Public administration beyond New Public Management? Co-creating patients, inter-organizational collaboration, and consequences for equitable healthcare.

Research Project, 2019 – 2021

Many healthcare challenges are organizational in nature. Traditional healthcare organization and private sector influences (New Public Management, NPM), have contributed to a fragmented, inadequate system that does not adequately address diversified needs and expectations. Many researchers claim a new cluster of post-NPM ideas is emerging focusing on, for example, inter-organizational collaboration and user involvement. This post-doctoral project investigates the consequences of these post-NPM ideas for equitable healthcare.  

The project is a natural continuation of the doctoral project. The starting point of the dissertation is lack of patient involvement and inequities in healthcare. The studies in the dissertation explore motherhood based on country of birth; patient complaints based on gender; and preventive healthcare services in a segregated area. To address inequities, the dissertation integrates social context with the individualized service research. Such an integration reveals that while some groups’ value-creating efforts are enabled by social structures, other groups’ efforts are constrained. The theoretical integration also offers potential for representatives of disenfranchised groups to participate in developing healthcare services more likely to meet their needs and expectations.

In my future research, I hope that I will be able to continue to develop representation in value creation as well as problematize the individualized value concept in a public-sector context. The planned approach is multidisciplinary in that the research will address, in particular, public administration, service management, and theories such as health equity. A collaborative research approach is planned with three cases for which contact is well-established. The objective is to co-create knowledge relevant for academia as well as policy/practitioners.