N Torugsa

Complexity of Innovation in the public sector: A workgroup-level analysis of related factors and outcomes

Abstract Complex innovation incorporates more than one innovation type. Using the number of dimensions of the ‘most significant innovation’ implemented by each public employee’s workgroup as a proxy for innovation complexity, this study explores factors that are associated with complexity and examines how complexity affects innovation outcomes. Employing a sample of 4,369 Australian Government employees, we find that the more complex the innovation, the greater the number of barriers a workgroup has to face in its implementation. A broader (but selective) range of idea sources and a more decentralized workplace where both individual and team creativity is encouraged increase the likelihood of implementing complex innovations. Innovation complexity is positively correlated with the variety of beneficial outcomes, suggesting both policy and management interest in supporting complex innovation in the public sector.

The nature and incidence of workgroup innovation in the Australian public sector: Evidence from the Australian 2011 State of the Service survey

Using data from a nationally representative survey of all Australian Government employees, we explore the nature of innovation implemented at the workgroup level and assess the multidimensionality of the workgroup’s ‘most significant innovation’ (MSI). Of the 10222 survey respondents, 48% reported at least one innovation implemented by their workgroup, with an innovation more commonly reported with an increase in the respondent’s age, seniority, and service experience; among men and university graduates. The results reveal that 54% of the reported MSIs incorporate between two and five dimensions of innovation types (policy, service, service delivery, administrative/organizational, and conceptual), and most of these dimensions reinforce each other. Different dimensions of the MSI draw on different sources of ideas (with senior leaders having the broadest impact), face different ‘revealed’ barriers, require different levels of workplace creativity, and produce different beneficial effects. Our findings help strengthen an understanding of the influencing factors and the effects of multidimensional public sector innovations

PRIVATE–PUBLIC COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE: DOES TRAINING MATTER?

This study examines, through the theoretical lens of absorptive capacity, how the interaction between investments in R&D and training moderates the influence of collaboration with public research organisations (PROs) on firm innovation performance. Using data for 1,086 innovating firms across all industry sectors in the Australian state of Tasmania in 2010, we find that there is no direct association between collaboration with PROs and firm innovation performance, and the R&D-training interaction plays a significant role in positively moderating such an association. This study contributes to the innovation management literature by demonstrating the importance of the combination of R&D and training in creating absorptive capacity. More importantly, the combination of R&D and training positively influences the successful exploitation of private–public collaboration and promotes innovation performance.

Understanding individual responses to failure by the organisation to fulfil its obligations: examining the influence of psychological capital and psychological contract type

This study advances both psychological contract (PC) and psychological capital (PsyCap) research by testing a novel theoretical model predicting likely worker response, as a joint function of an individuals level of PsyCap and PC type, to perceived failure by the organisation to meet its obligations to the worker–organisation relationship. With a large emergency services organisation using volunteer workers as the research context, the study presents the first empirical evidence from a sample of 592 volunteers that the integrated application of PC and PsyCap theory can contribute to a better understanding of individual responses to an organisations failure to affirm ongoing support for the volunteer–organisation relationship.

Inter-Firm Collaboration And Innovation Performance For New-To-Market Products — The Moderating Role Of Technological And Skills-Related Knowledge Assets

This study examines the impact that the two types of knowledge assets — technological knowledge and skills-related knowledge — have on the link between inter-firm collaboration (IFC) and product innovation performance, measured by the sales share of new-to-market products. Drawing on transaction cost economics (TCE), we propose that the relation specificity of these knowledge assets that a firm shares with its partners (reflecting its level of research and development (R&D) and training investments, respectively) is a key determinant of the benefits and transaction costs associated with IFC. Using a two-wave panel of 480 innovating firms in the Australian state of Tasmania, we find that the observed positive association between IFC and the sales share of new-to-market products declines at high levels of R&D and training intensities. Our findings help strengthen an understanding of the role of transaction costs for relation-specific knowledge assets and the factors that could influence the value of IFC as a pathway to enhanced innovation performance for new-to-market products.

The Role of Responsible HRM Practices and a Culture-Related Capability on the CSR-Performance Association: A Small Firm Perspective

This chapter focuses on the role that responsible human resource management practices (HRM) play in relation to proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impact on firm performance, using evidence from small firms in the Australian manufacturing industry. The empirical evidence reveals the critical moderating contribution of responsible HRM practices in the implementation of proactive CSR and enhancement of financial performance in small firms. The study findings indicate the need for managers of small firms, who wish to boost financial competitiveness through proactive CSR, to adopt responsible HRM practices that avoid a directive approach and which foster employee participation and engagement. It is suggested that this can be done by leveraging the relative informality of work organisation and familial ties that help engender trust and reciprocity in small firms.

Leaping Into Real-World Relevance: An “Abduction” Process for Nonprofit Research:

Positioned in the midst of the heated debate about the production of relevant and usable knowledge for practitioners in the nonprofit sector and a serious shortage of high-impact research that speaks to practice, the purpose of this Research Note is to direct nonprofit scholarship toward embracing “abduction,” which is the initial creative stage in scientific inquiry that facilitates the formulation of testable explanatory hypotheses and makes new discoveries in a sensory and logically structured way. We use an emerging interest in social innovation by the nonprofit sector as an illustrative example to show the advantages of using abductive reasoning as the primary method of reasoning for discovering new knowledge of a nascent but vital phenomenon. The novel contribution of this Research Note lies in encouraging scholarship on the nonprofit sector to an applied “practice-led” research process that is intellectually relevant and has the potential to bridge the scholar–practice divide.

Applying Configurational Thinking to Identify Recipes for Producing Service Innovations in the Service Sector

Using data from a sample of 2,528 European service firms, this study applies configurational thinking to identify combinations or “recipes” of attributes that can result in service innovation. Attributes of interest include the sector of service activities, the type of market served, the presence of production in other countries, the introduction of potentially complementary process and organisational innovations, and investment in research and development. We employ crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to identify recipes for service innovation, and verify the results using logit regression. By revealing several recipes for service innovation and demonstrating the value of QCA’s configurational thinking in providing a nuanced picture of the heterogeneity of innovation activities at the level of individual firms, our findings provide valuable linkages to managerial actions and have the potential for revitalising theory of service innovation.