In this policy brief we recommend that in order to face numerous societal challenges such as migration and climate change, regional governments should create a culture of innovation by opening up themselves and stimulate active citizenship by supporting so called Public Sector Innovation (PSI) labs. These labs bring together different types of stakeholders that will explore new solutions for societalchallenges and come up with new policies to tackle them. This method has been developed and tested in a large EU funded research project.
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Using survey data gathered among Dutch public sector management accountants, this contribution shows that appreciative skills and personal skills are considered the most important competencies of these professionals. The authors found gaps between the assigned importance and the actual level of competencies in the fields of interpersonal skills and technical skills. As well, there were differences between age groups.
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At first glance, Public Sector Innovation (PSI) Labs are gaining prominence within academic literature, the European Union (EU) and beyond. However, because of the relative newness and conceptual ambiguity of this concept, the exact contribution of these labs to theory and practice is still unclear. In addition, most research has been looking at case studies. This publication breaks new ground by elaborating on the concept and also by looking at the perception of these labs in different contexts, by comparing multiple labs in multiple countries. In doing so, we raised the question: ‘What is the perceived added value of Public Sector Innovation labs for further developing theory as well as for society?’ In order to answer this question, by way of an experiment, we combined theoretical research together with focus groups with members of the EU funded project Multi Disciplinary Innovation for Social Change (SHIINE) in combination with questionnaires to selected PSI labs, thus providing us with rich data. Our experimental methodology uncovered a conceptual bias that is probably existent in similar studies and needs to be acknowledged more. In addition, we found that PSI labs have developed over time into an amalgam of two competing concepts. To conclude, we believe that the specific potential of PSI labs as an internal space for innovation within institutions is underutilised. We believe this could be improved by acknowledging the specific aim of PSI labs in a co-creative setting between relevant stakeholders, such as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
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De focus binnen het lectoraat is gericht op botsende waarden. Publieke organisaties onderscheiden zich op vele punten van private organisaties en hebben unieke publieke waarden. In vele westerse en niet westerse landen zien wij New Public Management opkomen. De kern van deze benadering is dat de verschillen tussen publieke en private organisaties helemaal niet zo groot zijn en dat publieke organisaties kunnen leren van het bedrijfsleven. In het onderzoek van het lectoraat wordt, aan de hand van het thema prestatiemeting, nagegaan in hoeverre er sprake is van botsende waarden, hoe deze botsing tot uitdrukking komt en welke alternatieven er zijn. Het onderzoek van het lectoraat richt zich vooral op prestatiemeting in de publieke sector, waarbij prestatiemeting zowel wordt beschouwd op het niveau van de individuele werknemer als op het niveau van de publieke organisatie als geheel.
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A public sector that adequately makes use of information technology can provide improved government services that not only stimulates business development it also intensifies citizen participation and economic growth. However, the effectiveness of IT and its governance at both national as well as on municipality level leaves much to be desired. It is often stated that this is due to a lack of digital skills needed to manage the IT function and alignment with business. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the effect that digital leadership competences and IT capabilities have on digital transformation readiness within Dutch municipalities. Based on an analyses of survey data from 178 respondents we recommend municipalities to implement a range of activities that all are related to realize the ability to constantly apply strategic thinking and organizational leadership to exploit the capability of Information Technology to improve the business.
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Public innovation has come of age. It is now a distinctive field in its own right, and no longer overly reliant on evidence, concepts and norms derived from private sector research (for example Arundel et al., 2019; Windrum & Koch, 2008; Hartley, 2005; Bekkers & Tummers, 2018). A key feature of public innovation is its publicness—it occurs in, and is linked to, a formal political context rather than being driven by market pressures.
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An interview-study of 18 senior professionals in the Netherlands and the UK exploring how professionals in senior positions perceive (team) collaboration in the public sector and how they manage collaboration in a fast evolving, post-pandemic world of digital transformation. Framed by team theory and theory on organisational logic, the key findings from the study highlight a number of variables important for effective collaboration between professionals in the digital era, such as trust, shared norms, shared goals, and the importance of leadership. Rapid digitisation creates many upsides for efficiency and communication possibilities but also threatens meaningful relationships, work-life balance and time for reflection in teams.
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Recent years have seen a massive growth in ethical and legal frameworks to govern data science practices. Yet one of the core questions associated with ethical and legal frameworks is the extent to which they are implemented in practice. A particularly interesting case in this context comes to public officials, for whom higher standards typically exist. We are thus trying to understand how ethical and legal frameworks influence the everyday practices on data and algorithms of public sector data professionals. The following paper looks at two cases: public sector data professionals (1) at municipalities in the Netherlands and (2) at the Netherlands Police. We compare these two cases based on an analytical research framework we develop in this article to help understanding of everyday professional practices. We conclude that there is a wide gap between legal and ethical governance rules and the everyday practices.
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from the article: "In the Netherlands, housing corporations are increasingly adopting self-service technologies (SSTs) to support affairs their tenants need to arrange. The purpose of the study is to examine the customers’ motivations of using SSTs in the context of the Dutch public housing sector. An empirical investigation is presented based on a sample of 1,209 tenants. Using partial least squares (PLS), the acceptance model of Blut, Wang, and Schoefer is adopted and tested. The results show that especially the need for interaction negatively influence the adoption of SSTs by tenants. Positively, subjective norm and self-efficacy influence the adoption. Furthermore, playfulness negatively influences this adoption. Developers of SSTs should focus on its ulitalitarian function, rather then invest in its playfulness. Moreover, adoption is propelled by the encouragement of others. This can be enhanced by positive word-of mouth and should therefore stimulated."
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