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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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A joined-up approach to user participation in public services
— strengthening the "participation chain" | | Author(s) | Richard Simmons, Johnston Birchall |
| Journal title | Social Policy & Administration, vol 39, no 3, June 2005 |
| Pages | pp 260-283 |
| Source | http://www.blackwell-synergy.com |
| Keywords | Services ; Usage [services] ; Participation ; Consumer ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | Participation has emerged as a key theme for social policy and administration in the UK. Public service providers are often keen to consult users, and users themselves want to make their voices heard. Despite this, there is a perennial problem in getting people to participate, and participation is often better supported in principle than in practice. The motivations of key actors are crucial, but are often poorly understood. This article draws on part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) "Democracy and Participation" programme. It attempts to build a more detailed understanding of the motivations to participate of one key group: service users. Using Mutual Incentives Theory, it shows the extent to which users are motivated by individualistic or collectivistic concerns. These "demand side" factors are then combined with others on the "supply side" in a model the authors name as the "participation chain". This model provides a systematic framework for understanding what makes public service users participate, and seeks to demonstrate that, while the question of participation requires a combination of answers, it is a combination that can be predicted, planned for and acted upon. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050616203 A |
| Classmark | I: QLD: TMB: WY: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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