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Abstract
Complex innovation incorporates more than one innovation type. Using the number of dimensions of the ‘most significant innovation’ implemented by each public employee’s workgroup as a proxy for innovation complexity, this study explores factors that are associated with complexity and examines how complexity affects innovation outcomes. Employing a sample of 4,369 Australian Government employees, we find that the more complex the innovation, the greater the number of barriers a workgroup has to face in its implementation. A broader (but selective) range of idea sources and a more decentralized workplace where both individual and team creativity is encouraged increase the likelihood of implementing complex innovations. Innovation complexity is positively correlated with the variety of beneficial outcomes, suggesting both policy and management interest in supporting complex innovation in the public sector.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Tony Cotton and David Schmidtchen of the Australian Public Service Commission for their support and for providing access to the data. The usual disclaimer applies.
Notes
1 The respondent gave a positive response to the question ‘In the last 12 months, has your workgroup implemented any innovations?’.
2 Windrum’s (Citation2008) taxonomy also includes a sixth type of innovation: ‘systemic innovation’ or a new or improved way to interact with stakeholders. However, this innovation is excluded from this study because it overlaps with the ‘search breadth’ variable and thus can confound the study findings.
3 Standardized coefficients measure changes in standard deviation units, thus enabling comparison of the relative importance or influence of each independent variable on the dependent variable.