Abstract
In recent decades, governments have increasingly accepted the need to engage citizens in public decision-making and public services. This chapter traces the sources of this increased interest in public participation and user and community co-production. Our research suggests that they are important but still under-appreciated by policymakers. While public participation can be effective, even in countries where democracy is still not strong, it is not always positive. Similarly, recent research demonstrates that public services are already partly co-produced, as this is not sufficiently recognised by public services, co-production is not being harnessed systematically. More empirical research is needed into what kind of co-production is actually occurring (where, by whom and how?), how it could be further incentivised, and what are its benefits and limitations.
References
Abelson, J., & Gauvin, F.-P. (2006). Assessing the impacts of public participation: Concepts, evidence and policy implications. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks.
Abelson, J., Forest, P.-G., Eyles, J., Smith, P., Martin, E., & Gauvin, F.-P. (2003). Deliberations about deliberative methods: Issues in the design and evaluation of public participation processes. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 239–251.
Agger, A. (2010). Involving citizens in sustainable development: Evidence of new forms of participation in the Danish Agenda 21 schemes. Local Environment, 15, 541–552.
Albert, A., & Passmore, E. (2008). Public value and participation. A literature review for Scottish government. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/resource/doc/216076/0057753.pdf, Accessed on 21 January 2015.
Alford, J. (2009). Engaging public sector clients: From service-delivery to co-production. Houndmills, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Arnstein, S. (1969). The ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35, 216–224.
Beierle, T. C., & Cayford, J. (2002). Democracy in practice: Public participation in environmental decisions. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
Birch, D. (2002). Public participation in local government a survey of local authorities. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Bohn, I., & Alicke, T. (2015). Wie kann Integration von Flüchtlingen gelingen, damit die Stimmung nicht kippt? Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Sozialarbeit und Sozialpädagogik.
Bovaird, T. (2007). Beyond engagement and participation: User and community coproduction of public services. Public Administration Review, 67, 846–860.
Bovaird, T. (2014). Efficiency in third sector partnerships for delivering local government services: The role of economies of scale, scope and learning. Public Management Review, 16, 1067–1090.
Bovaird, T., & Loeffler, E. (2016). What has co-production ever done for interactive governance? In J. Edelenboos & I. van Meerkerk (Eds.), Critical reflections on interactive governance. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Bovaird, T., & Quirk, B. (2016). Resilience in public administration: Moving from risk avoidance to assuring public policy outcomes through the resilience chain. In R. Thomas, D. Cepiku, & T. J. Lah (Eds.), Handbook of global public policy and administration. London: Routledge. (forthcoming).
Bovaird, T., & Tholstrup, J. (2010). Collaborative governance between public sector, service users and their communities. In E. Bohne (Ed.), Repositioning Europe & America for economic growth: The role of governments & private actors in key policy areas. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
Bovaird, T., Loeffler, E., van Ryzin, G., Alford, J., & Yates, S. (2015). International comparisons of user and community co-production of public services and outcomes: Survey evidence from six countries. Paper presented to PMRA Conference, Minneapolis, USA.
Brandsen, T., & Honingh, M. (2015). Distinguishing different types of coproduction: A conceptual analysis based on the classical definitions. Public Administration Review. doi:10.1111/puar.12465.
Brown, P., Loeffler, E., & Christie, J. (2016). Present: Co-producing improved wellbeing with people living with dementia in East Dunbartonshire. East dunbartonshire council, governance international and joint improvement team. http://www.govint.org/good-practice/publications/, Accessed 10 March 2016.
Delli Carpini, M. X., Cook, F. L., & Jacobs, L. (2004). Public deliberation, discursive participation and citizen engagement: A review of the empirical literature. Annual Review of Political Science, 7, 315–344.
Dryzek, J. S. (2000). Deliberative democracy and beyond. Liberals, critics, contestations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Durose, C., Mangan, C., Needham, C., Rees, J., & Hilton, M. (2013). Transforming local public services through co-production. Birmingham: INLOGOV.
Eckenrode, J., Campa, M., Luckey, D. W., Henderson, C. R., Cole, R., Kitzman, H., et al. (2010). Long-term effects of prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation on the life course of youths: 19-Year follow-up of a randomized trial. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164, 9–15. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.240.
Electoral Commission and Hansard Society. (2007). An audit of political engagement 4, research report march 2007. London: The Electoral Commission and Hansard Society.
Etgar, M. (2008). A descriptive model of the consumer co-production process. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36, 97–108.
European Commission. (2015). Public consultation on the EU Blue Card and the EU’s labour migration policies. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-is-new/public-consultation/2015/consulting_0029_en.htm, Accessed on 10 March 2016.
Fainstein, S. (2000). New directions in planning theory. Urban Affairs Review, 35, 451–478.
Falleth, E. I., & Hansen, G. S. (2011). Participation in planning; A study of urban development in Norway. European Journal of Spatial Development. http://www.nordregio.se/EJSD/refereed42.pdf.
Gaventa, J., & Barrett, G. (2010). So what difference does it make? Mapping the outcomes of citizen engagement (IDS Working Paper 347). Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.
Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of society. London: Heinemann.
Holbrook, M. B. (2006). Consumption experience, customer value, and subjective personal introspection: An illustrative photographic essay. Journal of Business Research, 59, 714–725.
Hoskins, B., Jesinghaus, J., Mascherini, M., Munda, G., Nardo, M., & Saisana, M., et al. (2006). Measuring active citizenship in Europe (CRELL Research Paper No 4). https://compositeindicators.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/EUR%2022530%20EN.pdf, Accessed on 29 April 2016.
Irvin, L. (2006). Challenges and strategies for democratic participation. In G. Burgess & H. Burgess (Eds.), Beyond intractability. Boulder: University of Colorado.
Jacobs, L., Lomax Cook, F., & Delli Carpini, M. (2009). Talking together: Public deliberation and political participation in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Karlsson, M., Åström, J., & Jonsson, M. (2013). e-Participation policy in Sweden. In J. Åström, H. Hinsberg, M. E. Jonsson, & M. Karlsson (Eds.), Citizen centric e-participation: A trilateral collaboration for democratic innovation. Case studies on e-participation policy: Sweden, Estonia and Iceland. Tallinn: Praxis Center for Policy Studies.
Kitchen, S., Michaelson, J., Wood, N., & John, P. (2006). 2005 citizenship survey. Active communities topic report. London: CLG.
Knapp, M., Bauer, A., Perkins, M., & Snell, T. (2010). Building community capacity: making an economic case. PSSRU Discussion Paper 2772. London: PSSRU.
Loeffler, E. (2015). Co-production of public services and outcomes. In T. Bovaird & E. Loeffler (Eds.), Public management and governance (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Loeffler, E., & Bovaird, T. (2013). The role of co-production for better health and wellbeing: Why we need to change. In Co-production of health and wellbeing in Scotland. Birmingham: Governance International.
Loeffler, E., & Martin, S. (2015). Citizen engagement. In T. Bovaird & E. Loeffler (Eds.), Public management and governance (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Loeffler, E., Parrado, S., Bovaird, T., & van Ryzin, G. (2008, October). If you want to go fast, walk alone. If you want to go far, walk together: Citizens and the co-production of public services (Report to the EU Presidency). Paris: Ministry of Finance, Budget and Public Services.
Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L., & Stoker, G. (2001). Trends in public participation: Part 2—citizens’ perspectives. Public Administration, 79, 445–455.
Martin, S., & Boaz, A. (2000). Public participation and citizen-centered local government: Lessons from the best value and better government for older people pilot programs. Public Money and Management, 20, 47–54.
McComas, K. A., Besley, J. C., & Trumbo, C. W. (2006). Why citizens do and do not attend public meetings about local cancer cluster investigations. Policy Studies Journal, 34, 671–698.
Newman, J., Barnes, M., Sullivan, H., & Knops, A. (2004). Public participation and collaborative governance. Journal of Social Policy, 33, 203–223.
Osborne, S., & Strokosch, K. (2013). It takes two to tango? Understanding the co-production of public services by integrating the services management and public administration perspectives. British Journal of Management, 24, S31–S47.
Parrado, S., van Ryzin, G., Loeffler, E., & Bovaird, T. (2013). Correlates of co-production: Evidence from a five-nation survey of citizens. International Public Management Journal, 16, 85–112.
Pestoff, V., Brandsen, T., & Verschuere, B. (Eds.). (2012). New public governance, the third sector and co-production. London: Routledge.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Rauschmayer, F., Paavola, J., & Wittmer, H. (2009). European governance of natural resources and participation in a multi-level context: An editorial. Environmental Policy and Governance, 19, 141–147.
Rowe, G., & Frewer, L. J. (2004). Evaluating public participation exercises: A research agenda. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 29, 512–556.
Ryfe, D. M., & Stalsburg, B. (2010). The participation and recruitment challenge. In T. Nabatchi, J. Gastil, M. Weiksner, & M. Leighninger (Eds.), Democracy in motion: Evaluating the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement. New York: Oxford UP.
Thomas, J. C. (2012). Citizen, customer, partner: Engaging the public in public management. New York: M E Sharpe.
Van Eijk, C., & Steen, T. (2014). Why people co-produce: Analyzing citizens’ perceptions on co-planning engagement in health care services. Public Management Review, 16, 358–382.
Vecchione, M., & Caprara, G. V. (2009). Personality determinants of political participation: The contribution of traits and self-efficacy beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 487–492.
Yang, K., & Pandey, S. K. (2011). Further dissecting the black box of citizen participation: When does citizen involvement lead to good outcomes? Public Administration Review, 71, 880–892.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Loeffler, E., Bovaird, T. (2018). From Participation to Co-production: Widening and Deepening the Contributions of Citizens to Public Services and Outcomes. In: Ongaro, E., Van Thiel, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Public Administration and Management in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55269-3_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55269-3_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55268-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55269-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)