Enhancing public service innovation through value co-creation: Capacity building and the 'innovative imagination'

IMPACT Funders, policy-makers and public service managers should be aware that inputs can be designed into the innovation process in order to build capacity among staff engaged in innovation in public services. The article shows that upskilling, cohort creation and an enhanced innovative mindset can be generated through a structured programme, with the integration, application and use of such resources facilitating value co-creation processes. Barriers to and facilitators of innovation are also identified. These include senior management buy-in and allocation of time. ABSTRACT This article considers how a perspective on value co-creation, known as 'service-dominant logic' (S-D logic), contributes to theoretical and empirical understandings of the processes underlying social innovation and co-creation in public services. Specifically, this explores how adopting a service ecosystems perspective to interpret empirical data regarding participation experiences in a UK public service innovation programme, enhances understanding of learning and knowledge exchange processes, experimentation and value co-creation in public service innovation projects.