Conflicts fostering understanding of value co-creation and service systems transformation in complex public service systems

Deriving from approaches of PSL, service ecosystems, complexity and conflicts, this article proposes a framework of complex public service systems for understanding public service management. As drivers of service systems transformation, conflicts foster understanding of value co-creation, its underlying challenges, and service systems transformation. In the empirical study of youth service development initiative, the organizational actors' conflicts in understanding the service users' needs, value, the roles of actors, and the service system transformation were identified. In conclusion, the conflicting institutional arrangements in multi-actor, complex, and overlapping service systems' settings both maintain and disrupt the value co-creation and service systems.