Theoretical framework
During the last twenty years, public value theory (Moore, 1995, 2013) has proposed as an attractive framework, with a remarkable emphasis on public management. Public value paradigm has already strong references to the co-creation and co-production (between public agencies and business, or public agencies and nonprofit institutions, or public organizations and users, etc.) under the big umbrella of an “authorizing environment” (Moore, 1995).
An important strand of literature, the service dominant logic is amplifying the role of co-production in the public service organizations (PSOs), aiming at a framework keeping into account the previous contextualization of the service concept and the simultaneity of interaction in the service delivery process (Osborne et. al., 2013; 2015).
The SDL proposes a rethink of management by focusing attention on service, in other words by paying attention on “how” to apply competences from one subject (or entity) to another's benefit (Vargo and Lush, 2008).
Research question
The research question is: “How can co-production of a public service and active user engagement help creating public value?
Research aims
Service co-production is a value co-production (Ramirez, 1999), both in the public and private sector. If anything in the public sector, the difference lies in the person receiving the value of service whose it is co-producer (Alford, 2002, 2009). Each category has a different set of stakes in its relationships with PSOs and, consequently, the influencing factors may be different.
Thus, public value creation can be anchored to a broad interpretation of both public service and a service dominant logic. In this sense, the paper explores the relationship between PSOs and the users of public services to test the possibility as mentioned above. Behind each service, there are plans, programs and policies.
Empirically, research has focused on waste and recycling service. In fact, it represents the purest co-production form in which user engagement is the essential condition for the creation and production of the service. The user's participation in creation (co-creation) becomes an ontologically necessary condition for the production of the public service, whether the citizen makes him consciously and freely, or is obliged.
Therefore, through the formulation of a questionnaire addressed to the Italian municipalities, we built a model of analysis able to measure the influence of certain factors on the co-production phenomenon in the waste and recycling service.
Results
Positive evaluations have taken place for almost all municipalities regarding aspects such as communication and co-operation of the citizens. However, important aspects such as the establishment of co-learning dynamics, the assessment of the degree of acceptance of directives and the analysis of the type of adaptation of the citizens in co-production processes have been neglected.
The exploratory analysis shows a persistent anchorage of the Italian municipalities to an excessively “old style” where the role of the citizen remains limited to a purely functional participation, and its ability to act remains constrained within a limited spectrum of action.
Value co-creation, co-design and co-production in public services
