5 May 2020

CenSE members Kirsty Strokosch and Stephen Osborne have recently published a paper in Policy and Politics.

The paper, titled ‘Co-experience, co-production and co-governance: an ecosystem approach to the analysis of value creation’ draws on research from the European Union funded project ‘Co-VAL’. It explores the interplay between the participation of service users and third-sector organisations, and the related implications for value creation from an ecosystem perspective.

To illustrate the discussion, a contextual case study on the Scottish Social Security Agency and its services is presented. The analysis demonstrates that value creation is enabled and constrained by the congruence of goals among actors, the strategic direction, and a participatory approach which combines ‘lived experience’ with expertise. It offers important recommendations for policy and practice, suggesting a change in how value is articulated, promised, created, and measured.