Citizens’ Entrepreneurial Role in Public Service Provision

In public service provision, citizens are conventionally reactive, portrayed as ‘users’, ‘customers’, ‘co-producers’, or ‘participators.’ Occasionally, following dissatisfaction, citizens themselves proactively create alternative services, namely, entrepreneurial exit (EE). Laymen then become providers of previously governmental professional services. Drawing upon six EE manifestations, findings suggest that if the newly-introduced service gains social acceptance, existing provision may change in one of the three modes: (a) First-order incremental change, legitimization of EE as an alternative service provision; (b) Second-order participative change, increased public participation in service provision fostered by EE; and (c) Third-order reformative change, existing service provision is reformed to satisfy citizens’ demands.