An empirical look at citizen co-production in Australia

Abstract

Co-production – the contribution of time and effort to the delivery of public services by service-users and citizens, prompted by or in concert with public sector organisations – is attracting increasing attention from governments and communities. The literature identifies numerous initiatives in the United States, Britain, Germany, Indonesia, Sweden and Latin America, with co-production reported in disaster management, social protection, economic affairs and education – among others. Yet despite this interest in more than a few services, its ‘big society’ appeal, and the substantial scholarly endeavours devoted to it, there is still much to uncover about co-production. Large groups of co-producing clients have not yet been asked about what they actually do. This paper is a contribution to developing some answers. Drawing from a large-sample (1,000) survey of co-production in Australia, it looks at what co-producers do (in what kinds of services, and how often) and what motivates them to co-produce.

This is a Victorian Public Service Commission/ANZSOG Occasional Paper funded by the ANZSOG Research Program. It is an output from the ANZSOG-funded project Measuring Co-Production in Australia.