Dissecting the organization matters: Gauging the effect of unit-level and organization-level factors on perceived innovation outcomes

Abstract

Public sector innovation theory argues that the extent to which governments innovate is a question of factors such as capacity, collaboration, leadership, orientation, size, and autonomy. However, public sector organizations cannot be treated as uniform entities. Different units in an organization may have different challenges, networks, and exposure to innovation resources and pressures. Using multi-level survey data from Belgian federal and Flemish public sector managers ( N=351), we provide important new knowledge to understand what characteristics and incentives at both levels (units and their organizations) should be promoted and leveraged to support managers’ perceived innovation outcomes.