Communities of Public Service Support: Citizens engage in social learning in peer-to-peer networks

New Public Management and bureaucratic models fail to acknowledge the value of peer-to-peer cooperation between citizens as a resource for public service support. Social media enable citizens to create environments for sharing information about public services in Communities of Public Service Support. The success of this model for public service support depends on the availability of communities, the level of active participation, and the information content. This paper presents an empirical study of virtual communities of expats in The Netherlands. Our analysis shows that there is a wide variety of virtual expat communities with a high level of participation and valuable content. We conclude that virtual communities play an important role in public service support since they facilitate social learning between citizens.

► Objective: explore the value of virtual communities for public service support. ► Success factors: availability of communities, level of participation and information content. ► Empirical domain: virtual communities of expats in The Netherlands. ► Findings: many virtual expat communities, high level of participation, valuable content. ► Conclusions: virtual peer-to-peer communities contribute to public service support.