Changing Institutional Behaviour to Encourage Civic Behaviour

Interactions between public services and people in the UK have often been framed in recent years as a predominately consumer relationship, neglecting the potential opportunity for co-production and citizenship. The widespread adoption of contact centres and one stop shops by UK local authorities, with the aim of increasing efficiency and improving access to services, has contributed to this. People who phone to report issues may be good citizens willing to work with local authority staff to resolve those issues, but such opportunities are often lost. The relations between local authority staff and local people are guided by the institutional rules and practices in operation. We conducted a design experiment which sought to adapt those institutional rules and practices, aiming to transform a transactional relationship between consumer and provider into a more active two way co-production relationship. During the experiment contact centre staff invited callers to get involved in activity to improve their neighbourhood and those who responded to the call were supported by a community development worker to engage in civic behaviour. We present a literature review of how institutional factors affect civic behaviour and introduce the findings from our research, discussing the extent to which the institutional design changed, the perceptions of citizens and officers and the impact of the institutional redesign on citizen behaviour.