The impact of co-production on frontline accountability: the case of the conciliation service

Abstract

Mixing of roles between professionals, volunteers and service users creates a new, complex environment in which to produce and deliver public services. In this kind of environment, the issues of accountability become ever more important. This article presents a qualitative case study of co-production between volunteers and professionals in the legally regulated restorative justice services in Finland. Theoretically, we draw together the concept of citizen co-production with the literature on street-level bureaucracy and accountability. As a result of the study, we can say that co-production between volunteers and professionals increases accountability ties. In particular, the meaning of process-centred accountability is salient in horizontal accountability relations. Thus, co-production as a governance arrangement changes the working culture of public service professionals. In the new partnerships, although not entirely horizontal, we can recognize a seed for cultural change for professionalized public service organizations. Points for practitionersIn this article we have researched co-production between professionals and volunteers in a legally regulated public service, the conciliation service, examining the perceptions of accountability in the frontline practices. The results show that the process-centred nature of the co-produced services leaves less room for discretion and the application of rules by individual street-level workers. Furthermore, as the service users do not consider volunteers to be part of the authority, co-production might be smoother. This is significant especially in the social services, where the clients per se are not necessarily motivated to co-produce, but where co-production would be essential for achieving effective service outcomes.

Coproduction of healthcare service

“…Voices from the fields of history,14 restorative justice,15 ergonomics,16 higher education,17 social policy and governance,18 19 environmental management,20 land use and animal farming21 and urban planning22 have joined the conversation and expanded our understanding of the idea. In this article, we invite particular attention to the possible utility of the idea for healthcare service and healthcare service improvement.…”

Distinguishing Different Types of Coproduction: A Conceptual Analysis Based on the Classical Definitions

“…Yet professionals are now often staff members of organizations and, as such, subject to the processes of rationalization and formalization that have occurred in the public sector more widely (Clarke and Newman ; Freidson ; Tummers ). Jurisdictions, norms, and accountability processes are no longer dictated (only) by professional communities (Tuurnas, Stenvall, and Rannisto ). Like other elements of public services, the position of professionals, too, has been influenced by shifts in governance.…”

Changed Roles and Strategies of Professionals in the (co)Production of Public Services

“…A next step for future research is to gather more data across domains, potentially using the insights derived from this multiple methods study to inform the research protocol. Moreover, studies that have examined the consequences of (NPG) policy reforms for professional work, mostly focus on 'what's new'-for example in terms of what is expected from professionals in respect of professionals skills (Bovaird and Loeffler 2012), professional accountability (Tuurnas et al 2015) or balancing their own role with those of other co-producers (Bovaird et al 2019). The findings of our study however, show that new demands do not take up the same level of importance right away.…”

“…One of the reasons may lie in professionals being ill-equipped to initiate and participate in processes of co-production in which they need to accept and apply resources like non-professional experiential knowledge (Tuurnas 2015). Hence, more research is necessary to understand the implications of NPG style processes, in particular for the roles and skills of professionals (Bovaird and Loeffler 2012) and for their professional accountability (Tuurnas et al 2015). In addition, it is increasingly recognized in public management literature that NPM and NPG models are simultaneously at play in strategic reforms of the welfare states across Europe (Aschhoff and Vogel 2019;Klijn 2012).…”