order to make all the administrative documents such as Annual Reports and Town Council

Resolutions available. No Internet benchmarking indicators are available since all the samples do

not have performance indicators enabling comparison amongst municipalities.

There isn’t a homogeneous point of view in defining the key factor to assess accountability but all

the collected evidence emphasises that all municipalities, out of the five suggested key factors, give

more importance to the planning process, to the definition of organisational internal duties and the

evaluation of internal control when assessing accountability. To define an entity as accountable they

take into account manager responsibility and stakeholder’s expectations in the decision making

process. Minor attention is given to the benchmarking activity and the use of technology for internal

and external communication purposes. None of all interviewed municipalities have ever

implemented all seven key factors proposed. Only few of them with the exception of

benchmarking activity, have undertaken actions in accordance with the Local Government

legislation (programming process, accounting system, etc). In the sample analyzed, the response

rate is about 8%. Only few of the municipalities which were personally contacted and put under

pressure, provided a full and completed questionnaire. This shown a clear sign of scarce interest on

this issue covered by the research that may be due to conspiracy of silence or imperfect information

about how entities resigned.

The first important finding concerns the demand for the year of dissolution. About 70% of

institutions that have sent the answers, they answered "never", though he is, instead, the entity

under investigation dissolved in previous years.

The reason could be related to:

- Silence;

- Insurmountable psychological threshold of shame for managers of institutions "mafia";

- Imperfect information;

- Simply uncooperative spirit.

However, it is considered that the statement "ignorance of the dissolution mafia", is due to the fact

22

that the lack of information is the result of imperfect information or even to give information and

knowledge on the state of health and criminal record by the entity part of managers or secretaries of

the local melting over the years to the current. On the other hand, the dissolution of the elected

bodies, which took place two decades ago, has not produced specific connotations economic, fiscal,

financial sanctions, rules, against these entities by the State Central. In an experimental way,

considering the total score gained by each of the interviewed municipalities according to the seven

key factors, it is possible to assess the level of accountability achieved. Total score has been

calculated taking into account the average of scores gained on the basis of each of the seven key

factors included in the questionnaire.

9. Conclusions

The research aims to explore the different types of public (dis)value, in the sense of 'public value

destruction', examining the relationships with negative leaderships co-production of crony capitalism (Kang,

2002; Macey, 2014) in the (ab)use of power. The study analyses factors resulting from the dimensional

and qualitative link between toxic leadership in the destruction of PV in an already compromised

environment as it has been the shown in the “Land of Fires” case study. It may help both scholars

and practitioners to identify strategies to offset (dis)value factors which might have managerial

implications. The paper shows that organised crime infiltration in the public sector substantiated in

forms of corruption, tax evasion, vote abstention, (ab)use of power, (ab)use of law, are all causes of

Public (dis)Value and toxic political leadership. This situation shows a situation where there is no

trace of managerial and political control, as well as social accountability and social control, where

civil and moral conscience and interest is inexistent. The authors have argued that only a wide

social control and citizens empowerment and participation through a public accountability and

governance system can deliver negative, disruptive and toxic leadership in the toxic generation of

PV, P(dis)V, or PV destruction. Accountability stands as the capacity to:

a) to implement social and not just bureaucratic control: that means to create some

communication tools (social balance, office budget and report) which enables citizens to

participate to policy making from the planning, managing and control stages;

b) to redefine the models of spoils system to ensure independence and accountability in the

selection and appointment of public managers;

c) to review the pattern of recruitment and evaluation of public employees and top managers in

order to set up awards or penalties according to the results achieved;

d) to organize an inter-institutional task force to support collaboration and create a single

database which is able to match information: an anti-corruption network can become the

23

most effective “watchdog” in the prevention of crime and corruption.

e) high presence of followers (citizens, social actors, stakeholders) in the relationships with the

political leadership that while coping with toxic profiles is to defend PV integrity.

Obviously, none of these interventions can solve the problem on its own (Lasthuizen, Huberts,

Heres, 2011). Only an integrated approach can substantially reduce the negative impact of crime

and corruption on the public sector and on the overall economy. Cultural and social changes are the

keystones to strengthen the positive link between political leadership and (plus)PV creation

(Esposito, Ricci, 2015). Ethical behaviour requires to go beyond mere professionalism in order to

reject proposals and "idealistic" or impractical policies. Ethical behaviour requires not only to

develop knowledge, technical skills (such as macro-economic or public finance knowledge) but also

to strengthen negotiating ability, to communicate properly and to push through unpopular choices.

Ethical behaviour requires to overcome resistance to change, through the ability to develop

proposals aimed at implementing the win-win strategy. Synergizing good public management with

strong ethics can also help to break the vicious circle of negative public value co-creation (Bryson,

Sancino, Benington, Sørensen, 2016) and a co-production of private values and interests in the

management of public services and money. This means to create the necessary conditions to

overcome the crisis erupted in 2008 and to restore hope in the future, that - as S. Augustine stated-

has two children: the anger and the courage to change. In concrete terms, hope for a better future

would depend on :

1. the willingness to criticize what is negative in the public sector as well as in market economy;

2. challenging the established political and economic power;

3. willingness to set high and challenging goals ignoring mere objectives that are to rationalise the

existing economic and public sector systems;

4. the belief that change does not mean to approve reform bills or to recover balance in public

finance. It rather refers to the capacity to implement reforms and to put them into practice.

To conclude, quoting J. Maritain, public administration ethics requires “a tough spirit (e.g.

principles, virtues) but a tender heart (in behaviour towards others)”. It means that whoever works

in the public sector and operates for disseminating ethics in and outside the public infrastructures’

realms, must demonstrate an uncompromising and courageous attitude when committed in law, rule

and policy making while being flexible in applying principles and rules to case-specific situations.

The latter refers to the principles of equity and ethics which claim that different situations should be

treated accordingly. Performing according to these attitudes would rather reinforce principles, rules

and general criteria.

24

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