TY - UNPB
T1 - The Transformative Capacity of Public Sector Organizations in Sustainability Transitions
T2 - A Conceptualization
AU - Borrás, Susana
AU - Haakonsson, Stine
AU - Poulsen, René Taudal
AU - Pallesen, Trine
AU - Hendriksen, Christian
AU - Somavilla, Lucas
AU - Kugelberg, Susanna
AU - Larsen, Henrik
AU - Gerli, Francesco
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Although public sector organizations (such as municipalities, executive agencies, and publicly controlled utilities), are pivotal in sustainability transitions, a conceptualization of their transformative capacity is underdeveloped. Several strands of literature have started to pay attention to the concept of ‘capacity’, but these remain disjointed. Conducting a literature review, the present paper identifies variations and understudied aspects of the concept. It proposes a holistic conceptual framework based on three elements: their organizational roles, resources, and skills. Hence, the transformative capacity of a public sector organization is defined by the interaction between its purposeful enactment of various roles when exercising change agency, and by the deployment and development of its dynamic skills, when mobilizing the internal and external resources at its disposal. The framework offers the opportunity for a granular understanding of what specific combinations of those elements are at play in the implementation of highly diverse sustainability actions. This has important theoretical and empirical implications, as well as practical implications for more targeted transformative capacity-building efforts.
AB - Although public sector organizations (such as municipalities, executive agencies, and publicly controlled utilities), are pivotal in sustainability transitions, a conceptualization of their transformative capacity is underdeveloped. Several strands of literature have started to pay attention to the concept of ‘capacity’, but these remain disjointed. Conducting a literature review, the present paper identifies variations and understudied aspects of the concept. It proposes a holistic conceptual framework based on three elements: their organizational roles, resources, and skills. Hence, the transformative capacity of a public sector organization is defined by the interaction between its purposeful enactment of various roles when exercising change agency, and by the deployment and development of its dynamic skills, when mobilizing the internal and external resources at its disposal. The framework offers the opportunity for a granular understanding of what specific combinations of those elements are at play in the implementation of highly diverse sustainability actions. This has important theoretical and empirical implications, as well as practical implications for more targeted transformative capacity-building efforts.
KW - Sustainability transistions
KW - Eco-innovation
KW - Transformative innovation
KW - Socio-technical systems
KW - Climate
KW - Capacity
KW - Dynamic capabilities
KW - Governance
KW - Sustainability transitions
KW - Eco-innovation
KW - Transformative innovation
KW - Socio-technical systems
KW - Climate
KW - Capacity
KW - Dynamic capabilities
KW - Governance
M3 - Working paper
T3 - Papers in Innovation Studies
BT - The Transformative Capacity of Public Sector Organizations in Sustainability Transitions
PB - Lund University
CY - Lund
ER -