Co-production and the third sector: a comparative study of England and France

This thesis explores co-production between citizens and third sector professionals (in community regeneration, parents’ organisations, and older people’s services) in Sheffield, England and Lyon, France. I employ an analytical framework of institutional logics to explore how the rules, practices and narratives of the organisations are specific to their contexts and how these shape co-production practices. The study finds that while the Sheffield organisations are characterised by an assimilation of the state, community and market logics, the Lyon organisations demonstrate a blend of a ‘Napoleonic state’ logic, and a ‘local solidarity’ logic. These combinations of logics illuminate two approaches to co-production. In France, co-production is informed by notions of citizenship, solidarity and participative democracy, leading to a greater focus on citizen involvement in organisational governance and influence of rules as an enabler and constraint to co-production. In Sheffield, co-production is seen as a way to improve communities, services and outcomes, and we therefore see more pragmatic attention to co-design and co-delivery activities. This thesis provides an important contribution to co-production theory and practice, by employing institutional theory to demonstrate some of the cultural and contextual subjectivity of co-production, and producing evidence of meso and macro level factors that influence co-production behaviour

Public service innovation and multiple institutional logics: the case of hybrid social enterprise providers of health and wellbeing

Public sector organisations are confronted with growing health and social care needs in combination with severe resource constraints, prompting interest in innovative responses to such challenges. Public service and social innovation is poorly understood, particularly where innovators must navigate between the norms, practices and logics of public, private and civil society sectors. We contribute to the understanding of how innovating hybrid organisations are able to creatively combine co-existing logics. Case study evidence from newly established social enterprise providers of health and wellbeing services in England is utilised to examine how innovations are shaped by (i) an incumbent state or public sector logic, and two ‘challenger’ logics relating to (ii) the market and increasing competition; and (iii) civil society, emphasising social value and democratic engagement with employees and service users. The analysis shows how a more fluid and creative interplay of logics can be observed in relation to specific strategies and practices. Within organisations, these strategies relate to the empowerment of staff to be creative, financial management, and knowledge sharing and protection. The interplay of logics shaping social innovation is also found in relationships with key stakeholders, notably public sector funders, service users and service delivery partners. Implications are drawn for innovation in public services and hybrid organisations more broadly

The Persistent Constraints of New Public Management on Sustainable Co-Production between Non-Profit Professionals and Service Users

In this paper, I explore whether and how New Public Management (NPM) inhibits the long-term sustainability of co-production between non-profit practitioners and service users in the United Kingdom. I show how the key elements of NPM (contracts and competitive tendering, performance measurement, a pressure for non-profits to become more ‘business-like’, and the framing of citizens as ‘customers’) provide distinct barriers for non-profits to engage in co-production over the longer term, inhibiting the long-term creation of value for citizens. Through an analysis of seven case study organisations, this paper contributes to building theory about the sustainability of co-production, the factors that shape enduring co-production, and the compatibility/incompatibility of NPM tools with co-production

The Role of Public Servants in Supporting Local Community Projects:Citizen-Led Co-production in Quebec

Studies of co-production tend to focus on the collaboration between citizens and professionals in delivering services where the professional is the “regular” producer of the service and the introduction of the citizen co-producer is new. This chapter explores the role of the professional in three case studies of the coproduction of community development activities where citizens take a leadership position in co-production while practitioners instead take a support or complementary role as facilitators. In facilitating citizen-led co-production, practitioners face different challenges, such as the need to balance citizens’ needs and desires with the need for expediency, and the importance of different skills such as meeting moderation, management, and administration. Citizen-led co-production was possible in the case studies because of the nature of the community projects (which were not highly professionalized), the degree of citizen mobilization in the neighborhood, and the local culture and history of collaboration.</p