CenSE hosts Professor Dudau for workshop on co-production and paradox theory

The workshop was on ‘paradoxes of co-production: a study on co-assessment in healthcare’. The paper argued that public administration research has often romanticised the ‘co’ paradigm (co-design, co-production, co-assessment and value co-creation) in public services, though recent ‘dark side’ critiques have corrected this optimism. Still though the field lacks a nuanced account that holds together the ‘co’ paradigm’s benefits, harms, and the vast grey zone between the two. Consequently, this workshop asked ‘how can the tensions experienced by actors involved in co-production and co-creation be understood as manifestations of the overarching paradox between the bright and dark sides of co-production?’

Drawing on thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with key-stakeholders in Italian healthcare co-assessment processes (public managers, employees, citizen associations’ representatives), the workshop explored paradoxical tensions within co-assessment, with implications for both theory and practice.