Coproduction investments: Street-level management perspective on coproduction

Although public managers are considered to substantially influence coproduction, current research concentrates on service users and communities’ perspectives, whereas the contribution of the public workers is understudied. Because direct–delivery interactions often depend on coproduction, this study explores coproduction from the perspective street-level management, that is, those who are overarchingly in charge of, and accountable for, the outputs and outcomes of the direct-delivery phase of service provision in street-level organizations. To allow for analytical and conceptual accuracy in characterizing coproduction management, analysis draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews with street-level managers in three different policy sectors: policing, education, and social services (N = 78). Managing coproduction emerged as threefold. First, clients’ coproduction during direct–delivery interactions with frontline professionals, known as co-delivery, is considered the essence of the street-level organization and requires additional, ongoing, facilitating efforts. Second, securing clients’ co-delivery emerged as an investment: routine efforts that are exercised with the expectation to enhance clients’ long-lasting willingness to co-deliver with all the programs provided by the street-level organization, termed here “coproduction investments.” Third, coproduction investments entail both voice and action organizational activities, which differ according to the socioeconomic level of the community served. Coproduction investments demonstrate how public managers transform coproduction principles into managerial activities, and shift attention to street-level organizations as the interstices between “what’s right” and “what works” in coproduction.