Does Co-Production Lead to the Creation of Public Value? Balancing the Dimensions of Public Value Creation in Urban Mobility Planning

Date01 April 2021
Published date01 April 2021
DOI10.1177/0095399720957613
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399720957613
Administration & Society
2021, Vol. 53(4) 619 –646
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0095399720957613
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Article
Does Co-Production
Lead to the Creation of
Public Value? Balancing
the Dimensions of Public
Value Creation in Urban
Mobility Planning
Sylke Jaspers1 and Trui Steen1
Abstract
Co-production is intended to co-create public value. This article
analyzes how co-producers address the tensions that arise among the
various dimensions of public value. The article builds on the theory of
coping strategies to examine individuals’ coping behaviors. Two urban
mobility planning cases are studied in depth. This study finds that co-
producers experience various tensions between public value dimensions.
Furthermore, co-producers cope with the tensions both according
to balancing strategies and trade-off strategies, preferring one value
dimension over the other. In addition, the empirical evidence provides
examples of circumstances, such as communication, in which a balancing
exercise is enhanced.
Keywords
co-production of public services, coping strategies, public value, co-creation
of value, urban mobility planning
1KU Leuven, Public Governance Institute, Belgium
Corresponding Author:
Sylke Jaspers, PhD Fellowship of the Research Foundation—Flanders, KU Leuven,
Public Governance Institute, Parkstraat 45, P.O. Box 3609, Leuven 3000, Belgium.
Email: Sylke.Jaspers@kuleuven.be
957613AASXXX10.1177/0095399720957613Administration & SocietyJaspers and Steen
research-article2020
620 Administration & Society 53(4)
Introduction
Co-production, or the process of public servants and citizens collaborating in
the provision of public services, is intended to lead to the co-creation of pub-
lic value through “better use of each other’s assets and resources” (Bovaird &
Loeffler, 2012, p. 121). Public value and public value creation are “concepts
that focus on the appraisal of activities, actions, and outcomes produced by
government agents and organizations” (Nabatchi, 2018, p. 60). When differ-
ent actors unite to create public value, that public value is co-created (Bryson
et al., 2015; Moore, 1995).
According to Bovaird and Loeffler (2012), value added to the public sec-
tor has several dimensions, each responding to different claims for public
value creation: user value, value to wider groups, social value, environmental
value, and political value. Co-production is sometimes seen as a solution to
the variety of claims that are made for public value creation, a variety that is
experienced as a tension by public servants in regular service delivery
(Jefferies et al., 2019). However, tensions around which value is to be created
may persist when moving to collaborative practices, as co-producing actors
have mixed motives that differ (Le Grand, 2003; Van Eijk & Steen, 2014).
Some tensions may fade out when co-production is introduced, yet other ten-
sions may persist, and new tensions may arise (e.g., Brandsen & Helderman,
2012; Jaspers & Steen, 2019; Needham & Carr, 2009).
Individuals use a variety of coping strategies to address the tensions that
they experience. Some coping strategies may balance the tension by reconcil-
ing competing claims, while others may not; instead, for example, they may
be biased in favor of one claim (Stewart, 2006; Thacher & Rein, 2004).
Different coping strategies may thus result in different outcomes for public
value creation. In this article, we aim to gain insight into the potential for the
use of co-production for the creation of public value. We do so by analyzing
how public servants and citizen co-producers cope with the tensions among
the different dimensions of public value. The conceptual lens of coping strat-
egies helps us to achieve a better understanding of the intended and unin-
tended consequences of the use of co-production for creating public value.
The central question in this article is the following: Does the use of co-pro-
duction for creating public value cause participants to experience tensions
among the dimensions of public value, and, if so, how do they cope with these
tensions?
The article presents two cases, namely, “City Streets” and “Mobility
Alternative”, that involve citizens and public servants in the co-design and
co-delivery of urban mobility plans. As mobility and the use of public space
encompass multiple claims for public service, these two cases provide an

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