Innovation failure in the eye of the beholder: Towards a theory of innovation shaped by competing agendas within higher education

This paper examines a case of perceived innovation failure in higher education, a service dominated by conflicting institutional logics of professionalism and markets. Through a mixed methodology investigating student attitudes to, and behaviour around, technological innovation, the paper makes a contribution to the public service innovation literature by focusing on duality in innovation outcomes. This is suggestive of an innovation typology in public services: professionalism-driven and consumerism-driven innovation

Audio-Visual Feedback: Student Attainment and Student and Staff Perceptions

No abstract available

Crowding-in or crowding-out: the contribution of self-determination theory to public service motivation

The relationship between monetary rewards and public service motivation (PSM) has been at the centre of public management research for several decades. Yet the role of performance-contingent rewards in motivating individuals to engage in public service behaviour remains largely contested. This conceptual study aims to reconcile inconsistencies in the literature by considering particular conditions under which performance-contingent incentives may effectively sustain PSM. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study offers a detailed map of the factors that can explain the relationship between performance-related rewards and PSM, while also reconciling contradictory research findings to date and making several propositions for empirical research

PMERS, Environmental Uncertainty, and Managerial Behaviour: An Empirical Investigation of the E-V Theory of Motivation in the Organisational Setting

The contribution of Management Control Systems (MCS) in general, and of the Performance Measurement Evaluation and Reward System (PMERS) in particular, to the motivation of the managers who operate at the middle level of the organisation's hierarchy has received relatively little examination up to date. Most of the available empirical evidence in the area of measurement, evaluation and reward of managerial performance tends to focus almost exclusively on executive managers operating at the top level. Using an Expectancy-Valence (E-V) model of job behaviour as a theoretical framework, this study primarily sets out to investigate the impact of the PMERS on middle-level managers' motivation and subsequent performance. At a second level, it aims to examine the relative success of the PMERS to positively influence managerial motivation and performance under all environmental conditions, both certain and uncertain. By means of an analytic questionnaire - which was purposively developed on the basis of instruments previously tested and extensively used in practice by other researchers in the field - a sample of 225 middle-level managers from a large UK-based financial institution provided data for the study. All in all, the analysis of the managerial perceptions gathered regarding the company's PMERS indicate that the managers' motivation is primarily affected by the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards that they perceive to enjoy in the context of their job environment. Motivation is specifically related both to the perceived value and to the performance-dependency of these rewards. The latter seems to suggest that a key issue affecting the motivational effectiveness of the PMERS - and therefore a central design consideration - is the choice of rewards to be included in the company's reward package, as well as the manner through which these rewards are eventually allocated to the company's managerial staff. As to the intervening effect of perceived environmental uncertainty, this research provides evidence to show that the managers' perceptions about how uncertain their (internal and external) job environment is have a significant adverse impact on their perceptions about the accuracy of the performance measures and the attainability of the performance standards that are employed within the PMERS. This result implies that the design of the company's PMERS is better seen as situationally specific, i.e., as contingent on the relevant (actual and perceived) conditions of the organisational environment for which it is intended

Authentic leadership, psychological capital, acceptance of change, and innovative work behaviour in non‐profit organisations

This paper examines whether authentic leadership provides the resources employees need to build their psychological capacities and well-being so that they can embrace organisational change and engage in innovative work behaviour (IWB) within non-profit organisation (NPO). The paper builds on previous research examining the antecedents of IWB such as ‘innovation-enabling culture’ and psychological capital (PsyCap). The new variables examined in this study are authentic leadership and acceptance of change. Utilising a structural equation modelling methodology, 248 surveys from Australian not-for-profit employees were analysed revealing that authentic leadership accounted for more than a fifth of the variance of PsyCap; PsyCap, age, and authentic leadership accounted for 40% of employees’ well-being; and age, leadership, and acceptance of change accounted for a quarter of their IWB, although acceptance of change was not directly related to IWB. The main contribution of this paper is in explaining why authentic leadership is an important ingredient for building an ‘innovation-enabling culture’ for NPO employees, suggesting that such leadership provides a pathway for developing effective workplace relationships built on trust and ethical decision making. Such behaviour builds a supportive culture for developing employees’ personal resources, which promotes the conditions for promoting IWB

With a little help from my friends: the positive contribution of teamwork to safety behaviour in public hospitals

Against the backdrop of decreased organizational slack in public sector organizations, we investigate the direct and indirect effect of teams on safety behaviour in an Italian acute care hospital. Quantitative and qualitative findings confirm the positive contribution of teams to individuals’ safety behaviour. The study contributes to the limited empirical research on safety behaviour in high-reliability settings as part of a wider conversation about public sector professionals under crisis. The findings can assist managers of public sector hospitals to facilitate conditions for effective team communication in the interest of patient safety, and can, conceivably, be extended to other public sector high-reliability settings

Boundary-spanning leadership in hybrid networks: a case study of English local safeguarding children boards

This chapter reviews the conditions leading to the emergence of hybrid network structures involved in public service delivery, analyses opportunities for boundary-spanning by network members and frames these against different manifestations of leadership in such collaborative contexts. It addresses a gap in knowledge around leadership in hybrid networks, on the one hand, and around effectiveness of hybrid networks, on the other hand. Following researc of an in depth case-study of a hybrid network (LSCB) in England, UK, we advance a researchable proposition according to which, in turbulent times, the effectiveness of such networks is enhanced through one particular leadership type rather than others

Risk governance through public sector interactive control systems: the intricacies of turning immeasurable uncertainties into manageable risks

Drawing on the conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty, the authors examine the governance of shared risk in public sector partnerships in an area governed by uncertainty. Their case study of a local safeguarding children board (LSCB) reveals differences between risk and uncertainty and ways in which negotiations of LSCB partners’ different risk conceptualizations contributes to uncertainty reduction in children’s services. The article contributes to both to an understanding of risk and uncertainty management in the public sector and to that of public sector inter-organizational management accounting and control

Audio-Visual Feedback: Student Attainment and Student and Staff Perceptions

No abstract available