Building ethical awareness to strengthen co-production for transformation

Abstract Awareness of different ethical theories can support transformation-oriented researchers in navigating value-based decisions in co-production. We synthesize and explicitly link the literature on co-production and ethical theories in philosophy to initiate this awareness. Four key decision points in co-production projects are outlined that require value-based actions: (1) what to focus on, (2) who to include, (3) how to co-create and (4) how to continue. To discuss how project actions can be examined from different ethical perspectives, we synthesize the claims of four ethical theories and discuss them in the context of co-production project choices. The four ethical theories are: deontological ethics, utilitarianism, contractualism and virtue ethics. Overall, we argue for embracing pluralistic ethical perspectives when navigating decisions in co-production projects.