Innovation is seen as an interactive process that involves many actors within and across organizational boundaries. In public sector services, innovation is a frequent, often holistic, and multi-layered process that involves many actors and many services at the same time. However, most of the existing literature on innovation in public sector services is based on the economics of innovation, which is heavily influenced by investigations of the private sector. Innovation in the Public Sector develops a more context-sensitive and rich approach in order to explore the different logics of innovation that prevail here.
Rather than presenting a general theory of innovation, the book specifies how innovation and value creation are interconnected with social and institutional elements. Analytical constructs, including dynamic capability, absorptive capacity, and practice-based approaches, are reviewed and anchored in the organizational context of public sector services. Such a perspective on innovation can help us develop new understandings of the process and history of innovation, contributing to processual organizational analysis in a broader sense, and further developing present theories of organizational change.
1. Introduction: Framing Innovation in Public Service Sectors: A Contextual Approach Lars Fuglsang and Rolf Rønning 2. How Front-line Employees Nurture Service Innovation through Co-creation with their Customers: A Case Study of Public Health Care Jenny Karlsson, Per Skålén and Erik Sundström 3. Service Innovations for Enhancing Public Transit Services Heiko Gebauer, Mikael Johnson and Bo Enquist 4. User-Driven Innovation and the Role of the Citizen: A Citizen, a Customer, or a Human Being? Luise Li Langergaard 5. Value Innovations in Electricity Utilities Heiko Gebauer, Hagen Worch and Bernhard Truffer 6. Framing Innovation in Postal Services: Developing a Hybrid Organization Lars Fuglsang and Jørn Kjølseth Møller 7. Organizing for Innovation in the Public Sector Anne Marie Berg 8. Translating Client-Orientation through ICT Maria Røhnebæk 9. Collaborative Service Innovation in the Public Sector Johan Quist and Martin Fransson 10. Coevolution and Innovations in Governance - A Case Study of the New Public Service System for Electric Vehicles in Oslo Rannveig Røste 11. The Diffusion of Innovation: A Question of Power Rolf Rønning 12. Conclusion: Public Service Sector Innovation in Context Lars Fuglsang and Rolf Rønning
