Relational parameters of co-creative ethics

Co-creative service ethics require service users’, professionals’ and other stakeholders’ involvement and real possibilities to influence in these conversations.

If services that are to be co-created, we might need to consider the following parameters of service ethics, all to be agreed or interpreted in reflective conversations.

• Significance, meaningfulness and value: what is at stake (to gain or lose) for each party in the short and long-term? What is supposed to be at stake?
• Mutuality, responsibilities and rights: what is the level of responsibility for the other that is expected of each party? What knowledge of expected outcomes do parties enjoy?
• Resource and their facilitation: what human and other resources are expected of or allocated to each party? Are all parties in principle seen as important, capable and resourceful? Is this doable given resources and their facilitation? 
• Initiative and influence: what level of control or choice (influence) each party is expected to exercise? How do their perceived dependencies and power inequalities affect co-creation?

Each of these four sets of parameters may be symmetrically or asymmetrically distributed in the definition of the service and its ethics that is jointly arrived at by sensemaking conversations. For example, resource and initiative can be low for both parties in some service contexts while in others particularly user influence may be low. To be able to co-create service changes and innovations (intended outputs) so as to achieve intended values (outcomes) on the user side stakeholders need:

• Knowledge of service intentions and participants’ rights,
• Abilities to harness available resources (including participants’ and users’ assets and abilities to contribute in enhancing the value of service offerings)
• Incentives, motives

When shared collectively these three dimensions (understanding, ability and willingness) may be seen as constituting the collective ethos. Incentives or willingness to act co-creatively, as confirmed by CoSIE pilots, is a crucial part of ethos. While incentives are an individual choice, they can be indirectly affected by securing resources and support.  Sensemaking together about needs and roles has showed to be a very important tool that may impact on individual’s motives for adhering to co-creation ethos and more specific service ethics.