Co-creating Digital Government sSrvice: An Activity Theory Perspective

Abstract

The promise of digital government is to support citizen engagement and participation in government, improve government processes, and foster external interactions with the society. The goal in the service development under the digital governance concept is to create services and delivery systems that are economic, efficient, effective, and equitable, and thus, create value for several stakeholders. Creation of such digital government services is however, a challenging task as it requires a smooth co-operation between several different actors with varying views and operation practices. In this paper, we analyze an empirical study of a co-creation project of a digital government service in Finland through activity theory lenses. The aim is to identify the co-creation activity system and further, to evaluate the outcome by applying a value co-creation (VCC) measurement framework.government service developed as a part of Action Programme on eServices and eDemocracy (SADe programme) set by the Ministry of Finance in Finland is then presented. Finally, case-specific, but with certain limitations transferable findings are outlined in the development of the service for construction permits and other permits related to infrastructure, which involve multiple stakeholders. Value co-creation between public and private organizations

Many hands make light work: towards a framework of digital co-production to co-creation on social platforms

“…The distinctions between the public and private sectors have blurred due to governments recent adoption of corporatization and market mechanisms. However, we argue that political and institutional differences still remain (Helander et al , 2020; Osborne et al , 2016). Public sector organisations differ in areas like resourcing, risk averse culture, budgetary constraints, efficiency, bureaucracy, periodic structural change, legal constraints (red tape) and political mission (Campbell et al , 2009; Helander et al , 2020).…”

“…However, we argue that political and institutional differences still remain (Helander et al , 2020; Osborne et al , 2016). Public sector organisations differ in areas like resourcing, risk averse culture, budgetary constraints, efficiency, bureaucracy, periodic structural change, legal constraints (red tape) and political mission (Campbell et al , 2009; Helander et al , 2020). For instance, government's SMP use have multiple, mostly intangible and conflicting goals, that have numerous stakeholders with competing interests.…”

“…Technology platforms, web service ecosystems, servitization, technology-enabled peer production networks and social media all exemplify technology as a pervasive driver of service innovations (Barile et al , 2016; Helander et al , 2020; Humphreys and Grayson, 2008; Lusch and Nambisan, 2015). Traditionally, co-production has occurred through physical human interaction (e.g.…”

“…However, co-creation and co-production in public sector has received less attention to date (Linders, 2012; Lim et al , 2012; Mergel, 2013; McBride et al, 2018). The activity system and practices for collaborative value co-creation in digital platforms are less understood for public services, particularly in an increasingly networked social government ecosystem (Helander et al , 2020; Heaselgrave and Simmons, 2016). We focus on this understudied research area of SMP enabled digital co-production in the public sector.…”

“…Consequently, most research has focused on the impact of SMP in shaping online commercial channels for brand building and customer engagement. However, there is growing acknowledgement that SMP enabled co-production also occurs in non-transactional settings such as in the delivery and consumption of government services, where value is co-created by reciprocal and mutually beneficial joint relationships among government and citizens (Helander et al , 2020; Musso et al , 2020; Merwin et al , 2020; Turban et al , 2016). However, there is very limited knowledge regarding the new practices enabled by digital co-production in public sector (Lember, 2018).…”