Co-creation and co-production: An interdisciplinary conceptual exploration

Abstract

In recent years, the two concepts of co-creation and co-production have become 
key in project organization in the private and the public sectors in Denmark. 
Yet, the conceptual and practical implications of the two concepts remain 
unclear. Are they just a new tool that harnesses volunteerism to cut process 
costs? This paper uses the results from a systematic literature search to 
explore the interdisciplinary history of the two concepts. Co-production was 
coined in political economy to study infrastructure and societal redistribution 
of resources. Co-creation emerged in the literature on user-led innovation 
and product development. The two concepts are translated into one word in 
Danish, samskabelse. The literature search shows that the Danish concept of 
samskabelse was used in two specific research fields before the more recent 
surge of the concept began: in systems theoretical psychology and in anthropological 
research on indigenous peoples’ religions. From these four fields of 
origin, the paper suggests four basic assumptions in samskabelse: 1) Attention 
to resources is necessary to understand incentives, 2) shared creativity leads 
to innovation, 3) any collaboration is a system of relations, and 4) any collaboration 
is situated in the contexts of all the partners. In conclusion, the paper 
discusses how co-production and co-creation may be useful when partners 
from different sectors or disciplines wish to collaborate.