Building a culture of innovation: How do agency leadership and management systems promote innovative activities within the government?

Public organisations have strived to initiate and consolidate innovation by reforming their structures, processes, and outcomes. Despite their numerous attempts, successful innovation has not been achieved in every organisation in the public sector. Analysing survey data acquired from the Korean government, we find that a leader's support for innovative action, and the development of a self-learning organisation that discarded old-fashioned customs, was key to change in government organisations. Leadership is required to promote strategic planning and performance tools for innovation, with both forms of management system likely to depend on a leader's decision. The concerns, emphasis, and support of a leader are embodied by the strategic plan and implemented using performance tools to motivate organisational members. Thus, we argue that, without supportive leadership, it is extremely difficult to establish a culture of innovation that can lead to product innovation; management and evaluation efforts may not be essential to an increase in government innovation. Ultimately, we address the innovation dilemmas that many public organisations encounter in the course of organisational development. We suggest that a performance evaluation programme that requires immediate success can eventually limit sustainable innovation in the long term, even if innovation performance improves in the short term.

Automated summary

Supportive leadership, self-learning organization, strategic planning, and performance tools are key factors in promoting innovation in public organizations. Without supportive leadership, establishing a culture of innovation is extremely challenging, and immediate success-focused performance evaluation programs may limit long-term innovation.