Towards peer production in public services: Cases from Finland

Abstract

Drawing from a case-study on Helsinki Home Care, the authors identify institutional impacts of new service development in the context of public service delivery, posed by the increasingly collaborative nature of service development and delivery. The authors illustrate the change through identification of characteristics embedded in the traditional professional logic, and the new service logic. With this, the paper contributes to the theoretical discussion on service innovation and collaborative service creation, showing that solely the technical, organizational or commercial perspectives are insufficient in understanding the service development process. This paper further widens the discussion about public service innovation using the institutional change framework. There are many challenges and opportunities in designing, developing and maintaining services for participatory modes of governance, not to mention their co-creation and peer-to-peer aspects. We ask what can be learned from the current research, and what is happening already beyond academia? With the aim to increase the opportunities for dialogue between the Finnish scene and the international context, we have gathered this collection of articles that deal broadly with the relationships between peer-to-peer dynamics, and public services. Most of the cases presented are illustrative of recent developments and discussions in Finnish society, however, also included are broader international perspectives, giving historical reflection and future-oriented speculation on how peer production might affect the structures of our society.