A tension lens for understanding public innovation diffusion processes

ABSTRACT

How do public servants diffuse public innovations in a bureaucratic and political environment that is fraught with tensions? Through a longitudinal case study, this research explores how tension management evolves with regard to two tensions observed in the diffusion process: control versus resistance and competing interests among stakeholders. Drawing upon three theoretical perspectives (contingency, paradox, and dialectic), the study shows that tension management strategies often evolve from simple to complex through a mechanism of joint learning. This study moves away from a traditional approach that considers tensions as barriers and argues that tensions can be engaged to move innovations forward.

KEYWORDS:

• Tension
• tension management
• public innovation
• diffusion

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Mark Freel for his valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper. We are also grateful to anonymous reviewers and the Editor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hong Qiu

Hong Qiu is a PhD candidate in Management in the Entrepreneurship specialization at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. Her research interests revolve around managing tensions and conflicts in the context of innovation, especially in organizations where multiple organizational identities, forms, or logics are combined. Hong holds a Bachelor of Economics degree in Human Resources Management from Renmin University of China and a Master of Public Administration degree from Dalhousie University.

Samia Chreim

Samia Chreim is the Telfer Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include paradox, dualities, innovation, and change management and implementation. She has studied these topics in a variety of contexts including the not-for profit sector and the business sector. Her research has been published in Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Organizations Studies, Human Relations, BMC Public Health, PloS one, Health Economics, Policy and Law, Social Science & Medicine and International Journal of Technology Management among other journals.