Reluctant co-creation: how resistance can play a role in our understanding of the co-creation process

Resistance to change is often perceived negatively. We will argue, however, that resistance can have a significant role to play in the value co-creation which can serve to improve rather than hinder the process.  This paper... [ view full abstract ]

Resistance to change is often perceived negatively. We will argue, however, that resistance can have a significant role to play in the value co-creation which can serve to improve rather than hinder the process.  This paper explores the impact of widespread overt resistance to a regional service re-design to integrate health and social care services in order to further understanding of the value co-creation process.  In this example, the service providers and commissioners actively resisted what began as a relatively top down approach and forced what became a more pronounced and integrative process of value co-creation.  The role of resistance and also service providers have been identified as areas of public service value co-creation that require further attention (Osborne et al 2016, Osborne 2017). With this in mind, the paper focuses on the specific role of service providers involved in the dynamic relationships of co-design, co-creation and co-innovation of the public services involved in this example.  Osbourne et al’s (2016) relational matrix is used to conceptualise co-production and Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) concept of assemblage is used to explore this dynamic in further depth.  For Osbourne et al (2016) value is a fluid entity that is created and produced through a myriad of relationships, both human, physical and environmental.  For Deleuze and Guarttari (1987), all phenomena and experience are involved in an ever-changing relationship of evolving assemblages.  If co-creation is taken to be an assemblage, the role of services within value co-creation can be scrutinised.  In applying this approach to the practice of co-production involved in the service redesign exemplified, the paper repositions resistance as one of a range of factors that exist in a relationship that in turn produces the co-creation process.