Confronting the Uncertainty of Systemic Innovation in Public Welfare Services

Authors: Harri Jalonen

Abstract:

Faced with social and health system capacity constraints and rising and changing demand for welfare services, governments and welfare providers are increasingly relying on innovation to help support and enhance services. However, the evidence reported by several studies indicates that the realization of that potential is not an easy task. Innovations can be deemed inherently complex to implement and operate, because many of them involve a combination of technological and organizational renewal within an environment featuring a diversity of stakeholders. Many public welfare service innovations are markedly systemic in their nature, which means that they emerge from, and must address, the complex interplay between political, administrative, technological, institutional and legal issues. This paper suggests that stakeholders dealing with systemic innovation in welfare services must deal with ambiguous and incomplete information in circumstances of uncertainty. Employing a literature review methodology and case study, this paper identifies, categorizes and discusses different aspects of the uncertainty of systemic innovation in public welfare services, and argues that uncertainty can be classified into eight categories: technological uncertainty, market uncertainty, regulatory/institutional uncertainty, social/political uncertainty, acceptance/legitimacy uncertainty, managerial uncertainty, timing uncertainty and consequence uncertainty.

Keywords: Systemic innovation, uncertainty, welfare services

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1056294

References:

[1] H. Buddelmyer, P. H. Jensen and E. Webster, "Innovation and the determinants of company survival," Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 62, pp. 261-285, 2010.
[2] G. Bhatta, "Don't just do something, stand there! - Revisiting the issue of risks in innovation in the public sector," The Innovation Journal, vol. 8, no. 2, 2003.
[3] W. Parsons, "Innovation in the public sector: Spare tyres and fourth plinths," The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, 2006.
[4] J. Potts, "The innovation deficit in public services: The curious problem of too much efficiency and not enough waste and failure", Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 34-43, 2009.
[5] J. Barlow, S. Bayer and R. Curry, "Implementing complex innovations in fluid multi-stakeholder environments: experiences of ÔÇÿtelecare-," Technovation, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 396-406, 2006.
[6] E. M. Rogers, Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Free Press, New York, NY, 2003.
[7] Webster's encyclopedic unabridged dictionary of the English language (1989), Random House Value Publishing, London.
[8] L. Gale and D. Mansour-Cole, "User involvement in innovation projects: Toward an information processing model," Journal of Engineering Technology Management, vol. 12, pp. 77-109, 1995.
[9] J. Galbraith, Organization Design. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1977.
[10] F. H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Reprint ed. Beard Books Imprint, Beard Books Incorporated, Chevy Chase, 1921.
[11] R. L. Daft and R. H. Lengel, "Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design", Management Science, vol. 32, pp. 554-571, 1986.
[12] M. H. Zack, "If Managing Knowledge Is the Solution, Then What's the Problem?" in Y. Malhotra (ed.), Knowledge Management and Business Model Innovation, London: Idea Group Publishing, 2001, pp. 16-36.
[13] E. Brun, A. S. Saetre and M. Gjelsvik, "Classification of ambiguity in new product development projects," European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 12. no. 1, pp. 62-85, 2009.
[14] D. Ellsberg, "Risk, ambiguity and the Savage axioms," Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 75, pp. 643-669, 1961.
[15] D. E. Brashers, "Communication and uncertainty management," Journal of Communication, vol. 51, pp. 477-497, 2001.
[16] E. Bullen, J. Fahey and J. Kenway, "The Knowledge Economy and Innovation: Certain uncertainty and the risk economy," Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 53-68, 2006.
[17] H. Bruch, P. Gerber and V. Maier, "Strategic Change Decisions: Doing the right change right," Journal of Change Management, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 97-107, 2005.
[18] C. D. Mulrow, "Systematic Reviews: Rationale for systematic reviews," British Medical Journal, vol. 309, no. 6954, pp. 597-599, 1994.
[19] R. K. Yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods. Applied Social Research Methods Series, Volume 5. 3rd Ed. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 2003.
[20] J. F. Coughlin, "Understanding the Janus Face of Technology and Ageing: Implications for Older Consumers, Business Innovation and Society," International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 62-67, 2010.
[21] E. Harris and R. Woolley, "Facilitating Innovation Through Cognitive Mapping of Uncertainty," International Studies of Management and Organization, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 70-100, 2009.
[22] B. Allen, "Some stochastic processes of interdependent demand and technological diffusion of an innovation exhibiting externalities among adopters," International Economic Review, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 595-608, 1982.
[23] J. Hall and M. J. C. Martin, "Disruptive technologies stakeholders and the innovation value chain: a framework for evaluating radical technology development," R&D Management, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 273- 284, 2005.
[24] R. W. Veryzer, "Discontinuous innovation and the new product development process," Journal of Product Innovation Manage, vol. 15, no.4, pp. 304-321, 1998.
[25] J. R. Ortt and R. Smits, "Innovation management: different approaches to cope with the same trends," International Journal of Technology Management, vol. 34, no. 3/4, pp. 296-318, 2006.
[26] K. E. Weick, Making Sense of the Organization, Blackwell, Oxford, 2001.
[27] J. Tidd and K. Bodley, "The influence of project novelty on the new product development process," R&D Management, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 127-138, 2002.
[28] J. Newman, J. Raine and J. Skelcher, "Transforming Local Government: Innovation and Modernization," Public Money & Management, April- June, pp. 61-68, 2001.
[29] M. Gibbons and D. Littler, "The development of an innovation: the case of porvair," Research Policy, vol. 8, pp. 2-25, 1979.
[30] W. E. Souder and K. D. Moenaert, "Integrating marketing and R&D project personnel within innovation projects: an information uncertainty model," Journal of Management Studies, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 485-512, 1992.
[31] D. Naranjo-Gil, "The influence of environmental and organizational factors on innovation adoptions: Consequences for performance in public sector organizations," Technovation, vol. 29, pp. 810-818, 2009.
[32] J. G. York and S. Venkatraman, "The entrepreneur-environment nexus: Uncertainty, innovation, and allocation," Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 449-463, 2010.
[33] R. Santamäki Fischer, A. Norberg and B. Lundman, "Embracing opposites: Meanings of growing old as narrated by people aged 85," The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 266-268, 2008.
[34] J. Lambooy, "Innovation and Knowledge: Theory and Regional Policy," European Policy Studies, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 1137-1152, 2005.
[35] J. Foster, "Productivity, creative destruction and innovation policy: Some implications from the Australian experience," Innovation: Management, policy & practice, vol. 12, pp. 355-368, 2010.
[36] P. Vermeulen, R. Buch and R. Greenwood, "The Impact of Governmental Policies in Institutional Fields: The Case of Innovation in the Dutch Concrete Industry," Organization Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 515-540, 2007.
[37] T. M. Guedes, "Networks of innovation in biotechnology," International Journal of Technology Management Sustainable Development, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 219-236, 2003.
[38] J. Stenvall, A. Syväjärvi and R. Harisalo, "The Information steering in Government: Information resource Managed by Administration in welfare sector," in Khosrow-Poul, M. (Ed.) Managing Worldwide Operations & Communications with Information Technology, Information Resources Management Association, 2007, pp. 1395-1398.
[39] H. Jalonen, "Steering by Information or Managing by Knowledge," in Proceedings of EBRF 2008, Research Forum to Understand Business in Knowledge Society, Helsinki - Stockholm, Finland-Sweden, September 22-24, 2008
[40] P. Hurst, "Ideas into action development and the acceptance of innovations," International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 79-10, 1982.
[41] F. Johansson, The Medici Effect - Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 2004.
[42] F. Jaspers, Organizing Systemic Innovation. Academic Dissertation, ERIM PhD Series in Research in Management, 160, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2009.
[43] C. Koch, "Innovation networking between stability and political dynamics," Technovation, vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 729-739, 2004.
[44] J. T. G. Arias, "Do networks really foster networks?," Management Decision, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 52-57, 1995.
[45] G. Bonifati, "-More is different-, exaption and uncertainty: three foundational concepts for a complexity theory of innovation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 743- 760, 2010.
[46] Z. Chen, "Vaccine innovations in an age of uncertainty: BCG in France," Technology in Society, vol. 27, pp. 39-53, 2005.
[47] K-N. Jun and C. Weare, "Institutional Motivations in the Adoption of Innovations: The Case of E-Government," Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, June 9, 2010.
[48] R. S. Hanft and S. P. Korper, "Some notes on uncertainty; federal policy and innovation," Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 11, pp. 1-7, 1981.
[49] H. Jalonen and P. Juntunen, "Enabling Innovation in Complex Welfare Service Systems," Journal of Service Science and Management, to be published.
[50] H. Aldrich and M. Fiol, "Fools rush in? The institutional context of industry creation," Academy of Management Review, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 645-670, 1994.
[51] B. Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Bantam, New York, NY, 1987.
[52] M. Moensted, "High-tech, uncertainty, and innovation. The opportunity for high-tech entrepreneurship", in Bernasconi, M., Harris, S. & Moensted, M. (Ed.) High-tech Entrepreneurship - Managing innovation, variety and uncertainty, Routledge, London, 2006, pp. 15- 32.
[53] P. F: Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practices and Principles, Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford, 1985.
[54] S. Osborn and K. Brown, Managing Change and Innovation in Public Service Organizations. Routledge, London and NY, 2005.
[55] D. Gerwin and J. C. Tarondeau, "Case Studies of Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems: A View of Uncertainty and Innovation Processes," Journal of Operations Management, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 87-99, 1982.
[56] H. J. Thamhain, "Managing innovative R&D teams," R&D Management, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 297-311, 2003.
[57] E. Mitleton-Kelly, "A complexity Approach to Co-creating an Innovative Environment," World Futures, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 223-239, 2006.
[58] J. K. Hazy, J. Goldstein. and B. B. Lichtenstein, Complex Systems Leadership Theory New Perspectives from Complexity Science on Social and Organizational Effectiveness. ISCE Publishing, Mansfield, 2007.
[59] T. Greenhalgh, G. Robert, P. Bate, F. Macfarlane and O. Kyriakidou, Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: systematic review and recommendations. A systematic literature review. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
[60] A. Muller and L. Välikangas, "Metrics for innovation: guidelines for developing a customized suite of innovation metrics," Strategy & Leadership, vol. 33, no.1, pp. 37-46, 2005.
[61] R. J. Macdonald and W. Jinliang, "Time, timeliness of innovation, and the emergence of industries," Technovation, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 37-53, 1994.
[62] H. Jalonen and A. Lönnqvist, "Predictive Business - Fresh Initiative or Old Wine in a New Bottle," Management Decision, vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 1595-1609, 2009.
[63] M. A. Schilling, "Technology success and failure in winner-take-all markets. The impact of learning orientation, timing, and network externalities," Academy of Management Journal, vol. 45, no. 2, pp- 387- 398, 2002.
[64] J. R. B. Halbesleben, M. M. Novicevic, G. M. Harvey and M. R. Buckley, "Awareness of temporal complexity in leadership of creativity and innovation: A competency-based model," The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 433-454, 2003.
[65] F. Castellacci, S. Grodal, S. Mendonca and M. Wibe, "Advances and Challenges in Innovation Studies," Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 91-104, 2005.
[66] K-E. Sveiby, P. Gripenberg, B. Segercrantz, A. Eriksson and A. Aminoff, "Unintended and Undesirable Consequences of Innovation", a paper presented at XX ISPIM conference The Future of Innovation, Vienna 21st - 24th of June, 2009.
[67] A. Faucett and B. H. Kleiner, "New Developments in Performance Measures of Public Programmes," International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 63-70, 1994.
[68] L. Magnusson, E. Hanson and M. Borg, "A literature review study of Information and Communication Technology as a support for frail older people living at home and their family carers," Technology and Disability, vol. 16, pp. 223-235, 2004.
[69] H. Laihonen and A. Lönnqvist, "Grasping the intangibility of service operations", International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development," vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 331-345, 2010.
[70] A. A. Altshuler and M. D. Zegans, "Innovation and Public Management: Notes from the State House and City Hall", in Altshuler, A. A. & Behn, R. D. (Ed.) Innovation in American Government. Challenges, Opportunities, and Dilemmas. Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C, 1997, pp. 68-80.
[71] S. Sävenstedt, Telecare of frail elderly - reflections and experiences among health personnel and family members. Umeå University Medical Dissertations, New Series No 918, 2004.
[72] S. Shane, "Uncertainty avoidance and the preference for innovation champion roles," Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 26, no 1, pp. 47-68, 1995.
[73] K. E. Weick, the Social Psychology of Organizing (2nd ed.), New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
[74] J. G. March, "Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning." Organization Science, vol.2, no. 1, pp. 71-87, 1991.