The effects of organizational and demographic context for innovation implementation in public organizations

ABSTRACT

Despite increasing research on public sector innovation in recent years, the organizational and demographic contextual variables that affect innovation implementation are not well known. Utilizing two datasets (2012 and 2017) from the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), this study tests how organizational and demographic contextual variables affect innovation in public organizations. The results reveal that both organizational and demographic contextual variables are associated with the implementation of innovation in public organizations. In particular, employees working in larger organizations and policy agencies tends to be less innovative whereas men, more educated employees, more experienced employees, and organizational managers are more innovative.

KEYWORDS:

• Public sector innovation
• innovation implementation
• organizational context
• demographic context
• public organization

Acknowledgments

I appreciate constructive feedback and suggestions of Roberto Vivona (Bocconi University), anonymous reviewers, and editor Stephen Osborne. In addition, Molly Hamer (Indiana University-Bloomington) provides excellent language editing service. The author is responsible for any remaining errors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This study is funded by the National University of Singapore (Tier 1) [Grant No: R-603-000-270-133].

Notes on contributors

Mehmet Akif Demircioglu

Mehmet Akif Demircioglu is an assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the National University of Singapore. He is also a research fellow at the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University and the Centre for Organization Research and Design (CORD) at Arizona State University. He has earned his MPA and Ph.D. degrees from SPEA, Indiana University-Bloomington. His research interests are public sector innovation, employee attitudes, social media, and public sector reform. Previously, he was a visiting scholar at the SciencesPo in France, Leiden University in the Netherlands, the University of Canberra in Australia, and Yonsei University in South Korea. Previously he worked at Indiana University, Indiana Business Research Center, the Urban Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Turkey’s Office of Personnel Management. His work has published or forthcoming in several journals including Research Policy, Journal of Technology Transfer, The American Review of Public Administration, Government Information Quarterly, Public Performance & Management Review, and Industrial and Corporate Change, among others.