William Voorberg

A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey

Abstract This article presents a systematic review of 122 articles and books (1987–2013) of co-creation/co-production with citizens in public innovation. It analyses (a) the objectives of co-creation and co-production, (b) its influential factors and (c) the outcomes of co-creation and co-production processes. It shows that most studies focus on the identification of influential factors, while hardly any attention is paid to the outcomes. Future studies could focus on outcomes of co-creation/co-production processes. Furthermore, more quantitative studies are welcome, given the qualitative, case study, dominance in the field. We conclude with a research agenda to tackle methodological, theoretical and empirical lacunas.

Self-Organization and the Role of Government: How and why does self-organization evolve in the shadow of hierarchy?

Abstract Self-organization is a concept that is often used to legitimize a government’s retreat from sectors in which it has traditionally played a vital role. In this article, we analyse how the emergence of new welfare services is mutually shaped by factors that stimulate self-organization among citizens and by meta-governing interventions by local governments. Self-organization seems to takes place in the shadow of a government hierarchy: either a fear-based one or a benevolent one. Boundary spanners play an important role in establishing these new arrangements, thereby making use of, and developing, trustworthy relationships between citizen groups and government.

Does co-creation impact public service delivery? The importance of state and governance traditions

Co-creation in public service delivery requires partnerships between citizens and civil servants. The authors argue that whether or not these partnerships will be successful depends on state and governance traditions (for example a tradition of authority sharing or consultation). These traditions determine the extent to which co-creation can become institutionalized in a country’s governance framework.

Changing public service delivery: learning in co-creation

Abstract Co-creation – where citizens and public organizations work together to deal with societal issues – is increasingly considered as a fertile solution for various public service delivery problems. During co-creation, citizens are not mere consumers, but are actively engaged in building resilient societies. In this study, we analyze if and how state and governance traditions influence learning and policy change within a context of co-creation. We combine insights from the co-creation and learning literature. The empirical strategy is a comparative case study of co-creation examples within the welfare domain in childcare (Estonia), education (Germany) and community work (the Netherlands). We show that state and governance traditions may form an explanation for whether co-creation, learning and policy change occurs. Our paper suggests that this seems to be related to whether there is a tradition of working together with citizens and a focus on rule following or not.

Is Social Innovation a Game Changer of Relationships Between Citizens and Governments

Social innovation is increasingly considered as a valid strategy to change public service delivery, due to all kinds of social challenges. Examples are aging, unemployment, and globalization. It presupposes a ‘game change,’ in that it assumes equal partnerships between actors. We argue that whether the game is actually changing varies per country, due to differences in context (coined here as state and governance traditions). In this chapter, we estimate, given different sets of state and governance traditions in four countries, whether social innovation will be the presupposed game changer. We illustrate this estimation with some empirical examples of social innovation. This chapter shows that social innovation is not always the game changer it is supposed to be, due to differences in country context.