Children as co-creators? The limits of the concept of service dominant logic for public welfare services targeting children

Co-creation (or co-production, Voorberg et al., 2015) of public services together with individual service users is based on the assumption that the individual can define her or his own value to be co-created. However, in the case of children, this can be put into doubt, as children do not have the same cognitive perspectives and abilities as adults, and a weaker voice as agents. This results in the question of whether children can at all be co-creators of public welfare services, a question that demands further research (Strokosch & Osborne, 2016). A central issue is that of value—can the child define her or his own value? What other factors in the co-creation process are of relevance when considering the voice and agency of children? In this paper we discuss value and value co-creation based on the service-dominant logic (SDL) view as conceptualised by Vargo and Lusch (2004) and Lusch and Vargo (2014), and elaborations of it as in Fragidis and Tarabanis (2011). We also draw on literature within the area of social work to strengthen the understanding of the specific conditions of co-creation processes with children in the welfare area.