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Participation: Add‐on or core component of public service delivery?
Author(s) -
Osborne Stephen P.,
Strokosch Kirsty
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8500.12536
Subject(s) - transformative learning , narrative , public value , service delivery framework , value (mathematics) , public service , public participation , public relations , core (optical fiber) , service (business) , process (computing) , power (physics) , sociology , political science , public administration , business , marketing , computer science , telecommunications , pedagogy , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , operating system
Drawing on a systematic review of the literature, this paper explores the factors which have enabled and/or constrained the transformative potential of public service user participation within the five most influential recent narratives of public service reform. It argues that these narratives have failed either to offer a holistic conceptualisation of such participation in theory or to achieve its enactment in practice for four main reasons: participation is framed as polemic, with limited evidence of efficacy; public service delivery has been conceptualised as a linear process, with participation at its margins; structural changes have been insufficient in embedding participation; and power asymmetries have been reinforced through successive reforms. To combat these long‐standing challenges, a value‐creation approach is presented, which starts from an assumption of participation as a defining feature of public service delivery and considered how its import can be maximised to create value for individuals and society.