Coproduction and trust in government: evidence from survey experiments

ABSTRACT

While previous research has investigated how coproduction can improve the quality and efficiency of public services, less is known about its effects on how citizens view government. Thus, we investigate how coproduction may influence trust in government using a series of survey experiments. Although our main results are generally in the expected direction, they are not significant statistically and thus suggest little or no causal effect of coproduction on trust. Limitations of our approach, as well as directions for future experimental research along these lines, are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Coproduction
• trust in government
• experiment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sinah Kang

Sinah Kang is a PhD candidate in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University, Newark, USA. Her research focuses broadly on open government, particularly crowdsourcing and open innovation in the public sector, and behavioral public administration in general.

Gregg G. Van Ryzin

Gregg G. Van Ryzin, PhD, is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), Rutgers University, Newark, USA. His work applies experimental and behavioral methods to various issues in public management, including citizen satisfaction, coproduction, performance measurement, representative bureaucracy, and organizational behavior. He is author (with Dahlia Remler) of Research Methods in Practice (SAGE) and editor (with Oliver James and Sebastian Jilke) of Experiments in Public Management Research (Cambridge).