Collective Action and the Sustainability of Co-Production

Abstract

This article addresses the sustainability of citizen/user participation in the provision of public services, often referred to as co-production. Co-producing public services not only promises to limit cost, but it also requires a change in the relations and behaviour of public servants and citizens/users, in order for the latter to make a long-term commitment to coproduction. The article notes that Olsen proposes two logics of collective action, not just one. Focusing on small group interaction can provide an important strategy for achieving sustainable co-production, particularly of enduring welfare services. However, Ostrom criticizes too simplistic approaches based on size alone for promoting social cooperation in collective action situations. She proposes seven structural variables of importance in resolving social dilemmas. Several of them can also be perceived as factors that facilitate sustainable citizen participation in co-production. Some additional factors are also considered important for sustainable co-production, like the nature of the service itself, organizational diversity, a dialogue between the staff and clients, and facilitating small group interactions in large organizations. This article concludes that governments should develop more flexible, service-specific and organization-specific approaches for promoting co-production, rather than looking for simple 'one size fits all' solutions to the challenges facing public service delivery, particularly of enduring welfare services. It also proposes a research agenda on sustainable co-production.

User co-production of public service delivery: Effects on trust

“…Strangers are less likely to trust each other because they have no information about each other's intentions. When there are doubts whether other users are motivated to co-produce, and when there is indeed a chance that people deflect from their duty to provide efforts in the service delivery, the collective coproduction process is negatively affected (Pestoff, 2014). The perception that others might contribute fewer efforts in the co-production than you are contributing increases feelings of outcome uncertainty.…”

“…To understand the effects of collective co-production, theories on collective action will be used in addition to psychological theories. For this, this study mostly builds on work from Ostrom (2000;Pestoff, 2014) and Tilly (2005b). These theories will also provide insights to possible unfavourable conditions for creating trust, such as extrinsic motivation and free-riding behaviour.…”

Reflexões conceituais em coprodução de políticas públicas e apontamentos para uma agenda de pesquisa

“…Bovaird, Van Ryzin, Loeffler et al (2015) call these intermediate degrees of co-production as "hybrids". Pestoff (2014) suggests that future research should seek to understand how individual and collective co-production levels blend and relate.…”

“…There are critiques of this economic aspect of co-production, where the government will often see it co-production only as a possibility of reducing costs (CEPIKU and GIORDANO, 2014;PESTOFF, 2014; BOVAIRD, VAN RYZIN, LOEFFLER et al, 2015). However, Lam (1996) argues that the feasibility of providing services only by government agencies has been seriously challenged.…”

Between Participation and Collective Action—From Occasional Liaisons towards Long-Term Co-Management for Urban Resilience

“…As the relationship between state and citizens is undergoing a profound process of change in post-modern societies [35], and Arnstein's hierarchical conception of participation fails to capture the full complexity of this transformation; this is probably the major source of criticism [21,22,29,31]. The mere focus on the allocation of power might even lead to an adversarial picture of participation, as "contest between two parties" [22], a "power struggle between citizens to move up the ladder" and the government [21], and "based on the idea of a conflict between the powerful and the powerless" [15].…”