Long-Term Sustainability of Co-creation and Co-production of Public Services

Dear Colleagues,

The involvement of citizens in the creation and production of public services is a major topic in current Public Administration research. Co-creation and co-production refer to citizens being involved as co-designers and co-implementers of public services, alongside ‘regular’ service providers (i.e., government professionals). In this Special Issue, we address the questions of whether and how co-creation and co-production initiatives can be scaled up and sustained over time as to create long term collaboration between professionalized service providers in public agencies and citizens.

As research by Brudney and England (1983), amongst others, demonstrates, active and voluntary involvement of citizens in the delivery of public services has been a practice for many years.  However, the challenge of sustainability of co-creation and co-production (Jaspers and Steen, 2020) seems all the more pertinent in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. During the COVID-19 crisis, new co-creation and co-production practices have emerged worldwide. The crisis provided opportunity to break through procedural restrictions, leaving room for both government and citizen-initiated co-production projects to materialize. Moreover, COVID-19 displays the dependence of government on citizens not only in complying with new directives that penetrate their social and economic life, but also in co-creating and co-producing social and health care. The question arises, however, what will be necessary to support the continuation of these co-creation and co-production initiatives beyond the immediate crisis, once the sense of urgency disappears (Steen and Bransen 2020).

Literature reviews of co-creation and co-production research (Voorberg et al. 2015; Sicilia et al. 2019; Rodriguez Müller et al, 2021) identify very few studies that examine co-production from a long-term perspective. Learning more about conditions for sustainability of co-creation and co-production not only addresses a gap in our theoretical and empirical knowledge, but may also provide insights for governments on how to support the continuation of co-creation and co-production initiatives. In a next step this knowledge can contribute to co-creation and co-production initiatives having a stronger impact and a multiplier effect.

Contributions for this Special Issue should address issues of sustainability of co-creation and co-production, including, but not limited to:

Organisational and procedural conditions for sustaining and scaling up co-creation and co-production initiatives: What impact does sustainability has on the design of public services?  Is sustainability an issue of organisational design to be addressed already at the onset of a collaboration between professionalized public service providers and citizens? Are supportive legislative frameworks and structural allocation of resources necessary to support the continuation of co-production initiatives? What are thresholds for sustaining co-creation and co-production over time?

Engagement of professionals and citizen co-producers: In how far does sustaining co-creation and co-production over time depend on mutual commitment by and empowerment of professionals and citizen co-producers? What incentives are needed to induce long-term engagement and motivation of both professionals and citizen co-producers?

Digital enabled co-creation and co-production. Can new technologies help sustain and scale up co-creation and co-production initiatives? How does the combination of digital tools with face-to-face communication work in setting up long-term participation? What challenges arise from the use of digital tools in co-creation and co-production initiatives? What factors contribute to sustainable digital co-creation?

What is the legitimacy of co-creation and co-production practices as an integral and continuous part of the functioning of (local) democracy in the perspective of different actors, including political actors, public service professionals, and engaged citizens, as well as the wider public? What promises do co-creation and co-production hold for the future, including narrowing the gap between government and citizens? How sustainable are co-creation and co-production in different policy fields?

We look forward to working with you to form a Special Issue to address these topics and more.

Prof. Dr. Trui Steen
Prof. Dr. Taco Brandsen
Dr. Noella Edelmann
Prof. Dr. Bram Verschuere
Guest Editors

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• public services
• co-creation
• co-production
• involvement of citizens
• sustainability over time