Assessing the efficiency–effectiveness linkage in Italian municipal solid waste management services: A public value approach

IMPACTThe relationship between efficiency, effectiveness, and the creation of public value (PV) in municipal solid waste management is empirically underexplored, with existing evidence largely confined to efficiency and effectiveness examined in isolation. This article presents evidence that service effectiveness, rather than efficiency alone, is the primary and most robust driver of PV, and that the marginal returns to effectiveness attenuate as municipalities approach the efficiency frontier. These results offer local public managers and policy-makers an empirically grounded approach and a replicable method to align effectiveness targets and PV objectives with budgeting and planning processes, thereby supporting the shift from cost-centric benchmarking toward value-oriented logics that prioritize the service outcomes most consequential for citizens’ collective well-being.