The Struggle Withinː Public Managers' Identity Struggles in Citizen Collaboration and Their Response Strategies

Public managers are increasingly involved in collaborative relationships with citizens. This paper examines public managers' identity work in relation to citizen collaboration. Based on thirty-seven interviews with public managers from Germany, four major identity struggles that public managers face in citizen collaboration are revealed and corresponding response strategies that managers apply in order to cope with these struggles are presented. By adopting an identity perspective, this paper sheds light on how public managers handle and frame the spread of New Public Governance through identity work. It thus provides insights into micro-processes taking place within the reform of the public sector.