PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION ON COVID-19 IN SOUTH SUMATRA: CALLING FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

On the one hand the COVID-19 pandemic is seen as a disaster that has had a massive impact on various aspects of life, but on the other hand it is considered as momentum to urge the public organizations to be more innovative and adaptive in adapting to various types of new conditions and adjustments. Many studies have explored public sector innovation, especially in normal circumstances. While studies on the public sector innovation in a critical situation have not caught much attention from academics. This study aimed to fill the gap by analyzing the public sector innovation in South Sumatra as one of the provinces with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. There was a total of 16 innovations in this study. Content analysis was conducted to determine the types, categories, innovators, and challenges faced. The researchers found that the organizations that innovate (innovators) consisted of city governments, regency governments, provincial governments, central government representatives, and the community. Meanwhile, for the innovation category, the researchers found more innovations with types of public services and health information. The researchers also found three types of innovation categories in South Sumatra including mass/social resilience, quick response/quick wins, and public knowledge. Lastly, the challenges in implementing the innovation which includes public awareness, human resources, financial, facilities and infrastructure, and time. Academically, this study contributes to the understanding of public sector innovation in a critical situation, that innovation in such condition is an innovation that was made for pragmatic purposes and it won’t last. It is only adjusted to the situations that force people to implement physical distancing to each other.

Introduction to Special Issue Public sector Innovation - Conceptual and Methodological Implications

This is the introduction to the Special Issue: Public sector Innovation - Conseptual and methodological implications. Guest Editors: Ann Karin Tennås Holmen (UiS), Maria Røhnebæk (INN)

The Role of Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Management of COVID-19 in Asian Countries

Strong leadership in public sector innovation can empower governments to address community challenges in new ways in light of the challenges posed by the global coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus management policy, pandemic responses, needs, and options are reflected in various Asian countries in respective published literature, but a summarized synthesis is not available. Using a systematic review approach (PRISMA), this study has analyzed the role of leadership in public sector innovation in COVID-19 management and synthesized 23 articles from 23 different Asian countries. In the light of available data, public sector innovation (PSI) and the role played by the leadership of each country' have been found to be largely inter-dependent. The current review provides a cross-section of the ongoing nature of the pandemic, as management responses and trend data in the countries are still emerging or evolving. Additionally, our study contributes a current state report regarding the barriers facing the leadership of Asian countries in mitigating the global pandemic through PSI. Our study found that a strong political leadership presence combined with a technocratic approach and a highly-skilled public sector workforce, could lead to more tremendous success in managing the outbreak. Furthermore, religious leadership was also found to have a potentially significant role in COVID-19 management strategies.

relationship between research and innovation in the public sector – an analysis of five cases from labour and welfare services

Many public agencies promote renewal in the public sector through projects that require a productive combination of research and innovation activities. However, the role of research in innovation processes is a neglected theme in the public sector innovation literature. We address this gap through an analysis of five cases from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. We find few examples of innovations based directly on research, but several examples of research on innovations and on more complex co-evolutionary processes of the two activities. Research seems to be particularly important for the diffusion and scaling up of innovations. We find that research has an impact on innovation in later phases of the innovation process through the formalisation of practice-based and unsystematic knowledge, codification of experiences, and legitimation to ensure political support and funding. This new conceptualisation contributes to the public sector innovation literature and may help improve policies that set up a rather limited role for research.

Conceptualising public sector innovation: Introducing the lens of the epistemological, pragmatic and normative dimensions

Innovation is a relatively new concept in the public sector, and there is currently no broad agreement regarding how to understand and conceptualise it. This article assumes that a central role for research is to critically scrutinise and discuss what research does—or could do—when applying the concept of public sector innovation, especially because innovation has become a powerful organising metaphor for policy and practice. The article initiates a meta-conceptual inquiry and discussion of public sector innovation as a research concept, suggesting a method of conceptual clarification for future research by breaking the concept down into different dimensions. Methodologically, the article conducts a meta-conceptual analysis and inquiry into research positions and discussions in public sector innovation, thus reflecting the academic activity/enterprise of conceptualising. By discussing selected literature from the public sector innovation field, three conceptual dimensions emerge: epistemological, pragmatic and normative dimensions. These dimensions refer to questions about what kind of knowledge the concept of public sector innovation represents, what its pragmatic or practical implications are and which normative or value dimensions the concept implies. Finally, the concluding discussion highlights questions for research(ers) to address in future reflections on the conceptualisation of public sector innovation.

Measuring Malaysian Public Sector Innovation Performance through Business Model Perspective

Public Sectors around the world face constant demand in increasing efficiency and productivity. The pressure to improve service delivery particularly during this pandemic demands the public sector to provide more with less. Being subjected to mandates from the government, public scrutiny and compliance to legal system, public sector organisations are in constant pressure to perform above average, reform outdated process and deliver the best results with fewer resources. Adding to this, increasing demand has become the general expectation where the needs for customisable services based on the current lifestyle of the civil society or described as the “24/7 society” requires services to be available and accessible at all times. Therefore, public sector innovation agenda often focused in national level policy and initiatives. However, the innovation landscape remains an understudied terrain especially in Malaysian Public Sector. Capitalising on little existing insights, this study further expands the knowledge base by analysing underlying driving factors in innovation performance measurement from a Business Model Perspective for a more contemporary model discovery. Utilising Structural Equation Modelling technique, this study analysed responds from 328 middle managers within government agencies and organisation and revealed that the Malaysian Public Sector innovation management still depends on innovation capabilities both as a factor and mediator in influencing innovation performance greater than innovation management which has been the focus. The study found that there is a dire need for an organisation level model to improve the innovation performance in public sector agencies by focusing on both innovation capabilities and innovation management to ensure an excellent governance and delivery system being implemented effectively.

Drivers, Enables and conditions for Public Sector Innovation in European Countries

This study identifies the factors that influence innovation in the public sector in different countries. To do this, we identified innovation patterns in European countries and established the factors associated with such patterns. A cluster analysis was performed to group countries in terms of public sector innovation, while mean differences tests were used to identify the aspects that characterize these differences. The data are derived from the European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard database, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the European Innovation Scoreboard (eis) 2017 Database, and the Global Competitiveness Report (2017-2018) by the World Economic Forum. The results indicate the existence of three groups of countries, where the factors identified are related to (i) the governance of public services, namely government effectiveness and regulatory quality, share of service innovators that innovate in-house, share of process innovators that innovate in-house, and importance of external knowledge; (ii) national culture, in particular uncertainty avoidance and indulgence; and (iii) national innovation capacity. This study provides empirical insights into the need to develop innovation capabilities as an element of successful innovation in public services.

“We don’t feel like we are part of the project”

Some of the extant literature on collaborative public sector innovation seems to assume that collaboration per se implies a positive outcome. Recent research, however, has demonstrated that innovation processes may take different shapes and trajectories depending on, for example, the collaborating actors’ diverging (or converging) perceptions of the given situation. In this article, we seek to contribute to understanding the nature of potential challenges in public sector innovation processes. We interviewed seven key actors involved in developing and implementing a new introduction programme for refugees in a municipality in Norway. The interviews explored how the innovation process evolved and how the different actors experienced their participation in the process. In this article, we use the classic four ‘moments of translation’ approach proposed by Callon (1986) to shed light on the main tensions that arose for the project team in the 18 months after the project was launched. These challenges related to why the innovation was realised, how such an innovation should be operationalised, for whom the innovation was targeted and whose innovation project the project was initially. In conclusion, we argue that to address the tensions that may arise in any collaborative project, innovation leaders must establish a ‘structure for collaboration’ that includes a space in which to acknowledge and potentially solve emerging challenges.