Citizenship and the Production of Public Recreation: Is there an Empirical Relationship?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to test whether relationships exist between citizenship orientations and service production. The study incorporated existing conceptual and theoretical literature into an informed empirical analysis to inform subsequent conceptual and theoretical work. In a comparison of respondents at three community centers, each tied to a distinct model of service production, the findings suggest that co-production was associated more strongly with political and social citizenship than were contract and direct provision models. Civil citizenship orientations, however, were not associated with a particular model. The results imply that relationships exist between how people think of themselves as participants in their communities (citizenship orientations) and the nature of public services (production models).

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• public leisure services
• service production