Rethinking coproduction: amplifying involvement and effectiveness

This article reviews the origin and development of research on coproduction and proposes a new Coproduction Amplification Model to guide research and practice. The article shows that coproduction research began and flowered in the USA in the 1980s but lagged in the 1990s. The study suggests and explores reasons for the lapse, including the introduction of New Public Management; emerging research on volunteer involvement in government service delivery; the rise of scholarship dedicated to interdisciplinary research on citizen involvement; and the growth of academic programs in nonprofit studies. Reinvigorated by scholarship from across the globe, research on coproduction has revived in the 2000s, much of it concerned with appropriate conceptualization. This article elaborates a new model intended to move research from preoccupation with definition toward increasing citizen involvement and effectiveness in coproduction.