The Keys to successful co-creation: an explanation using causal process tracing

__Abstract__ Co-creation with citizens is a promising concept in order to explore new approaches for rather ‘wicked’ societal challenges in a context of financial austerity, ageing and decreasing trust in public institutions. So far, most research to public co-creation and co-production have been focused on the identification of influential factors to co-creation processes in which citizens are involved as co-implementer of public services. Our primary goal is to examine how these influential factors influence the establishment of successful co-creation arrangements, between citizens and (local) governments, when citizens are involved as initiator or co-designer of co-creation initiatives. The second goal is to test and classify known influential factors on their explanatory strength for the establishment of public co-creation. In order to analyze the relation between the success of co-creation and these factors, we conducted a qualitative case-study of two exemplary examples of public co-creation, in which we used the method of process tracing. In doing so we were able to systematically examine what the most influential factors are to public co-creation and whether possible alternative explanations may be important. We found that our current understanding of the underlying mechanisms to public co-creation does not always cover the empirical reality. Our analysis show that successful co-creation does not so much depends on the efforts of public officials and the extent in which public organizations are adapted to co-creation. Rather, it seems to depend on the willingness, social capital and the ability to create a smoothly running organization of citizens. Remarkable is that this willingness is primarily based on whether citizens a

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

Co-creation in social innovation: A comparative case-study on the influential factors and outcomes of co-creation

In order to confront challenges related to austerity, globalization and ageing, contemporary western governments feel the urge to socially innovate. In social innovation the role of citizens in public services is recognized as a possible valuable asset in order to implement public services more effective, more service oriented and also more efficient. However, in order to be really innovative and thoroughly reform public services, citizens are not only invited to ‘play-along’, but also to ‘co-design’ public services and even initiate public service delivery. This is labeled as ‘public co-creation’. Although the concept of co-creation becomes more popular in the pub

Embarking on the social innovation journey: A systematic review regarding the potential of co-creation with citizens

and especially social innovation is a ‘magic concept’ that during the last years has been embraced as a promising reform strategy for the public sector. It is argued that it is important for social innovation that it is being co-created with citizens. However, to date there are no overviews on co-creation during innovation, which systematically analyze the literature concerning the forms, antecedents and effects of co-creation. This paper therefore conducted a systematic review to retrieve studies on co-creation. It also included related literature on co-production. 49 peer-reviewed articles in the period from 1987-2013 were included. In general, most studies employ a qualitative case study approach. Quantitative studies are scare. Most studies have been conducted in the healthcare or education sector. The review further reveals that in the level of citizen involvement is often rather low; citizens are only acting as co-implementer, not designers or initiators. Considering the factors influencing co-creation, we found that an administrative culture of fear and risk-aversion and not accepting citizens as partners are strong barriers. While factors influencing co-creation where often studied, there seems to be much less research on the outcomes or objectives of co-creation. Co-creation is often also seen as a value in itself. We conclude by summarizing the results and providing a future research agenda for thoroughly studying co-creation during public innovation

Self-organization and the role of government: how and why does self-organization evolves in the shadow of hierarchy?

The public sector in general and the role of government in particular has been recently subject of a fundamental discussion. This discussion is fueled by four developments. 1) We observe that in many European countries, the government is forced to follow a regime of austerity which leads to major cutbacks. 2) As a result the idea is embraced that communities and networks would be an interesting alternative, to fill in these gasps. 3) Important in the creation and functioning of these communities is that new governance arrangements are being pursued that are based on the idea of self-organization, which turn existing playing rules upside down, thereby by establishing new positions, relations and playing rules. 4) At the same time our empirical understanding about how self-organization take place in the public sector is relatively scarce. However, when looking at the concept of self-organization it is interesting to see what self-organization processes implies for the position of government organizations and other actors that are involved, as well as the relationships that are been established between them in this process of self-organization. This issue is even more interesting in policy areas in which government organizations have traditionally played an important role, like welfare services. Compared to, for instance other actors like citizens, interest groups, companies or even professional organizations (like welfare organizations), government organizations are not an ordinary actor, given the knowledge and expertise that they have, the legal competences that they often possess as well as the funds that they have at their disposal. That is why we want to understand under which conditions processes of self-organization take place in especially the welfare sector, and how this process of self-organization affects the position of governmental organizations. In doing so we want to understand how self-organization processes shape the relationship between government and especially citizens that are engaged in processes of collective action. This is important because self-organization may not always imply that the role of government will become obsolete. Some years ago and in relation to the discussion about the emergence of the so-called ‘hollow state’, some scholars talked about ‘networks in the shadow of hierarchies’ (Scharp, 1994; Milward & Provan , 2000). However , perhaps we are witnessing another development that turns this idea upside down: how do the state organizations or hierarchies evolve in the shadow of self-organizing networks? This leads to the following research question: How do processes of self-organization influence the role and position of government organizations in the community-based production of locale welfare services and how can this role be explained? In order to explore this research question we first address the concept of self-organization and the conditions that favor self-organization. Furthermore, we also address how self-organizations affect the role of government vis à vis other actors, thereby also looking at theories that explore the notion of meta-governance as well as notions that try to explain what relationships are between networks and hierarchies. Based on this theoretical exploration, we will develop a research strategy that helps us to investigate our research question. We will conduct a comparative and nested case study. The case study is focused on the establishment and functioning of so-called community enterprises that emerged in the Netherlands during the last years. These enterprises are based on the idea of self-organization in order to produce welfare services in neighborhoods that replace services that were formally produced by professional welfare organizations, which were funded by local governments. Two neighborhood enterp

Diverging Ambitions and Instruments for Citizen Participation across Different Stages in Green Infrastructure Projects

Both theory and practice increasingly argue that creating green infrastructure in order to make cities climate-proof requires joint public service delivery across the green infrastructure’s lifecycle. Accordingly, citizen participation in each green infrastructure project stage is required, but the type of participation may differ. So far, limited research has been conducted to detangle how participation in green infrastructure projects is operationalised along the different project stages. This article, therefore, presents a comparative case study of nine European green infrastructure projects, in which we aim to determine: (1) how participatory ambitions may differ across green infrastructure project phases; and (2) which instruments are used to realise the participatory ambitions for each phase and whether these instruments differ across stages. The cases demonstrate different participation ambitions and means in the three project phases distinguished in this article (i.e., design, delivery, and maintenance). The design and maintenance stages resulted in high participation ambitions using organisational instruments (e.g., living labs, partnerships with community groups) and market-based instruments (e.g., open calls). In the delivery phase, participation ambitions decreased significantly in our cases, relying on legal instruments (e.g., statutory consultation) and communicative instruments (e.g., community events). Altogether, our exploratory study helps to define participation across the green infrastructure lifecycle: Early stages focus on creating shared commitment that legitimises the green infrastructure, while later stages are also driven by instrumental motives (lowering management costs). Although theory argues for profound participation in the delivery stage as well, our cases show the contrary. Future research can assess this discrepancy

A qualitative comparative analysis of collaborative governance structures as applied in urban gardens

Many public issues require collaboration between governments, private actors, NGOs, civic organizations, and individual organizations. Initiating such a collaboration is challenging, but sustaining such a partnership can be even more difficult. This paper aims to explore what types of collaborative governance structures (CGSs) are found in urban gardens that have continued to exist over the years and that have been discontinued. In order to do this, we analysed 14 urban gardens in the Netherlands as striking examples of CGSs. By applying Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA), we were able to unravel plausible explanations for gardens that (did not) stand the test of time. The analysis shows that financial independence, strong institutionalization, and having a small core group of volunteers is the most important configuration for the durability of an urban garden. Even though some gardens were meant to be temporary, this structure made them durable. Two urban gardens – envisioned to be temporal – did not develop an institutional design or financial independence, which led to their discontinuation

Co-management as a successful strategy for marine conservation

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a primary tool for conserving marine biodiversity. The literature presents a scattered picture regarding the extent to which co-management can be considered valuable. In this study we examine, what conditions are for co-management to make a contribution to conserving marine ecosystems (e.g., stopping coral bleaching and safeguarding fish populations). By combining data on MPA management practices with a novel source of global biodata collected by citizens (ReefCheck), we demonstrate that if co-management is part of a formal governmental strategy, coral reefs show up to 86% fewer bleached colonies and up to 12.2 times larger fish populations than co-managed MPAs lacking formalized governmental support

Financial Rewards Do Not Stimulate Co-Production

Western governments are increasingly trying to stimulate citizens to ‘co-produce’ public services, among others, by offering them financial incentives. However, there are competing views on whether financial incentives stimula