The Gap Between the Rhetorical Why and the Practical What and How of Public Sector Innovation

Figures & data

Table

Main categories	Primary sub-categories	Secondary sub-categories
Perceptions of why innovation in the public sector is needed	To improve use of resources	Utilize intellectual capital
		Increased effectiveness needed
	Changes to external requirements	Societal challenges
		Increasing costs
		The wickedness of today’s problems
	Personal motivations	Motivations related to self-fulfillment
		Joy of idea realization
	Rational unclear	Rational for project initiation unclear
		Unclear goals
What participants define as innovation	Innovation bears problematic conceptual connotations	Misconceptions described
		Strategies to remedy misconceptions
		Benefits of remedial strategies
		Drawbacks of remedial strategies
	Procedural definition	Innovation is a process
		Innovation is satisfying user needs
		Innovation is using evidence-based techniques
	Innovation vs current continuous improvements processes	Similarities between innovation and current continuous improvements processes
		Differences between innovation and current continuous improvements processes
		Confusion due to similarities
Participants’ perceptions of how to work with innovation	One clear process	Steps described
		Benefits of given process
		Drawbacks of given process
	Implementation difficulties	Implementation of small, cheap and local innovations is supported
		Difficulties in implementing radical innovations
		Difficulties in implementing innovations outside the local operation
		The fit to goals and agendas affects implementation
		Strategies to counter difficulties in implementation
	Complex challenges require collaboration	Descriptions of why complex challenges require collaboration
		Current structures for collaboration
		Hinders to collaboration described
		The role of budget processes in collaboration