Introduction: Public Sector Entrepreneurship: Key Issues, Challenges and Developments in Theory and Practice

Author(s):  
Joyce Liddle
2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 706-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Arnold

Purpose Studies on entrepreneurship in public agencies suggest that managing for innovation may increase organizational performance. These studies, however, do not take into consideration the processes of opportunity identification. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to, first, situate the concept of opportunity identification within the broader research on public sector entrepreneurship, and second, to explore the relationship between managerial empowerment practices and employee alertness to new opportunities. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses aggregated data from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey – an annual survey of the US Federal employees – to examine the relationship between managerial empowerment practices and employee alertness. The analysis employs a fixed-effects regression to model each panel of the US Federal agencies, from 2011 to 2017. Findings The results indicate that managerial empowerment practices have a clear correlation to employee alertness and are substantively different from empowerment practice’s relationship to “innovation” – an outcome of entrepreneurship. These findings suggest that scholarship should include opportunity identification as a moderating variable in future studies on public sector entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications The empirical analysis should be viewed as a novel approach to alertness in order to demonstrate the need to include opportunity identification processes in studies on managing for public sector entrepreneurship. Consequently, the results are not generalizable to all public agencies. Originality/value This paper highlights processes of entrepreneurial opportunity identification concerning management practices in the public sector, which scholarship has traditionally ignored.


Author(s):  
Holger Graf ◽  
Matthias Menter

AbstractThe positive effect of public research on industrial innovations is beyond controversy: public research institutions produce knowledge that is subsequently transferred into product and process innovations by private businesses. Besides this rather passive role in commercializing inventions, public research institutions may also proactively exploit new knowledge through public sector entrepreneurship activities. Especially entrepreneurial universities are perceived as a conduit of knowledge spillovers; they serve as central actors of innovation networks and stimulate network activities. Whereas the linkages between network embeddedness and innovation activities have been largely explored, the determinants of patent quality in terms of radicalness, originality, and generality remain rather unclear. Considering Germany’s diverse public research infrastructure (universities, polytechnics, and non-university research institutes), our findings reveal that the type of institution and the corresponding scientific orientation (basic vs applied research) matter for the quality of inventions. The centrality of respective institutions within innovation networks reinforces the radicalness of inventions. However, we do not find support for the general assumption that an entrepreneurial orientation of public sector entities augments the quality of inventions. We conclude the paper with policy recommendations and with future avenues of research.Plain English Summary This study explores the relation between network embeddedness, scientific orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and the quality of inventions of public research. Our results imply that a basic research focus induces inventions that are more radical, and a more central network position reinforces the production of more radical, original, and general patents. In contrast, an entrepreneurial orientation does not seem to stimulate a higher quality of inventions. Our results give impetus to nuanced public sector entrepreneurship policies that take the type of institution and the optimal level of regional embeddedness into account. A sole focus on the entrepreneurial transformation of public research institutes may not be sufficient to leverage the full potential of knowledge created therein. Instead, more support and guidance for creating links with other network entities is needed along with incentives to commercialize new knowledge.


1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-151
Author(s):  
Susan Bennett

Through this position paper the author seeks to provide a focus for extended discussion of some of the key issues arising from feminist approaches to theatre research. She indicates some of the insights made possible by feminist theoretical analyses of theatre historiography as well as some of the implications of the various positions inscribed in articles on Canadian feminist theatre historiography over the past ten years. The author hopes to facilitate more discussion of the wide variety of feminist challenges to and transformation of the theory and practice of theatre research and theatre historiography.


2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 617-634
Author(s):  
Sarah Welland ◽  
Amanda Cossham

Purpose This paper aims to explore definitions and notions of what a community archive is, and the tensions between different understandings of community archives. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a critical analysis of community archives definitions and understanding from researchers and practitioners across the wider heritage information sector. Findings Community archives are a growing area of interest for researchers because of the archives’ intrinsic link to the community and their provision of the evidence of it. While discussion often focuses on a paradigm of transformative purpose, existing definitions around community archives continue to be tenuous, reflecting different real or perceived types and practices and the perspective of the author and the sector they work within. Variations in definition can also occur because of differences in perspective around theory and practice, with many practitioner-based definitions intrinsically bound with the community they represent. This can result in community archives being defined as “alternative” based on mainstream practice or “political” based on theoretical purview, or “meeting the needs of community” by the community archivists themselves. Research limitations/implications The paper is conceptual and does not attempt to provide one definition that covers the perceived extent of community archives. It is part of work in progress on the nature of community archives and the impact such discourse may have on archival theory and practice. Originality/value This paper provides an overview of some of the key issues and themes impacting a definition of community archives, and in doing so works towards a broader understanding the nature of community archives. In most cases, the concept of “community” seems to provide a common definitive element and practitioner definitions focus on addressing the needs of self-defined community to a greater or lesser extent.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Alvarenga ◽  
Florinda Matos ◽  
Radu Godina ◽  
João C. O. Matias

Digitizing public services is, at the moment, an essential necessity for numerous governments around the world. An improved government through digitization will not only have a growing effect on businesses, but it will also be able to intensify citizen engagement and push for economic growth. During the last 10 years more countries have progressively begun to provide digital services to their citizens. Therefore, in order to address this development, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of the digital government literature in order to describe the aspects of digital transformation in the public sector and how it is related to knowledge management. In this study the methodology is quantitative and it is based on a review and a survey made with the main goal being the estimation from several collected data on how the digital transformation process in the Public Administration takes place and what its relationship is with knowledge management. The review study is based on articles found on Scopus database and it addresses the role that digital government research plays in the theory and practice of knowledge management. In the survey study, 54 employees working for the services of the two governmental areas of the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment were surveyed. The results show that the research on the theme is still at an exploratory stage due to the lack of studies relating digital government to knowledge management effectiveness in the public sector. The results also show that the success of digital government seems to be related with the quality of the organizations’ knowledge management, complementing each other for significant improvements in the public sector. In terms of originality, this study aims to contribute and stimulate data-driven discussions regarding the impacts of the digital transformation in the public sector and their relation with the implementation of knowledge management practices. The results offer insights into future research needs.


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