The Effect of Stakeholder Inclusion on Public Sector Project Innovation

The delivery of public services in collaborative agency networks has given rise to an increasing use of projects in administering policy and service delivery. Projects are assumed to provide mechanisms by which flexibility can be achieved and innovative solutions produced. The aim of the article is to advance the understanding of collaboration between stakeholders and its effect on innovation. It analyses stakeholders' influence on the creation of project innovations in 275 European Union-funded projects by using content analyses and logistic regression analyses. The results show that projects can act as hubs where valuable information is produced but that few projects produce innovations. Project stakeholder network, knowledge dissemination and project influence, as well as sources of advice, play a role in predicting project innovations. The article concludes that the overly optimistic view of collaboration as a remedy for a lack of innovation in the public sector can be questioned. Points for practitioners The results of the article help practitioners to compose public sector development projects that foster innovation. The results suggest that it pays to include representatives of research and education facilities among project staff as their inclusion predicts the possibilities of achieving innovations. The empirical findings provide insight into project innovation and indicate which practices to avoid. It is suggested that when managed correctly, stakeholder inclusion has an effect on public sector project innovation.Peer reviewe

Pension governance in Finland: a case study on public and private logics of governance in pension provision

The study empirically reviews the administrative practices of the organizational field formed by the Finnish statutory earnings-related pension scheme, and theoretical tools are developed for analyzing the administration models of European public-private partnership pension systems

Suunnitteluperusteinen, voimavaralähtöinen ja suhdekeskeinen. Kolme lähtökohtaa virastostrategian muotoiluun

The main contribution of this study is theidentification of three modes of strategy forpublic agencies based on strategic thoughtin a corporate environment, strategic design,internal strategic scanning, and strategicgovernance embody three distinct modes ofstrategy relevant in the public sector.Programming actions, combining capabilities,and formation of networks capture the essenceof these strategic orientations. By offeringan organization-based view of public sectorstrategy, this study puts public agencies atthe centre of strategic examination. Thefundamental unit of analysis within agenciesis administrative duty, which connectsadministrative action with the democraticdecision-making process. These three strategymodes are based on complementary and,in some respects, contradictory theoreticalassumptions, but all offer opportunities forconfronting the diverse environments faced bypublic agencies. Each strategic orientation hasa distinct approach to such features as therole of management, occupational groups, theenvironment, and types of capital

Strategic management : Public sector view

Strategic management has become an integral tool to organize actions in government, but most of the previous research effort has adopted a focus on individual organizations in studying private enterprises. Within the public sector, politics at the central and federal government plays an important part in decision-making and in implementing goals which also brings forth the importance of political struggle and bargaining. Many of the developments in strategic management can be viewed from the perspectives of strategic design, internal strategic scanning, and strategic governance which orient the attention to both system strategies in making choices for the government as whole as well as to the strategic choices within public agencies. These strategy modes are differently attuned to the focus of examination, method of reaching future circumstances, and preferred type of capital.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe