{"title":"Promoting public sector innovation: who does what, when and how?","authors":"Mats Fred, Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren","doi":"10.1177/09520767241271848","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"A strong and prevailing innovation imperative is sweeping across the public sector and despite a growing literature on public sector innovation (PSI), the actors driving these processes tend to end up in the background of analysis. Based in an analytical framework of narrative theory and organization studies, and the efforts to introduce Social Impact Bonds (SIB) in Sweden as empirical case, the aim of this article is to unpack and analyze the neglected initial stages of PSI. Building on a 4-year qualitative study, the analysis shows that actors promoting PSI narrate the public sector as in need to “open up” for (1) new actors; (2) new services and solutions; and (3) new forms of knowledge. Our findings suggests that the initial stages of PSI are substantially more formative than previously indicated. We show how the innovation at hand function as a discursive node towards which the actors’ storylines gravitate. Despite differences, the actors involved narrate their world similarly constituting discourse coalitions that connects and aligns their interests and objectives. We argue that the early stages of PSI are to be understood as cognitive and narrative struggles, or negotiations. The potentially good news here is that change continuously takes place in processes of PSI, despite narratives of inertia. The potentially bad news is that the same change is difficult to predict, control and govern.","PeriodicalId":47076,"journal":{"name":"Public Policy and Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Policy and Administration","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767241271848","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A strong and prevailing innovation imperative is sweeping across the public sector and despite a growing literature on public sector innovation (PSI), the actors driving these processes tend to end up in the background of analysis. Based in an analytical framework of narrative theory and organization studies, and the efforts to introduce Social Impact Bonds (SIB) in Sweden as empirical case, the aim of this article is to unpack and analyze the neglected initial stages of PSI. Building on a 4-year qualitative study, the analysis shows that actors promoting PSI narrate the public sector as in need to “open up” for (1) new actors; (2) new services and solutions; and (3) new forms of knowledge. Our findings suggests that the initial stages of PSI are substantially more formative than previously indicated. We show how the innovation at hand function as a discursive node towards which the actors’ storylines gravitate. Despite differences, the actors involved narrate their world similarly constituting discourse coalitions that connects and aligns their interests and objectives. We argue that the early stages of PSI are to be understood as cognitive and narrative struggles, or negotiations. The potentially good news here is that change continuously takes place in processes of PSI, despite narratives of inertia. The potentially bad news is that the same change is difficult to predict, control and govern.
期刊介绍:
Public Policy and Administration is the journal of the UK Joint University Council (JUC) Public Administration Committee (PAC). The journal aims to publish original peer-reviewed material within the broad field of public policy and administration. This includes recent developments in research, scholarship and practice within public policy, public administration, government, public management, administrative theory, administrative history, and administrative politics. The journal seeks to foster a pluralistic approach to the study of public policy and administration. International in readership, Public Policy and Administration welcomes submissions for anywhere in the world, from both academic and practitioner communities.