To borrow or not to borrow? How theory developed in one context (the private sector) can be usefully applied to another (the public sector)

Public management scholarship is increasingly influenced by theories derived from generic management disciplines. However, despite growing interest, various ‘failures’ associated with poorly translated theories have been... [ view full abstract ]

Public management scholarship is increasingly influenced by theories derived from generic management disciplines. However, despite growing interest, various ‘failures’ associated with poorly translated theories have been reported and it would appear as though little is known from the literature about how theories can be borrowed in context-sensitive ways.  Resulting from a synthesis of the ‘theory borrowing’ literature (ironically, derived from generic management) this paper presents a novel framework for sensitising theory between different organisational contexts, both public and private.  The ‘failed’ importation of Lean Thinking to public health services is used as a concrete case example throughout the paper.