Co-production and the co-creation of value in public services: a perspective from service management

Co-production is currently one of the cornerstones of public policy reform across the globe. From a service management perspective, co-production is intrinsic to any service experience. This contrasts to public management theory, where the exploration of co-production is almost exclusively on how to 'add-in' service user input into public services planning and delivery, on a voluntary basis. Service theory makes explicit that co-production is not a normative good—it has the potential to lead to the co-destruction of value as much as to its co-creation. This is true also for public services, though this insight has often been absent from much of the discourse about co-production. The framework provides a robust analytic structure for exploring and evaluating the impact of new developments upon both co-production and upon the co-creation of value in public services delivery. The delivery of public services also creates value for society as a whole and reflects what it values.