What Do Voluntary Sector Studies Offer Research on Co-Production?

Abstract

Securing the voluntary participation of individuals to address common problems is a principal concern of nonprofit organizations. Coupled with the literature on volunteer motivation, the co-production literature suggests that scholars might consider a more diverse mix of motivations for co-production. The voluntary sector literature suggests that enhanced capacity of citizens is not a foregone conclusion of participation. The chapter focuses on three themes from the voluntary sector literature of interest to co-production scholars. First, it suggests that motivations for co-production may vary depending on the extent to which the citizen receiving services also volunteers. Second, the chapter suggests that the form and type of participation that services require of recipients have consequences not only for policy outcomes but also for citizenship outcomes. Finally, in reviewing the conditions that support co-production, it focuses on whether government funding, and the resulting requirements attached to this funding, support or constrain co-production in voluntary sector organizations; the results to date are mixed.