The challenges of translating and implementing co-production in care services: A Danish case study

Co-production has been introduced by governments across the globe to modernize and improve public service delivery. Co-production reshapes the traditional roles of public frontline staff and service users, but until co-production is operationalized and adapted to local practices, it represents more an ideology than a concrete organizational process. Co-production is currently spreading across the globe despite scant knowledge on how municipalities co-produce in practice or if co-production leads to the desired outcomes, or even what co-production means. This tendency is evident in Denmark as well, were co-production is spreading under the Danish term samskabelse. Therefore, this Ph.D. project was initiated by Department of Care for the Elderly and Disabled at Aalborg Municipality and Aalborg University, Department of Culture and Learning to expand our knowledge of how co-production transforms from a general, fluffy idea into concrete organizational practices and what role frontline staff play in these intra-organizational processes.