CO‐DESIGN‐ing a more context‐based, pluralistic, and participatory future for public administration
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Author | Kayla Schwoerer,Florian Keppeler,Assel Mussagulova,Stephanie Puello |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12828 |
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
CO-DESIGN-ing a more context-based, pluralistic,
and participatory future for public administration
Kayla Schwoerer
1
| Florian Keppeler
2
| Assel Mussagulova
3
|
Stephanie Puello
4
1
School of Public Affairs and Administration,
Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA
2
Department of Public Management & Public
Policy, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen,
Germany
3
Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities,
Singapore University of Technology and
Design, Singapore
4
School of Public Affairs, University of
Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA
Correspondence
Kayla Schwoerer, School of Public Affairs and
Administration, Rutgers University-Newark,
111 Washington Street Newark, NJ 07102,
USA.
Email: kayla.schwoerer@gmail.com
Abstract
Public administration (PA) increasingly faces new and emerg-
ing challenges. To address such challenges, researchers can
work collaboratively with practitioners to identify and tackle
the most pressing issues. Yet, intentionally establishing an
ongoing dialogue not only between researchers and practi-
tioners but between researchers, practitioners, and the com-
munities that PA scholarship and practice are intended to
impact can enhance all stakeholders' understanding of com-
plex social problems and improve solutions. Forms of partici-
patory and context-based research such as this are called
many things across disciplines, but PA has yet to embrace
such approaches fully. Thus, we introduce a framework enti-
tled CO-DESIGN, intended to illustrate the process of
advancing PA research through the co-production of knowl-
edge between researchers, practitioners, and communities.
Additionally, it serves as an acronym outlining eight focal
areas we argue the co-production of knowledge can help
advance. We discuss the CO-DESIGN process and agenda,
including its implicatio ns for the field.
1|INTRODUCTION
Over the last century, the scholarship published in Public Administration has greatly shaped the field, helping to
advance understanding of the challenges, goals, and values of public and nonprofit organizations (Busuioc, 2016;
Flink & Molina, 2021; Kroll, 2017; McGuire & Agranoff, 2011; Raadschelders 2008; van der Wal et al., 2008; van
Loon, 2017; Walker & Boyne, 2009), including important topics related to diversity and personnel management
(Assadi & Lundin, 2018; Ballart & Rico, 2018; Humphrey, 2021; Schuster, 2017; Taylor, 2010), the impacts public ser-
vice organizations and their personnel have on the public they are responsible for serving (Andrews et al., 2008;
Received: 2 October 2021 Revised: 1 January 2022 Accepted: 3 January 2022
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12828
72 © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. 2022;100:72–97.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm
James & Moseley, 2014; Morrell & Harrington-Buhay, 2012; Shybalkina, 2021; Sievert, 2021; van Ryzin &
Charbonneau, 2010), and innovative (Houtgraaf et al., 2021) and effective organizational (Egeberg, 2020) and institu-
tional design (Boin & Lodge, 2016; Skelcher et al., 2005). Since the journal's inception, it has focused primarily on
publishing work that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of public service organizations and public servants
(Institute of Public Administration, 1923; McDonald, 2021). Nonetheless, as four emerging scholars coming up in the
field of public administration, we are tasked with looking to the future.
Public administration (PA) as both a study and a practice is continually confronted with pressing societal issues.
New and emerging challenges facing scholars and practitioners alike include addressing the climate crisis (Sachs
et al., 2019), administrative burdens (Chudnovsky & Peeters, 2021; Herd & Moynihan, 2019; Moynihan et al., 2015;
Peeters, 2020), structural inequities (Blessett et al., 2016), and discrimination (Jilke et al., 2018), in addition to under-
standing how the public sector can adapt to the digital age (Braams et al., 2021; Hood & Margetts, 2007; Trischler &
Westman Trischler, 2021), overcome talent shortages (Asseburg & Homberg, 2020; Keppeler & Papenfuß, 2020;
Linos, 2018), and prioritize conflicting goals (Chen & Jia, 2021). To confront these challenges and others, scholars are
prompted to put forth practical and accessible solutions (Barzelay & Thompson, 2011) and practitioners are encour-
aged to work collaboratively with communities to implement them (Knight, 2021).
At the same time, understanding the complexity of the problems and solutions at hand requires an ongoing dia-
logue not only between scholars and practitioners but also with the communities that PA research and practice are
intended to impact. A productive dialogue between scholars, practitioners, and communities can offer benefits for
research, practice, and community impact. Conversely, disconnection between and across the three groups of stake-
holders can impede important advancements in the field and further gaps between knowing and doing (Pfeffer &
Sutton, 2006). However, many important factors of the administrative or applied environment are unobservable by
an outside researcher, and even the most robust research designs can prove difficult in identifying and assessing the
key factors contributing to social problems and driving solutions. To make matters more difficult, much of the scien-
tific literature remains hidden behind paywalls (Day et al., 2020) or is generally inaccessible to the public (Atchison &
Bull, 2015; Hayes, 1992). Alas, the gaps between those experiencing problems firsthand (communities), those grap-
pling with how best to solve them (practitioners), and the knowledge and expertise that can help (academic
researchers) remain wide.
We contend that our place as emerging scholars, early in our academic careers, arms us with unique perspectives
that can prove valuable in imagining the possibilities of the “next 100 years.”Our introduction to the field of PA
coincides with the emergence of the behavioral public administration movement (Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2017;
James et al., 2017), growing accessibility to big data and computational methods (Andrews, 2019; Lavertu, 2016;
Mergel et al., 2016), greater use of critical theories (Blessett et al., 2016; Conyers & Wright Fields, 2020;
Riccucci, 2021; Santis, 2021; Starke et al., 2018), and calls for more global perspectives (Ashley et al., 2021; Guy
et al., 2019; Haque et al., 2021; Zahra & Bach, 2021). During a time of unprecedented global social, political, and cul-
tural changes,
1
we have come to embrace and promote a wide range of methods as well as diverse and critical per-
spectives. Above all, in the wake of these changes, we recognize that the research generated in our field has the
power to address some of the biggest challenges our world faces. This will demand us, as scholars, to not only be
intentional in the research we conduct, but in how we work with practitioners and communities to develop and
implement effective solutions based on the research. Therefore, in this article, we take the opportunity to imagine a
PA that embraces the role of values and diverse contexts, and incorporates the perspectives of the individuals and
communities our research is designed to impact. We ask modestly what approaching research in such an intentional,
collaborative, and pluralistic manner might look like and what impact it could have on PA theory and practice, includ-
ing the way we understand and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public service organizations and public
servants (Institute of Public Administration, 1923).
We argue that PA can benefit greatly from participatory approaches in which academic researchers, practi-
tioners, and community members work together to co-design and co-produce knowledge. Where, in practice, that
knowledge can be used to address community problems with the help of those facing them. Put another way, a more
participatory approach that involves researchers, practitioners, and communities can help to produce more
SCHWOERER ET AL. 73
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