Co-creating governance: Potentials and challenges

Abstract

Co-creation is on the rise in Danish municipalities as a strategy for solving societal problems as well as problems related to governance in the public sector. In this article, a theoretical framework for co-creating governance is developed and used to analyze potentials and challenges in co-creating a pedagogical supervision system in Roskilde Municipality. The results show that co-creating governance strengthens ownership of supervision solutions, employees’ motivation to work with supervision as well as a perception of supervision as more supportive of task quality and efficiency. However, the results also show that co-creating governance systems demands substantial resources and requires facilitation and support throughout the chain of command. In addition, concerns about accountability and risks of de-coupling relevant actors may arise in the complex co-creation processes.