PurposeCo-creation is increasingly used in the public sector for the development of public policies and services. The purpose of this paper is to empirically establish a framework for ethical co-creation in the public sector.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method approach was used to collect data and cross-analyse four pilots from a three-year EU-funded project.FindingsThe results from this study highlight the need for an ethics co-creation framework to be provided at the start of a project that can support the co-creation strategy, process and implementation of the outcome. Such an ethics framework must be flexible in order to address issues that vary according to public service, policy being developed and local context.Originality/valueCurrent legal and ethical frameworks for the public sector do not cover all the activities in public sector co-creation. This work is original and important as the use of co-creation in the public sector becomes increasingly important.

The public sector faces considerable challenges that stem from increasing external and internal demands, the need for diverse and complex services, and citizens’ lack of satisfaction and trust in public sector organisations (PSOs). An alternative to traditional public service delivery is the co-creation of public services. Data analytics has been fueled by the availability of immense amounts of data, including textual data, and techniques to analyze data, so it has immense potential to foster data-driven solutions for the public sector. In the paper, we systematically review the existing literature on the application of Text Analytics (TA) techniques on textual data that can support public service co-creation. In this review, we identify the TA techniques, the public services and the co-creation phase they support, as well as envisioned public values for the stakeholder groups. On the basis of the analysis, we develop a Research Framework that helps to structure the TA-enabled co-creation process in PSOs, increases awareness among public sector organizations and stakeholders on the significant potential of TA in creating value, and provides scholars with some avenues for further research.

Transforming public services from an analog to a digital delivery mode is generally assumed to have positive effects. Most recently, these transformations include the co-creation of newly designed digital services by including users in the design, development, and delivery process. The outcomes beyond creating a digital public service are, however, unclear. We, therefore, provide empirical evidence of the types of public value that are created but potentially also destroyed in these digital transformation processes. The results are based on the perceptions collected from 40 digital transformation experts who identify four types of public value in the co-production of digital public service development: 1) economic value, 2) administrative value, 3) citizen value, and 4) democratic value, and highlight that at times public value might also be destroyed in the process. Co-destruction occurs when digital public services lack user-centricity or representation.

New Ways of Working steht als Überbegriff für neue, flexible Arbeitsformen, die in Kombination mit zeitlicher und räumlicher Flexibilität und einen umfassenden Einsatz von IKT ermöglicht wird, aber auch weitere Aspekte wie Organisationsregelungen, Arbeitsorganisation und Arbeitsplatzgestaltung beinhaltet. Die Flexibilität spielt eine wichtige Rolle, damit Arbeitnehmende ihre Arbeit unabhängig und nach flexiblen Zeitplänen zu Hause, im Unternehmen oder andere Arbeitsplätze erbringen können. Organisationsregelungen, Arbeitsmodelle und Arbeitspraktiken sollen flexibel sein und nicht-standardisierte Arbeitsverhältnisse und Arbeitsplätze ermöglichen. Sie entsprechen den Wunsch nach neuen Arbeitsmodellen, um die Lebensqualität der Mitarbeitenden zu verbessern aber auch um Organisationsziele zu erreichen. Die COVID-19-Pandemie führte zu einem rapiden Anstieg neuer und flexibler Arbeitsformen, aber aufgrund unterschiedlicher rechtlicher Rahmenbedingungen, organisatorischen Praktiken und kulturellen Voraussetzungen haben Länder und Organisationen unterschiedliche Praktiken entwickelt. In Österreich führte die Evaluierung des „Homeoffice Massnahmenpakets“ das von der Bundesregierung während der CoVID-19-Pandemie erlassen wurde, zum Arbeitsvertragsrechts-Anpassungsgesetz (2021). Dieses Gesetz regelt die Arbeit der Mitarbeitenden zu Hause und bietet ihnen Rechtssicherheit. In Österreich bietet das Bundesministerium Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport (BMKÖS) mit dem „Future of Work“ Living Lab die Möglichkeit neue Arbeitsformate und -methoden in Reallabore zu testen. Weiters zeigen zahlreiche Beispiele aus den öffentlichen Organisationen t die Bereitschaft agil zu arbeiten, innovativ zu sein und zu experimentieren.

This study focuses on developing and validating the key parameters of Artificial Intelligence (AI) -enabled co-creation integrated into evidence-based policymaking. We critically analyzed prior research to ensure a participatory, data-driven, and iterative policymaking process. We identified essential parameters shaping AI-enabled co-creation processes in public sector organizations (PSOs), including legal conformance, sustainability, and ethics. The parameters were validated and refined through a workshop with experts from academia and technology organizations, contributing to the development of a conceptual model structured around four interconnected co-creation phases: 1) co-commissioning; 2) co-designing; 3) co-delivering; and 4) co-assessing. Our study contributes to both theory and practice. Concerning theory, it positions AI-enabled co-creation as a core institutionalized process within evidence-based policymaking rather than a standalone participatory practice. It also introduces a key conceptual distinction between digital co-creation, where digital tools facilitate participatory processes, and digital public service co-creation, where digital solutions are the co-creation outcomes. Concerning practice, the study provides a structured framework for integrating co-creation into policymaking, aligning AI-enabled mechanisms with four identified policy co-creation phases. The framework offers policymakers and public administrators actionable guidance on designing adaptive, stakeholder-driven, AI-supported policy solutions.

Public bureaucracies can be digitally transformed by using co-production approaches to design and develop digital public services with input from their stakeholders. Drawing on interviews with international digital transformation experts, this article explores what co-production looks like-conceptually and empirically. We are making a theoretical contribution to the existing co-production literature by identifying the roles different stakeholders play in each co-production phase and the work practices and approaches used to incorporate the stakeholders' viewpoints. We show that service users' input is not included continuously but selectively in the co-production phases of digital public services. Although digital public services are co-designed initially with the input of potential service users in the form of their user needs, the subsequent phases include different stakeholders up until the use phase, where service users are simultaneously using and evaluating the service. The results from this empirical study on the co-production of digital public services expand the existing co-production models-the co-production eco-system of stakeholders must be enlarged by the range of actors that need to be involved and the diverse roles they play in addressing citizen needs in a prospective, concurrent, and retrospective manner.

Sustainable eParticipation is defined as participation projects that last and become part of the democratic process. Many eParticipation projects fail in this regard. The eParticipation literature presents many studies and test, but few report on the aspects that can make tools and initiatives sustainable over time. The past decade's rise of populist rhetoric and populist parties in the west shows the urgency of finding good answers to the question of sustainability in eParticipation. In this paper, we argue that lightweight eParticipation initiatives, with low demands on time and effort from citizens, can contribute to sustainable eParticipation. We test this assumption through an evaluation of a Norwegian eParticipation system for low-threshold rapid feedback. Our findings indicate that while the system showed promise and was well received, there were still issues with sustainability, especially related to strategy and financing.

Public participation is a social, communicative and political process based on the inclusion of the stakeholders through mechanisms such as information, consultation, co-operation or co-determination in order to obtain robust and sustainable decision-making processes and results. Digital tools, formats and processes have increased the opportunities and formats for the development of new services and processes, but the challenges of involving citizens and achieving the set outcomes remain. This chapter considers digital public participation in Austria and reviews the use of the policy cycle and the impact of digitalization on the design of digital participation projects in Austria that led to the 'Green Book' (Rosenbichler et al., 2020), the preparatory step for the development of the new guidelines for Austrian public participation presented to the Austrian Council of Ministers.

The public sector is facing significant challenges regarding public services provision, including declination of users’ trust and limited resources. One way of addressing such issues is by implementing co-creation, which, although extensively discussed in the literature, is more limited in public sector organisations and empirical research. The H2020 project (anonymous) addresses these issues by studying the implementation of co-creation pilots in 4 European countries. The project funder requires the conduct of research to follow ethical research guidelines, thus raising the issue of ethics challenges in public service creation, particularly when using digital tools. This ongoing research represents a first theoretical evaluation about ethics in co-creation. All in all, this paper contributes to the existing literature as it is an interdisciplinary conceptual approach in the ethical perceptions of co-creation, being presented by scientists with diverse backgrounds, including information systems, public administration, and philosophy.

Digitalisation has changed society, and, as a result, public administrations are required to undergo significant changes to satisfy emergent societal needs. These changes impact all areas of the public sector, including the development and provision of digital services, the design of processes, and the development of policy. To implement the digital strategies and transformation requirements, public administrations must rethink the competences that their workforce as well as the external stakeholders may need. To understand how one nation implements its digital strategy and upskills its civil servants, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 41 Austrian expert interviews. The research shows that different stakeholders require a variety of competences to participate in the digital transformation of its processes and services. The results demonstrate the high level of diversity and the need for a holistic approach to tackle the complexity of the digital public sector, where leadership plays the most important role. In addition, the study shows that the use of competence frameworks for measurement and monitoring needs to be adapted to the local context.

Social media, digital technologies, new online tools, and digital transformation processes in public sector organisations have led to the introduction of innovations and thus significant changes to public participation projects and processes. In this case study we study the impact of digital innovation on public participation processes by using the policy cycle phases. Multiple methods were used to collect expertise on how to develop participatory processes and the CoVID-19 lockdown in Austria represented an opportunity to test how to flexibly use digital tools in participation processes. The outcome provides an overview of lessons learned for designing participation processes flexibly drawing on different participation formats and digital tools.

The public sector faces several challenges, such as a number of external and internal demands for change, citizens' dissatisfaction and frustration with public sector organizations, that need to be addressed. An alternative to the traditional top-down development of public services is co-creation of public services. Co-creation promotes collaboration between stakeholders with the aim to create better public services and achieve public values. At the same time, data analytics has been fuelled by the availability of immense amounts of textual data. Whilst both co-creation and TA have been used in the private sector, we study existing works on the application of Text Analytics (TA) techniques on text data to support public service co-creation. We systematically review 75 of the 979 papers that focus directly or indirectly on the application of TA in the context of public service development. In our review, we analyze the TA techniques, the public service they support, public value outcomes, and the co-creation phase they are used in. Our findings indicate that the TA implementation for co-creation is still in its early stages and thus still limited. Our research framework promotes the concept and stimulates the strengthening of the role of Text Analytics techniques to support public sector organisations and their use of co-creation process. From policy-makers' and public administration managers' standpoints, our findings and the proposed research framework can be used as a guideline in developing a strategy for the designing co-created and user-centred public services.

Casual Social Media Use among the Youth: Effects on Online and Offline Political Participation

The Encyclopedia of Services is a ground-breaking resource that offers a unique overview of what constitutes the main source of wealth and employment in our contemporary economies, namely services. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.