Exploring public sector innovation challenges through a case study of New Zealand’s service innovation lab
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2021
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Mcode
Degree programme
Master's Programme in Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
91+12
Series
Abstract
Emerging organizational forms of Public Sector Innovation (PSI) labs utilizing design-led approaches have spread globally in the past decade. PSI labs are set up with the aims of responding to rapid changes in societies by applying these approaches to the design of public policy and services. Public sector innovation is a relatively recent area of practice and research, and empirical research with cases of PSI labs focusing on the beginning stages of the innovation cycle is currently growing. However, there are a limited number of case studies of national-level labs, particularly in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. This thesis presents a qualitative case study on the phenomena of public sector innovation labs situated within the area of public sector innovation research. The case explores the Service Innovation Lab, which operated as a cross-sectoral government initiative between February 2017 and June 2020 in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand as part of wider public sector efforts for integrated citizen-centric digital services. One of the goals of the thesis is to gain a better understanding of the current state of design-led PSI labs as a phenomenon through a literature review, supplemented by expert interviews and site visits to labs. The main research component of the thesis explores the challenges with the case Lab and its design-led innovation approach to public services through the perceptions and responses of those closely involved in the case through nine semi-structured interviews. The interview data were analyzed along with supporting internal organizational documentation through reflexive thematic analysis. The main systemic challenges to innovation in the public sector context were identified as structures of accountability alongside organizational culture and personnel mindsets all reinforcing each other. A challenge unfolding uniquely to the case was changing Lab identity, including aspects of te ao Māori [the Māori worldview]. Two broader categories of responses to navigating the challenges within the context of the case were identified: creating conditions for innovation and facilitating systems learning and delivery. Creating conditions for innovation included the authorizing environment, leadership and innovation culture. The conditions for innovation enabled the Lab to facilitate learning and delivery for integrated services with cross-sector stakeholders. These were achieved through a collective lens of citizen-centricity actioned through the Lab’s approach and personnel mindsets, as well as various strategies for collaboration and openness. The key findings suggest that the challenges and responses to them largely center on the Lab’s approach in tension with the pressures of the wider public sector. They reveal the Service Innovation Lab as an evolving organization in terms of interacting with the conditions for, learning and delivery for public sector innovation. Such findings can shed light on some of the previously uncaptured, less tangible and measurable aspects of the case. This case study research can serve as an extension of learnings for successive initiatives and provides ground for further studies for this and other cross-sector cases especially in Aotearoa New Zealand and similar contexts.Description
Supervisor
Berglund, EevaThesis advisor
Blomkamp, EmmaKeywords
public sector innovation, public sector innovation labs, PSI labs, design-led labs, design-led approaches, design for government, case study, citizen-centric