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Navigating tensions in co‐production: A missing link in leadership for public value
Author(s) -
Brown Prudence R.,
Head Brian W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12394
Subject(s) - disadvantaged , production (economics) , indigenous , value (mathematics) , public relations , general partnership , accountability , public value , co creation , work (physics) , public administration , sociology , political science , business , economics , economic growth , marketing , engineering , mechanical engineering , ecology , macroeconomics , machine learning , computer science , law , biology
New forms of public leadership are needed to design and implement co‐production of public value. We draw on narrative analysis to explore the barriers to developing the capacity for co‐production of public value in disadvantaged and vulnerable Indigenous communities and find that existing norms not only crowd out efforts at reform, but can work against them. In particular, we find that upward accountability and a focus on expert knowledge are the most problematic for co‐production of public value. We focus on how more traditional practices of public administration mediated the achievements of public leaders in their co‐production efforts when Australian governments introduced strategies for partnership with Indigenous communities for services design and delivery. The analysis suggests that creating a broader enabling environment of supportive logics would allow public leaders to engage more productively with inherent tensions between old and new ways of working.