What motivates users to report service‐related issues? A study on coproduction in a smart public service

Abstract Public service providers increasingly encourage users to actively coproduce as a means to enhance public service provision. But what drives users to coproduce? Using a unique combination of survey and actual behavior log‐data of 9992 smart public service users who reported service‐related issues, we examine the extent to which users' self‐centered and community‐centered motivations are associated with their actual reporting behavior as well as the effort intensity of such behavior. Our findings suggest that users' self‐centered motivations are positively related to their actual reporting behavior and effort intensity, while community‐centered motivations do not show a significant association. Our study highlights the importance of self‐centered motivations in (digital) coproduction and co‐assessment. It also showcases the potential of using log data from public services to measure actual coproduction behavior instead of relying solely on self‐reported behavior.