Late Getting on the Bandwagon: Management Innovation Adoption in the Federal Government

Recent organizational performance studies identified an increase in the adoption of management innovations as more organizations seek to use innovation for competitive advantage. Despite an abundance of literature on management innovations in the private sector, there has been little empirical research done to explain the adoption decisions of management innovations in the public sector, especially in the federal government. To better understand innovation adoption in the federal government, this study investigated the adoption of 17 management innovations.This empirical study gathered data from 252 senior federal managers from 44 different executive departments and federal agencies. Statistical analysis confirmed that external pressure, organizational slack, organizational risk-taking, and managerial socialization had positive and statistically significant (p