Co-production Of Services Research Articles

Do Customers Regulate their Emotions? Development and Validation of a Model of Customer Emotional Labor

Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, this article integrates service literature on value cocreation with the psychological literature on emotional labor. Highlighting the co-production of services by both customers and employees, this research applies emotional labor theory to customers’ emotion regulation and expression. We explore the argument that customers perceive emotional display rules in service establishments and engage in goaldirected emotion regulation (i.e., customer emotional labor; CEL), using qualitative (Study 1) and quantitative (Study 2) methodologies. Descriptive findings from Study 1 provide evidence for the existence of CEL. Study 2 assesses the psychometric soundness of a newly developed customer display rules scale, and quantitatively tests a conceptual framework by examining antecedents and outcomes of customer emotion regulation. Findings of each study, the implications of this work, and avenues for future service management research are addressed.

A review of business models for decentralised renewable energy projects

AbstractThe diffusion of renewable energy technologies has often been suggested as a means to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, but emphasis tends to be placed on large scale projects. Adoption of renewable energy at the local level provides opportunities for both distributed energy schemes and domestic microgeneration. However, alternative models of ownership, governance and operation are not well developed. Locally managed energy solutions need to respond to varied end users' requirements to ensure that needs are met, so understanding of different types of end users is a prerequisite to the development of robust business models. This paper presents a review of existing models of decentralised energy generation in which actors such as community groups, energy cooperatives, charities and municipalities participate as owners and coproducers. End users can become involved in the design, development and delivery of energy services in a variety of ways. The focus is active user engagement through coconstruction, coproduction and coprovision of energy services. The following categories will be reviewed with reference to current understandings of both sustainable entrepreneurship and social enterprise: (a) energy service companies (ESCos) as commercial actors that undertake management of these projects, (b) energy cooperatives and (c) municipal energy. This analysis is used to reflect on and refine understanding of the relationship between technical, financial and operational constructs in models of decentralised energy generation which can contribute to social and environmental gains.

Doing it together: How co-production underpins the use of social innovation during service delivery

Background: This article focused on the use of social innovation (SI) during local government (LG) service delivery, and how it could enable citizens to participate meaningfully through co-production. The two variables underpinning the conceptualisation of SI in the context of its dual purpose, and that are relevant in this article, are co-production and citizen participation.Aim: The aim of this article was to investigate how the use of SI could enable citizens to participate meaningfully during the local governance of service delivery through co-production.Setting: Through a comparative approach, the research presented in this article investigates the use of SI in LG service delivery in the cases of the City of Ghent (Belgium) and Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (South Africa).Methods: The methodology of this study entailed using a qualitative research design that was combined with a case study approach.Results: It was evident that citizen participation during the co-production of services was influenced by the divergent circumstances and needs of citizens, infrastructure and the availability of resources.Conclusion: Significantly, this research found that meaningful citizen participation starts with the individual duty of every citizen to protect, preserve and sustainably use the collective goods and services provided by the state.

Reflections on a key component of co-producing climate services: Defining climate metrics from user needs

There is increasing recognition of the importance of co-producing climate services to bridge the current “usability” gap in climate information for decision-making – yet understanding precisely how this should take place is less well elaborated. One key stage of the co-production process involves identifying specifically which climate metrics can usefully inform decisions – but methods that can be drawn upon to construct this information are often overlooked. We discuss how the choice and application of four existing social science methods (interview-informed role play workshop, open-ended interviews, prioritised surveys and enhanced surveys) arose out of, and was in turn embedded within, a different epistemological approach characteristic of co-production to identify decision-relevant climate metrics for the water and agriculture sectors in Malawi and Tanzania. In so doing, we reflect on the evolution of our understanding of co-production as our assumptions were challenged, from the expectation that we would be able to “obtain” metrics from users, to a dynamic mutual definition based on better understanding of the decision-making contexts. Such reflections inform emerging experiences of co-production of climate services, as well as having implications for broader contexts beyond the climate change space in which co-production is attempted to improve science-society interactions.

Factors influencing citizens’ willingness to co-produce: a study from the perspective of citizens residing in the Brazilian Federal District

Abstract Co-production emerges as a trend in the relationship between citizens and government, enabling participation in public activities. This study verified factors that influence citizens’ willingness to co-produce public safety, health, and environmental services in the Brazilian Federal District (Distrito Federal brasileiro - DF), as well as their profile and habits. A survey adapted from the works of Löffler et al. (2008) and Alford and Yates (2016) was performed, with analyses being made from Student’s T-Test, Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient, and linear regression models. From the responses of 360 inhabitants of the DF, it was found that citizens collaborate more with health, environment, and safety services, in this order, and that in the future they intend to co-produce more than today. It was concluded that the safer a citizen feels, the lower the willingness to co-produce; and the healthier one is, the greater the willingness to co-produce. It was also found that the time devoted to volunteer activities positively influences the willingness to co-produce in these three areas. The study illustrates the behavior of citizens willing to engage in the co-production of public services, gathering information for future researchers on the subject, and exploring variables not yet considered in other Brazilian co-production studies.

The impact of Co-Production on the Client-Therapist Therapeutic Relationship in an Intellectual Disability Service

Purpose:To evaluate the impact of an intervention designed to facilitate co-production on the client-therapist therapeutic relationship in an intellectual disability service.Design:The ‘My Psychology Treatment Plans’ intervention was administered to 20 service users during their first three months of admission to a tier four specialist intellectual disability forensic service. Pre- and post-scores were collected using the service user version of the Scale to Assess Therapeutic Relationships (STAR-P; McGuire-Snieckus et al., 2007).Findings:A paired-samples t-test revealed a significant increase in positive collaboration, positive clinician input, and overall total score. This suggested an overall increase in positive therapeutic relationship.Practical implications:The findings support the existing literature of the importance of co-production in increasing the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist, and co-production should be a key component of developing treatment plans.Originality/value:This study contributes to developing an understanding of the importance of co-production in secure services, particularly within an intellectual disability population.

Transforming youth participation? Examining co-production in a school based time bank

ABSTRACT Co-production has attracted increasing interest from public and voluntary sectors as an approach that repositions service users as central to the design and delivery of public services. In relation to children and young people, co-production’s ideological proponents argue that it moves beyond traditional forms of participation, such as consultation, and offers more ‘transformative’ forms of engagement with services. However, whilst there is a growing body of literature and empirical enquiry into young people’s participation in decision making there has been little research into young people’s involvement in the co-production of services. Drawing on a case study employing both ethnographic methods and participatory approaches with young people, this article reports on the attempts to develop co-productive practices within a school-based time bank. The paper highlights major challenges in its development, these included young people’s motivations for involvement, their willingness to co-produce and adults’ adaptability to these practices. The article makes an important contribution to the still limited academic debates on the co-production of youth services and questions whether the type of engagement found in the time bank is really more ‘transformative’ than traditional forms of youth participation in the schooling system and related agencies of youth inclusion.

Frontiers in Service Science: The Management of Data Analytics Services: New Challenges and Future Directions

In this short paper, we discuss the impact of data analytics in services and delineate future research directions for the field. After illustrating how data analytics are transforming different service sectors, we consider the provision of data analysis as a service in its own right. We discuss how the very nature of data and certain features of the machine learning method give rise to new issues and pitfalls for the management of these services, which delineates as many future research directions. We also discuss the coproduction of services by humans and machines and call for more research on responsible data analytics services to tackle some of the most pressing ethical issues in our societies.

TRUST AMONG CO-PRODUCERS OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND THE IMPACT OF TRANSPARENCY

The co-production of public services as a process requires parties to cooperate in creating new or improved existing public services and in the delivery of these services. As any other social process, it is expected to be built on trust, benevolence and the balance of interests. Trust between cooperating parties, and between the parties and users of final co-production services is crucial. In other words, trust among stakeholders is expected. The potential benefits of co-production lie in the involvement of qualitatively different stakeholders, who to some extent are interested in the result and have the required resources (human resources, financial, know-how, etc.) to contribute. Together with obvious benefits, co-production as a process brings a challenging task to balance the different interests, expectations, demands and maintain trust among co-producers and the users of public services. The paper is based on a conceptual analysis and the analysis of scientific literature; no empirical data was analysed. It provides the definition and the main features of co-production, and analyses the impact of trust among the stakeholders and the role of transparency. Despite the fact that co-production can cover different areas, the article is limited to co-production of public services.

Facilitating co-production in public services: Empirical evidence from a co-design experience with family caregivers living in a remote and rural area.

The involvement of vulnerable actors in co-production activities is a debated topic in the current public service literature. While vulnerable actors should have the same opportunities to be involved as other actors, they may not have the needed competences, skills and attitudes to contribute to this process.This paper is part of a broader project on family caregivers' engagement in remote and rural areas. In particular, it investigates how to facilitate co-production by looking at four co-design workshops with family caregivers, representatives of a local home care agency and researchers. The transcripts of the workshops were coded using NVivo, and the data were analysed based on the existing theory about co-production.Two main findings were identified from the analysis. First, the adoption of co-production by vulnerable actors may occur in conjunction with other forms of engagement. Second, the interactions among facilitators and providers play a crucial role in encouraging the adoption of co-production. We identified at least two strategies that may help facilitators and providers achieve that goal. However, there is a need for an in-depth understanding of how facilitators and providers should interact to enhance implementation of co-production.

Integrating climate service co-production into spatial planning in Jakarta

ABSTRACT Co-production in climate change has arisen in response to improving climate knowledge. Climate service co-production provides climate knowledge for decision-making, benefiting vulnerable communities with useful and usable information such as flooding risk areas. A climate service co-production project, including mapping technologies, has been conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, it has not been integrated into mainstream spatial planning. This paper investigates an enabling environment for the integration of climate service co-production and spatial planning using a collaborative governance framework. We conducted semi-structured interviews, photovoice, and focus group discussions. The results highlight factors to enable integration; (1) an institutional reform to put climate service co-production on the agenda, (2) top-down priorities aligned with local-level needs, (3) local government will and leadership to execute the tasks and actions towards climate resilience, (4) trust of the local government with the community, (5) integrated geospatial data to have an effective climate knowledge to spatial planning.

Co-Produced Care in Veterinary Services: A Qualitative Study of UK Stakeholders' Perspectives.

Changes in client behaviour and expectations, and a dynamic business landscape, amplify the already complex nature of veterinary and animal health service provision. Drawing on prior experiences, veterinary clients increasingly pursue enhanced involvement in services and have expectations of relationship-centred care. Co-production as a conceptualisation of reciprocity in service provision is a fundamental offering in the services sector, including human medicine, yet the role of co-production in veterinary services has been minimally explored. Utilising a service satisfaction framework, semi-structured interviews (n = 13) were completed with three veterinary stakeholder groups, veterinarians, allied animal health practitioners, and veterinary clients. Interview transcript data were subject to the qualitative data analysis techniques, thematic analysis and grounded theory, to explore relationship-centred care and subsequently conceptualise co-production service for the sector. Six latent dimensions of service were emergent, defined as: empathy, bespoke care, professional integrity, value for money, confident relationships, and accessibility. The dimensions strongly advocate wider sector adoption of a co-produced service, and a contextualised co-production framework is presented. Pragmatic challenges associated with integration of active veterinary clients in a practitioner–client partnership are evident. However, adopting a people-centric approach to veterinary services and partnerships with clients can confer the advantages of improved client satisfaction, enhanced treatment adherence and outcomes, and business sustainability.

COproduction VALUE creation in healthcare service (CO-VALUE): an international multicentre protocol to describe the application of a model of value creation for use in systems of coproduced healthcare services and to evaluate the initial feasibility, utility and acceptability of associated system-level value creation assessment approaches

IntroductionCoproduction introduces a fundamental shift in how healthcare service is conceptualised. The mechanistic idea of healthcare being a ‘product’ generated by the healthcare system and delivered to patients is replaced...

Hydroclimatic Information Needs of Smallholder Farmers in the Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh

Hydroclimatic information services are vital for sustainable agricultural practices in deltas. They advance adaptation practices of farmers that lead to better economic benefit through increased yields, reduced production costs, and minimized crop damage. This research explores the hydroclimatic information needs of farmers by addressing (1) what kind of information is needed by the periurban delta farmers, and (2) whether information needs have any temporal dimension that changes with time following capacity building during coproduction of information services. Results reveal that the attributes of weather and water-related forecasts most affecting the farmers are rainfall, temperature, water, and soil salinity, along with extreme events such as cyclone and storm surges. The majority of the male farmers prefer one- to two-week lead-time forecasts for strategic and tactical decision-making; while female farmers prefer short-time forecasts with one-day to a week lead time that suggests the difference of purpose of the forecasts between male and female farmers. Contrarily, there is little preference for monthly, seasonal, and real-time forecasts. Information communication through a smartphone app is preferred mostly because of its easy accessibility and visualization. Farmers foresee that capacity building on acquiring hydroclimatic information is vital for agricultural decision-making. We conclude that a demand-driven coproduction of a hydroclimatic information service created through iterative interaction with and for farmers will enable the farmers to understand their information needs more explicitly.

Transdisciplinary co-production of climate services: a focus on process

ABSTRACT In recent years there has been a shift away from the implementation of climate services as, primarily, a science focused activity, to one which embraces the value of transdisciplinary co-production, broadening the scope of admissible knowledge in the design of climate services. Using this shift in thinking as a basis for project design, we outline a case study of transdisciplinary co-production of climate services with the City of Cape Town municipality that explores the value of the transdisciplinary process. Through the mechanism of an embedded researcher, the study set out to improve the understanding of different ways that climate terminology is used by policy and decision makers within the City. This understanding was used as a basis for co-producing climate learning tools that expose the differential understanding of climate terminology in cross-sectoral decision-making groups at the City. While the project was successful in developing co-produced learning tools, we argue that the learning, understanding and trust relationships developed as a result of the transdisciplinary co-production process could be considered more valuable than the learning tools themselves. Therefore, we stress the need for a greater focus and value to be placed on the process elements of transdisciplinary co-production going forward.

Informing timeshare exchange services on the drivers of customer-driven co-production

Abstract Given the continued growth of the timeshare segment and its unique characteristics as an owned leisure lodging product, adopting a service-dominant logic and developing opportunities for co-creation is highly relevant for companies that provide services to this industry. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the drivers that lead to customer-driven co-production in timeshare exchange services, due to the popularity of this option among consumers owning timeshare. Our results indicate that interaction between timeshare owners as customers of the exchange company is a significant driver of customer-driven co-production. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore customer-driven co-production in the timeshare industry. Moreover, our findings are highly significant for timeshare exchange companies and point them to potential areas of improvement in their service processes that could lead to higher customer-driven co-production and, consequently, more valuable experiences.

Creating a virtuous cycle for increased trust in local government

After the advent of the first free and fair elections in South Africa in 1994, access to municipal services became a right for all residents. Now, more than ever, the inclusion of previously disadvantaged communities is being intensified. However, the delivery of services often remains inadequate, eliciting increasing protests throughout the country. Protests, which are often the last resort by communities, are indicative of declining levels of trust in local government. It becomes problematic when trust in communication channels and public participation strategies is limited, co-production of services is impeded and the possibility of increasing such trust is, in turn, negatively affected. This study used a mixed-methods approach including both quantitative and qualitative research techniques to validate the posed research questions and authenticate the presented problem statement. The triangulation approach allowed for effectively engaging the strengths of both research methodologies. The findings of the study revealed that as a result of communities’ increasing lack of trust and confidence in local government, service delivery protests are increasing. The study further indicated that communities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) are generally not well informed about the development plans of the municipality and do not adequately participate in local government activities. The study provides recommendations to augment trust in local government communication channels to improve public participation that could lead to the co-production of services. In this way, the study asserts that trust can be enhanced in what amounts to a virtuous cycle.

Customer coproduction in healthcare service delivery: Examining the influencing effects of the social context

This study furthers our understanding of service coproduction by examining some pertinent antecedents and the consequent effect on customer adherence to medical instructions in healthcare service delivery. Through a cross-sectional quantitative survey design, data collected from 594 healthcare customers were analysed through structural equation modelling using AMOS 23. The findings indicate significant influences of social context on participation in service coproduction and adherence. Additionally, the mediating effect of customer role clarity on social context (nature of interactions, access to healthcare information, service climate) and coproduction are established. This study also determined moderation effects of provider-customer orientation on the coproduction process. Further, customer health condition-type (acute or chronic) does not present different effects on their coproduction behaviours. From a social cognitive theoretical perspective, this study has established that customers’ coproduction behaviours are motivated by the social system in relation to the social context.

Avoiding the valley of death in educating strategists

Billions of dollars and hundreds of millions of hours are invested every year in executive education. However, much of this investment dies in a familiar “Valley of Death” (VoD) wherein what is learned in the classroom is not applied when the strategist returns back to work. Based on 30 in-depth interviews and live observation, we investigate the architecture of an executive education program designed to avoid the VoD. In the observed program, senior partners of a strategy consulting firm, and their key strategist clients, are brought together to co-learn strategy associated with scenario planning, and, at the same time, improve their ongoing business relations. We find that adopting a “paired learning structure” and utilizing “live case content” results in “group-level co-learning” (or the co-production of knowledge) that, participants report, avoids the VoD. This research contributes to the scholarship on learning architecture in executive education by establishing linkages to the literature on client-partner relationships, modelling the student, and service co-production in knowledge-intensive organizations, and, in the end, provides a blueprint that professional service firms and business schools, seeking to produce more value for their participants, can jointly emulate.

"Co-production Compass" (COCO): An Analytical Framework for Monitoring Patient Preferences in Co-production of Healthcare Services in Mental Health Settings.

Background: Engaging patients in raising their voices to advocate for their priorities being taken into account is today acknowledged as essential to improve research and decision-making in healthcare. However, literature is scarce regarding an evaluation framework to monitor the extent to which this approach is successful, in particular in mental health, where the application of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) is particularly difficult. In this study, we describe the process of development and first implementation of a new assessment framework—“Co-production Compass” (COCO) framework—for monitoring patient preference collection in co-production of healthcare services within the scope of a national-based project (namely, Recovery.Net) in the mental health field.Method: We conducted (1) a narrative scan of relevant scientific literature on patient engagement in service co-production and (2) qualitative analysis of five subsequent workshops involving—in total−144 expert stakeholders (i.e., expert patients, doctors, nurses, psychologists, healthcare managers…). Data analysis involved three phases: identifying the themes, developing a framework, and confirming the framework. We coded and organized the data and abstracted, illustrated, described, and explored the emergent themes using thematic analysis. At the same time, content analysis was conducted to retrieve concepts and insights from relevant literature about health services co-production to integrate and extend the emergent conceptual framework. The framework was finally reviewed by the research partners belonging to the study project and preliminarily implemented.Results: According to the results of both the literature scan and the participatory workshops, the COCO evaluation framework for monitoring patient preference collection when coproducing medical pathways was drafted. The framework comprised of three organizing themes, corresponding to the three code clusters, which emerged from both the stakeholders' workshop data and relevant scientific literature: “the need for shared and practice-oriented evaluation standards”; “the quest for a multi-dominion approach”; “the need for a multi-stakeholder evaluation”. These themes were interconnected and formed a conceptual framework to measure the phenomenon of meaningful patient involvement in healthcare co-production. This framework was endorsed by the research partners of the project and preliminarily applied in a mental health setting.Conclusion: The COCO framework provides guidance on aspects of co-production in healthcare to address for meaningful patient involvement in giving their inputs for more effective service and drug development processes. It could be particularly useful when monitoring patient–researcher partnership initiatives.