Does Innovation deliver? Systematic Review

This article brings together empirical academic research on the impacts of public sector innovation. Via a systematic literature review the study investigates articles and books on the impacts of public sector innovation... [ view full abstract ]

This article brings together empirical academic research on the impacts of public sector innovation.
Via a systematic literature review the study investigates articles and books on the impacts of public sector innovation published between 1990 and 2015.
According to the review Innovation may enhance organizational performance and may improve competitiveness and quality of life of territories and individuals.
Multiple approaches to the evaluation of innovation have been discussed and presented in literature. Most studies are grounded in more traditional efficiency and effectiveness models, whereas others suggest expanding the focus and taking into account more of the social and ideological effects pursued by public sector innovation . Some authors also suggest the need to perform stakeholder analysis in order to depict the value of innovation for individuals and understand how this determines and influences the overall impacts of innovation adoption (Dawes et al., 2009). Great emphasis has been put on broad types of outputs and outcomes. Evaluating innovation adoption represents a core phase in the innovation’s lifecycle (Tidd and Bessant, 2011).
In the private sector, a substantial body of empirical as well as theoretically-informed research has developed discussions on return of investment measures, key performance and success indicators (Birchall et al., 2004). A main motivation for evaluation is the need to monitor profitability results, in turn providing an incentive for further innovation in order to cut costs, improve market share and create new products and services. Public sector innovation shares some parallel goals, such as efficiency, productivity and adequacy of programs and services. However, the value of innovation in the public sector differs substantially from its value in the private sector and can be more complex and more difficult to measure (Walker et al. 2007; Walker, 2008).
The paper based on a systematic lterature review, highlights some major implications and proposes some future research suggestions:
(i) Firstly, the evaluation of innovation adoption goes beyond the constructs of traditional economic and management-oriented theories;
(ii) Secondly, there are multiple measures of performance that reflect individual stakeholder value and the overall community value of the innovation adoption. They include some readily-quantifiable outputs and some ‘softer’ outcomes, such as the quality of services (or processes) involved in the innovation and trust in government;
(iii)Thirdly, there is a need to formulate multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder framework that embeds context and sector-specific impacts as well as other measures like innovation-type specific effects.