Innovation and Leadership in Public Sector Organizations

Abstract

Although studies have addressed the factors that affect innovation, the findings have often been unclear and inconclusive. This is because there is no consistent definition of the concept of innovation in the existing literature. In addition, leadership behaviors that promote innovation in the public sector differ considerably from one nation to another. Thus, this study presents a consolidated in-depth literature review and analysis of the innovation and leadership literature that is specific to public sector organizations across nations. The analysis informs the development of a workplace innovation conceptual model specific to the public sector. The findings increase our understanding of how to effectively define innovation and to recognize the way in which leadership behaviors enhance public sector cultures of innovation.