Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Innovation with Effectuation: An Opportunity for the Public Sector

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Innovating in Practice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on new innovation models in the public sector. It analyses the specificities of the public sector—institutionalism and professionalism—as the context of innovation. On the other hand, it argues that entrepreneurial innovation processes combined with the perspectives of learning and networking are very well applicable—not only in the private companies but in public organizations as well. Based on this view, the effectual approach, closely linked to service-dominant logic (SDL), is examined as a theoretical construct and tested in practice. An ‘effectual-type’ process, in which a city administration collaborates with citizens groups to foster the mutual expansion of resources, is described as a case and the characteristics showing analytical generalizability are identified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aagaard, P. (2012). Drivers and barriers of public innovation in crime prevention. The Innovation Journal: The Public Innovation Journal, 17(1), 2–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbott, A. (1988). The system of profession: An essay on the division of labor. London and Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albury, D. (2005). Fostering innovation in public services. Public Money and Management, 25(1), 51–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arend, R. J., & Chen, Y. (2012). Entrepreneurship as dynamic, complex, disequilibrious: A focus that benefits strategic organization. Strategic Organization, 10(1), 85–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J. (2006). Agency and institutions: The enabling role of individuals' social position. Organization, 13(5), 653–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J., Leca, B., & Boxenbaum, E. (2009). How actors change Institutions: Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 65–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the supervision of identity. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open business models: How to thrive in the new innovation landscape. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiles, T. H., Tuggle, C. S., McMullen, J. S., Bierman, L., & Greening, D. W. (2010). Dynamic creation: Extending the radical Austrian approach to entrepreneurship. Organization Studies, 31(1), 7–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, T. (2012). Post-NPM and changing public governance. Meiji Journal of Political Science and Economics, 1, 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corradi, G. G., & Verzelloni, L. (2010). Through the practice lens: Where is the bandwagon of practice-based studies heading? Management Learning, 41(3), 265–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Lockett, A., Finn, R., Martin, G., & Waring, J. (2012). Institutional work to maintain professional power: Recreating the model of medical professionalism. Organization Studies, 33(7), 937–962.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dent, M., & Whitehead, S. (2002). Introduction: Configuring the “new” professional. In M. Dent & S. Whitehead (Eds.), Managing professional identities (pp. 1–16). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J. (1988). Interests and agency in institutional theory. In L.-G. Zucker (Ed.), Institutional patterns and organizations (pp. 3–21). Cambridge: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1991). Introduction. In P. J. DiMaggio & W. W. Powell (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 1–40). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorado, S. (2005). Institutional entrepreneurship, partaking and convening. Organization Studies, 26(3), 386–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorado, S. (2013). Small groups as context for institutional entrepreneurship: An exploration of the emergence of commercial microfinance in Bolivia. Organization Studies, 34(4), 533–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drori, I., & Honig, B. (2013). A process model of internal and external legitimacy. Organization Studies, 34(3), 345–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du Gay, P. (2007). Organizing identity: Persons and organizations after theory. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emison, G. A. (2010). Ethics of innovation for public service professionals. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 15(3), 2–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (Ed.). (1969). The semi-professions and their organization: Teachers, nurses, social workers. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evetts, J. (2012). Professionalism in turbulent times: Changes, challenges and opportunities. Propel International Conference, Stirling 9–11 May 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferlie, E., Fitzgerald, L., Wood, M., & Hawkins, C. (2005). The nonspread of innovations: The mediating role of professionals. Academy of Management Journal, 48(1), 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foss, N., & Lorenzen, M. (2009). Towards an understanding of cognitive coordination: Theoretical developments and empirical illustrations. Organization Studies, 30(11), 1201–1226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freidson, E. (2001). Professionalism: The third logic. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedland, R., & Alford, R. (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices and institutional contradictions. In P. J. DiMaggio & W. W. Powell (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 232–263). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuglsang, L., & Eide, D. (2012). The experience turn as “bandwagon”: Understanding network formation and innovation as practice. European Urban and Regional Studies, 20(4), 417–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujimura, J. (1992). Crafting science: Standardised packages, boundary objects and translation. In A. Pickering (Ed.), Science as practice and culture (pp. 168–211). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garud, R., Hardy, C., & Maguire, S. (2007). Institutional entrepreneurship as embedded agency: An introduction to the special issue. Organization Studies, 28(7), 957–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gephart, R. (2004). What is qualitative research and why is it important? Academy of Management Journal, 47(4), 454–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. The Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1022–1054.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., Raynard, M., Kodeih, F., Micelotta, E. R., & Lounsbury, M. (2011). Institutional complexity and organizational responses. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 317–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halford, S., & Leonard, P. (2002). New identities? Professionalism, managerialism and the construction of self. In M. Exworthy & S. Halford (Eds.), Professionals and the new managerialism in the public sector (pp. 102–120). Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley, J. (2005). Innovation in governance and public services: Past and present. Public Money and Management, 25(1), 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitt, M. A., Ireland, D., Sirmon, D. G., & Trahms, C. A. (2011). Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating value for individuals, organizations and society. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(2), 57–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, A. J. (1999). Institutional evolution and change: Environmentalism and the US chemical industry. Academy of Management Journal, 42(4), 351–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons. Public Administration, 69(1), 93–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huberman, A. M., & Miles, M. B. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 428–444). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hwang, H., & Colyvas, J. A. (2011). Problematizing actors and institutional work. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(1), 62–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarzabkowski, P. (2005). Strategy as practice: An activity-based approach. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kesting, P., & Ulhøi, J. P. (2010). Employee-driven innovation: Extending the license to foster innovation. Management Decision, 48(1), 65–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kodeih, F., & Greenwood, R. (2014). Responding to institutional complexity: The role of identity. Organization Studies, 35(1), 7–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews. An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langergaard, L. (2011). Understanding of “users” and innovation in a public sector context. In J. Sundbo & M. Toivonen (Eds.), User-based innovation in services (pp. 203–226). Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., Leca, B., & Zilber, T. B. (2013). Institutional work: Current research, new directions and overlooked issues. Organization Studies, 34(8), 1023–1033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutions and institutional work. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 215–254). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., Suddaby, R., & Leca, B. (2009). Introduction: Theorizing and studying institutional work. In R. Suddaby, B. Leca, & T. B. Lawrence (Eds.), Institutional work: Actors and agency in institutional studies of organizations (pp. 1–27). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Llewellyn, S. (2001). Two-way windows: Clinicians as medical managers. Organization Studies, 22(4), 593–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llewellyn, N., & Spence, L. (2009). Practice as a members’ phenomenon. Organization Studies, 30(12), 1419–1439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lounsbury, M., & Crumley, E. T. (2007). New practice creation: An institutional perspective on innovation. Organization Studies, 28(7), 993–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lounsbury, M., & Glynn, M. A. (2001). Cultural entrepreneurship: Stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 22(6/7), 545–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundvall, B.-Å. (2007). Innovation system research: Where it came from and where it might go. Working Paper Series, 2007-01. The Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building System (GLOBELICS).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquis, C., Glynn, M. A., & Gerald, D. (2007). Community isomorphism and corporate social action. Academy of Management Journal, 32(3), 925–945.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as a myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misztal, B. A. (2002). Trusting the professional: A managerial discourse for uncertain times. In M. Dent & S. Whitehead (Eds.), Managing professional identities: Knowledge, performativity and the “new” professional (pp. 19–37). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery, K., & Oliver, A. L. (2007). A fresh look at how professions take shape: Dual-directed networking dynamics and social boundaries. Organization Studies, 28(5), 661–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noordegraaf, M. (2007). From “pure” to “hybrid” professionalism: Present-day professionalism in ambiguous public domains. Administration and Society, 39(6), 761–785.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noordegraaf, M. (2011). Risky business: How professionals and professional fields (must) deal with organizational issues. Organization Studies, 32(10), 1349–1371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, S. P., Zoe, R., & Nasi, G. (2012). A new theory for public service management? Toward a (public) service-dominant approach. American Review of Public Administration, 43(2), 135–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C. (1993). Managerialism and the public services. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, S., Dew, N., Sarasvathy, S. D., Song, M., & Wiltbank, R. (2009). Marketing under uncertainty: The logic of an effectual approach. Journal of Marketing, 73(May), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008). Effectuation: Elements of entrepreneurial expertise. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. D., & Dew, N. (2005). Entrepreneurial logics for a technology of foolishness. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 21(4), 385–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. D., & Kotha, S. (2001). Dealing with Knightian uncertainty in the new economy: The real networks case. In J. Butler (Ed.), Research on management and entrepreneurship (Vol. 1, pp. 31–62). Greenwich, CT: IAP Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, R. (1995). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (2008). Lords of the dance: Professionals as institutional agents. Organization Studies, 29(2), 219–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo, M. G., & Creed, D. W. E. (2002). Institutional contradictions praxis and institutional change: A dialectical perspective. Academy of Management Review, 27(2), 222–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, G., & Good, D. (2013). The work of middle managers: Sensemaking and sensegiving for creating positive social change. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 49(1), 95–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smets, M., & Jarzabkowski, P. (2013). Reconstructing institutional complexity in practice: A relational model of institutional work and complexity. Human Relations, 66(10), 1279–1309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2011). Enhancing social innovation by rethinking collaboration, leadership and public governance. Nesta Social Frontiers: The next edge of social innovation research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2012). Introduction: Collaborative innovation in the public sector. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 17(1), 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Star, S. L. (1989). The structure of ill-structured solutions: Boundary objects and heterogeneous distributed problem solving. In M. N. Huhns & L. Gasser (Eds.), Distributed artificial intelligence (pp. 37–54). London: Pitman.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Suddaby, R., & Greenwood, R. (2005). Rhetorical strategies of legitimacy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(1), 35–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suddaby, R., Seidl, D., & Lê, J. K. (2013). Strategy-as-practice meets neo-institutional theory. Strategic Organization, 11(3), 329–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suddaby, R., & Viale, T. (2011). Professionals and field-level change: Institutional work and the professional project. Current Sociology, 59(4), 423–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundbo, J., & Toivonen, M. (2011). Introduction. In J. Sundbo & M. Toivonen (Eds.), User-based innovation in services. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Teboul, J. (2006). Service is front stage: Positioning services for value advantage. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure and process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Torfing, J., & Triantafillou, P. (2013). What's in name? Grasping new public governance as a political-administrative system. International Review of Public Administration, 18(2), 9–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tummers, L. (2009). Policy alienation and the power of professionals: Confronting new policies. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tummers, L. (2013). Connecting public administration and change management literature: The effects of policy alienation on resistance to change. 11th Public Management Research Conference, Madison, Wisconsin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tummers, L., Bekkers, V., & Steijn, B. (2009). Policy alienation of public professionals: Application in a new public management context. Public Management Review, 11(5), 685–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, S., & Lusch, R. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, S., & Lusch, R. (2008). Service-dominant logic: Continuing the evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Hippel, E. (2005). Democratizing innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasserman, V., & Frenkel, M. (2011). Organizational aesthetics: Caught between identity regulation and culture jamming. Organization Science, 22(2), 503–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windrum, P. (2008). Introduction. In P. Windrum & P. Koch (Eds.), Innovation in public sector services: Entrepreneurship, creativity and management (pp. 3–20). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Freelance Scientist, Valtakatu 32 AS 10, 96200, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Kirsti Mäensivu

  2. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Helsinki, Finland

    Marja Toivonen

  3. Aalto University School of Business, Helsingfors, Finland

    Karo Tammela

Authors
  1. Kirsti Mäensivu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marja Toivonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Karo Tammela
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirsti Mäensivu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Tiziana Russo-Spena

  2. University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Cristina Mele

  3. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT, Finland

    Maaria Nuutinen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mäensivu, K., Toivonen, M., Tammela, K. (2017). Innovation with Effectuation: An Opportunity for the Public Sector. In: Russo-Spena, T., Mele, C., Nuutinen, M. (eds) Innovating in Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43380-6_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation