Whole community co-production: a full picture behind the successful COVID-19 response in S. Korea

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine and understand South Korea’s (S. Korea) COVID-19 response operations, a notable case for other countries to emulate, and suggest some practical implications for other countries struggling with coping with the current pandemic. Design/methodology/approach To examine the case, the authors propose a new theoretical framework based on concepts of the whole community approach in the emergency management field and on co-production in public administration studies, and use the theoretical framework to analyze the details of S. Korea’s whole community co-production for COVID-19 response. Findings The findings demonstrate that the successful pandemic response in S. Korea is attributable to a nationwide whole community co-production among multiple actors, including government, various industries, sectors, jurisdictions and even individual citizens, within and across relevant public service and public policy domains. Originality/value This study suggests a new theoretical framework, whole community co-production, which contributes to the conceptual advancement of co-production in the field of public administration and a whole community approach in the field of emergency and crisis management. The framework also suggests practical implications for other countries to integrate whole community coproduction that may transform current response operations to cope with COVID-19.

The public sector and co‐creation in turbulent times: A systematic literature review on robust governance in the COVID‐19 emergency

“…Yeo and Lee ( 2021 ) described a process of co‐creation between the Korean Government and individual citizens for the production of public value. In this instance the social distancing campaign promoted by the Korean Government involving effective leadership by public actors has been combined with the voluntary compliance of individual citizens acting as “incident commanders of their life”, based in the traditional conformity to authority typical of Korean culture.…”

The impact of social welfare and COVID-19 stringency on the perceived utility of food apps: A hybrid MCDM approach

“…COVID-19 and COVID-19 responses have an enormous effect on social welfare [ 34 , 35 ]. Thus, governments have created policies to try to diminish these threats [ 36 ].…”

Guest editorial

“…The papers included in this Special Issue may be divided into two groups, i.e. papers dealing with broad, overarching issues relating to the process of managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including democracy and accountability (Parry et al, 2020) as well as regulatory issues (Sokołowski, 2020); papers elaborating on national case studies, including the cases of South Africa (Naudé and Cameron, 2021), Botswana (Mandiyanike and Moeti, 2021), South Korea (Yeo and Lee, 2020), Indonesia (Hartanto and Siregar, 2021), Kazakhstan (Bokayev et al, 2021) and the USA (Johnson et al, 2021). The topics that the authors highlight include the efficiency and drawbacks of national responses to the pandemic.…”