Innovation in Local Government: An International Comparative Analysis

Research on innovation award winners has occurred over the last two decades following the work of scholars studying finalists in the (now) Harvard Kennedy School of Government annual Innovations in American Government Awards.... [ view full abstract ]

Research on innovation award winners has occurred over the last two decades following the work of scholars studying finalists in the (now) Harvard Kennedy School of Government annual Innovations in American Government Awards. The Canadian scholar Sandford Borins (2014) - a leading light documenting this research – provides a comprehensive analysis of the structure and function of the innovation process. As Walker’s recent (2014) meta analysis of innovation research revealed there are structural antecedents that facilitate innovation enabling individual creativity to innovate and change, fundamentally, the way government works. In this paper we report on the nature of innovation awards in three different cultures: Australia, Canada and Italy. Our aim is to explore the balance of culture and cognition (Adolf et al 2013) in the innovation process in local or municipal government in these three countries asking if what is valued as innovative in local government is different in each place.

References

Adolf, M., J. L. Mast and N. Stehr (2013) Culture and Cognition: The Foundations of Innovation in Modern Societies in F. Adam and H. Westlund (eds) Innovation in a Socio-Cultural Context, London, Routledge.

Borins, S. (2014) The Persistence of Innovation in Government, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA.

Walker, R. M. (2014) Internal and External Antecedents of Process Innovation: A review and extension, Public Management Review, 16(1), 21-44.