Abstract

In times where governments are increasingly unable to solve problems on their own, it is important to understand what motivates citizens to engage in co-production. Drawing on identity theory and on a sample of 966 citizens in Zurich, Switzerland, we analyze how public service motivation (PSM) is related to engagement in a digital co-production platform enabling citizens to support public service provision. As our dependent variable, effort intensity in platform use, is a behavioral outcome, we provide insights into the actual behavioral implications of PSM, going beyond self-reports. Using negative binomial regressions, we found a positive relationship between engagement and the PSM dimension “commitment to the public interest”, and a negative one with the dimension “compassion”. Additionally, social identification with the city moderates the relationship with engagement for certain PSM dimensions. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of what motivations drive citizens to collaborate with public organizations, which is an ongoing trend in many countries around the world.

摘要

在政府越来越无力独自解决问题的时代，了解是什么促使公民参与共同生产很重要。借鉴身份理论和瑞士苏黎世 966 名公民的样本，我们分析了公共服务动机 (PSM) 如何与参与数字联合制作平台相关，使公民能够支持公共服务提供。由于我们的因变量，平台使用的努力强度，是一种行为结果，我们提供了对 PSM 实际行为影响的见解，超越了自我报告。使用负二项式回归，我们发现参与度与 PSM 维度“对公共利益的承诺”之间存在正相关关系，而与维度“同情心”之间存在负相关关系。此外，对城市的社会认同缓和了与参与某些 PSM 维度的关系。总之，我们的研究有助于更好地理解是什么动机促使公民与公共组织合作，这在世界上许多国家都是一个持续的趋势。