In her research, Carola van Eijk mainly focuses on the co-production of public services. In co-production, both the citizens and the government interact to produce several kinds of public services. Carola’s ongoing research includes aspects of why citizens and public professionals are willing to engage in co-production, how these individuals collaborate and interact, and the challenges public professionals have to cope with. 

More information about Carola van Eijk

Dr. Carola van Eijk is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration. She obtained her PhD in Public Administration at Leiden University in 2017.

Research

In her research, Carola mainly focuses on the co-production of public services. In co-production, both the citizens and the government interact to produce several kinds of public services. Carola’s ongoing research includes aspects of why citizens and public professionals are willing to engage in co-production, how these individuals collaborate and interact, and the challenges public professionals have to cope with. In her PhD-research (entitled “Engagement of citizens and public professionals in the co-production of public services”) she had a special focus on the policy domains of health (i.e., client councils) and community safety (i.e., neighborhood watch schemes). This PhD-research was financed by a Research Talent Grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the dissertation was shortlisted for the Van Poelje Best Dissertation Award.
Her current research agenda is mainly focused on the tensions and dilemma's professionals are confronted with on a daily basis when interacting with citizens in the co-production of public services.

Key publications

• Van Eijk, C.J.A. & M. Gascó (2018). “Unravelling the Co-Producers. Who are They and What Motivations do They Have?” In: T. Brandsen, B. Verschuere & T. Steen (eds.). Co-production and Co-creation: Engaging citizens in public services. New York: Routledge, pp. 63-76.
• Van Eijk, C.J.A. (2017). Engagement of Citizens and Public Professionals in the Co-Production of Public Services. Leiden University; dissertation.
• Van Eijk, C.J.A. (2017). Helping Dutch neighborhood watch schemes to survive the rainy season: Studying mutual perceptions on citizens’ and professionals’ engagement in the co-production of community safety. VOLUNTAS, on-line first publication.
• Van Eijk, C.J.A., T.P.S. Steen & B. Verschuere (2017). Co-producing safety in the local community: A Q-methodology study on the incentives of Belgian and Dutch members of neighbourhood watch schemes. Local Government Studies, 43 (3): 323-343.
• Van Eijk, C.J.A. & T.P.S. Steen (2016). Why engage in co-production of public services? Mixing theory and empirical evidence. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 82 (1): 28-46.

Van Eijk, C.J.A. & T.P.S. Steen (2014). Why People Co-Produce: Analysing citizens’ perceptions on co-planning engagement in health care services. Public Management Review, 16 (3): 358-382.

Teaching

Carola van Eijk is currently teaching courses in both the Bachelor’s and Master’s Program of the Institute of Public Administration. Among others, she teaches courses on co-production and citizen engagement, multi-level governance, and research methods in public administration. She also coordinates the Bachelor project, in which all third year Bachelor students write their final Bachelor thesis.

Publications