Value co-creation is a perspective that is central to service-dominant logic and it emphasizes the collaborative creation of value by participating actors within a service system. Service marketing scholars who propounded the theory posit that interaction is the locus of value co-creation and actors are all co-creators of value who integrate physical and cognitive resources.
The call for collaborative approaches to the design of public services and the advent of service design practice in public sector has paved the way for the adoption of co-design, which has been touted to ensure the creative collaboration of actors who are engaged in public service design. However, little is known about how co-design could ensure the manifestation of value co-creation in public services. Despite the scores of academic works on co-design and the efficacy of its methods in ensuring collaboration, the role of co-design in public service development is yet to be empirically and theoretically understood from a value co-creation standpoint.
Furthermore, in public management, some public management scholars have argued for a paradigm shift in the public sector from co-production (which they believe is still rooted in the good-dominant logic) to value co-creation (which they believe is a service-dominant perspective that is needed to drive service reforms). However, the nature of public service is different from the private sector and this frustrates the importation and easy application of paradigms in a public service context. There is also the assertion that co-production doesn't occur all the time in public services; in other words, the user isn’t always a co-producer or a value co- creator. This negates the service perspective of value co-creation. It will be interesting to see if co-design approach reconciles, confirms or disconfirms these differing perspectives on value co-creation.
Against this backdrop, this study seeks to understand the role of co-design approach in public services through the lens of value co-creation model of service dominant-logic. However, this paper will detail a review of literature on co-design and value co-creation in public services and initial findings on the role of co-design approach in public services.
Research Questions:
Overarching research question: Does co-design approach enable value co-creation in public services?
Sub-questions:
1. How does co-design enable value co-creation in public services and what are the nature of its co-creative activities?
2. What is the nature of interaction in co-design and how are these interactions configured among participants?
3. What type of resources are coalesced in a co-design process and how are these resources integrated?
Methodology:
This study adopts a case study research methodology which constitutes a three-pronged approach to data collection: in-depth interviews with public service stakeholders, non-participant observation of four co-design projects in healthcare and community development and documentary analysis of co-design projects. The cases were selected through purposive sampling technique and the method of data analysis will be thematic analysis.
Significance of the study:
This research seeks to make significant theoretical contribution to knowledge by theoretically delineating the role of co-design in public services using a value co-creation model.
Value co-creation, co-design and co-production in public services
