Co-creating Singapore : roles of citizens and influencing factors in public-people initiatives in the social sector

Public-people co-creation has been a fundamental focus of the Singapore government’s public sector transformation efforts. Despite this, there is a lack of comprehensive literature studying the ways in which citizens are able to contribute in these co-creation initiatives. This paper thus examines the roles citizens play in co-creation efforts in Singapore, particularly in the social sector, as well as some of the factors that influence these roles. Employing a maximum variation purposive sampling approach to identify a group of 10 qualitative interview respondents, this study finds that the current approach to co-creation taken by the Singapore government disproportionately favours citizens in roles with higher involvement, while those in roles of lower involvement may not receive sufficient support. Analysis of the findings also reveals that the current approach is counterproductive, and likely to result in suboptimal outcomes. This paper provides practical recommendations for improving co-creation outcomes, which include greater information sharing and increasing the decision-making power of citizens.Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and Global Affair