The Self-serving Citizen as a Co-producer in the Digital Public Service Delivery

Abstract

The promotion of digital self-services has generated a shift within digital government, which has implications for citizens that depend on welfare services. From the policy perspective, users can benefit from better service access, process efficiency and opportunities for citizens to co-produce their public services. These opportunities are accompanied by increasing responsibilities for citizens that are expected to serve themselves to a higher extent. This article analyses how vulnerable citizens engage in self-services and their co-production of public services that play out in the digital public service setting. Data were gathered through participatory observations at a service office at the Norwegian welfare administration (NAV) when citizens visited the office to apply for public welfare services. The article provides a novel theoretical framework for conceptualizing dynamic actor-co-production, showing how co-production preconditions can be understood in relation to the actors involved in the service procedure. From a citizen-centric perspective, the article explores the roles of the human state actor – frontline workers, technology state actor – self-service stations, and the private actor – citizens – in the co-production. It sheds light on how participation can be understood at different levels of abstraction and describes the impact of actors’ roles, motives, actions, and preconditions in the co-production of welfare services. The findings show that most citizens that visit the office are vulnerable in relation to financial circumstances and struggle to independently co-produce their services in the public self-service setting.