TY - JOUR
T1 - Modernize the Public Sector through Innovation?
T2 - A Challenge for the Role of Applied Social Science and Evaluation
AU - Hansson, Finn
AU - Norn, Maria Theresa
AU - Vad, Torben Bundgaard
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The New Public Management drive to innovate in the public sector has become less influential and new initiatives to drive innovation are now sought. There are well-known challenges when using social science research to inform innovation in the public sector. In order to address these challenges, this article presents the case of an evaluation of the Program on Research for Innovation and Renewal in the Public Sector (abbreviated FIFOS) under the Research Council of Norway. The evaluation described a number of problems in implementing new innovative knowledge, not only because of the organization of projects but also because of the still-common linear thinking in the application of new knowledge, especially in relation to innovation. A discussion and critique is presented and a different approach to the implementation of innovations based on ideas from organizational learning is proposed. Such an alternative strategy for producing and organizing the use of social science research to inform innovation in the public sector demands the rethinking of relevant evaluation models. In order to evaluate such a new approach, the article advocates new formative evaluation strategies, where learning and dialogue are the focus.
AB - The New Public Management drive to innovate in the public sector has become less influential and new initiatives to drive innovation are now sought. There are well-known challenges when using social science research to inform innovation in the public sector. In order to address these challenges, this article presents the case of an evaluation of the Program on Research for Innovation and Renewal in the Public Sector (abbreviated FIFOS) under the Research Council of Norway. The evaluation described a number of problems in implementing new innovative knowledge, not only because of the organization of projects but also because of the still-common linear thinking in the application of new knowledge, especially in relation to innovation. A discussion and critique is presented and a different approach to the implementation of innovations based on ideas from organizational learning is proposed. Such an alternative strategy for producing and organizing the use of social science research to inform innovation in the public sector demands the rethinking of relevant evaluation models. In order to evaluate such a new approach, the article advocates new formative evaluation strategies, where learning and dialogue are the focus.
KW - Applied research
KW - Evaluation models
KW - Formative evaluation
KW - Innovation
KW - Public-sector modernization
U2 - 10.1177/1356389014529835
DO - 10.1177/1356389014529835
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1356-3890
VL - 20
SP - 244
EP - 260
JO - Evaluation: The International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice
JF - Evaluation: The International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice
IS - 2
ER -