Towards a practice-based approach to public innovation – Apollonian and Dionysian practice-approaches

Lars Fuglsang

doi:10.7577/njsr.3685

Authors

Lars Fuglsang Roskilde University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7410-5855

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7577/njsr.3685

Keywords:

Public innovation, collaborative innovation, practice-based theory, bricolage, public-private collaboration

Abstract

This paper discusses how a practice-based approach to public innovation can provide an alternative, critical means of looking at public innovation. It unravels two ways practices can exist in relation to public innovation: Apollonian and Dionysian practice approaches. The Apollonian practice-approach is purposeful, speaking of the actors’ plans and interests and the rules of the game. In contrast, the Dionysian is a more spontaneous, bricolage-like approach to innovation that gathers people in an open space of innovation. Given these contrasting approaches further illustrated through two case vignettes, the paper argues that public innovation transpires not only through purposeful practices and plans but also more contextual public services changes. Research needs to capture both of these approaches and explore their impact on innovation. The paper concludes by outlining a research strategy for investigating practice-approaches in public service innovation and how a practice-based approach can add to our understanding of public service innovation.

This article belongs to the Special Issue Public sector Innovation - Conceptual and Methodological Implications

Guest Editors: Ann Karin Tennås Holmen (University of Stavanger) and Maria Røhnebæk (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences)

References

Ansell, C., & Trondal, J. (2018). Governing turbulence: An organizational-institutional agenda. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 1(1), 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvx013

Benedict, R. (1961). Patterns of culture. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science, 2(1), 40-57. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.40

Bryson, J., Sancino, A., Benington, J., & Sørensen, E. (2017). Towards a multi-actor theory of public value co-creation. Public Management Review, 19(5), 640-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2016.1192164

Carstensen, M. B. (2011). Paradigm man vs. the bricoleur: Bricolage as an alternative vision of agency in ideational change. European Political Science Review, 3(1), 147-167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773910000342

Cass, N., & Shove, E. (2017). Changing energy demand. Concepts, metaphors and implications for policy. Lancaster University.

Echeverri, P., & Skålén, P. (2011). Co-creation and co-destruction: A practice-theory based study of interactive value formation. Marketing Theory, 11(3), 351-373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593111408181

Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405284363

Fuglsang, L. (Ed.) (2008). Innovation and the creative process: Towards innovation with care. Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781848440104

Fuglsang, L. (2017). The critical incident technique and everyday innovation. In F. Sørensen & F. Lapenta (Eds.), Service Innovation Research Methods (pp. 40-59). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364860.00009

Fuglsang, L. (2018). Towards a theory of a practice-based approach to service innovation within spheres of interaction. In A. Scupola & L. Fuglsang (Eds.), Services, Experiences and Innovation: Integrating and Extending Research (pp. 147-164). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788114301.00015

Fuglsang, L., & Sørensen, F. (2011). The balance between bricolage and innovation: Management dilemmas in sustainable public innovation. Service Industries Journal, 31(4), 581-595.https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2010.504302

Fuglsang, L., & Rønning, R. (2015). On innovation patterns and value-tensions in public services. Service Industries Journal, 35(9), 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2015.1042971

Gherardi, S. (2006). Organizational knowledge: The texture of workplace learning. Blackwell.

Gherardi, S. (2009). Practice? It's a matter of taste. Management Learning, 40(5), 535-550. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507609340812

Grönroos, C. (2019). Reforming public services: Does service logic have anything to offer? Public Management Review, 21(5), 775-788. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1529879

Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373780

Hartley, J. (2005). Innovation in governance and public services: Past and present. Public Money & Management, 25(1), 27-34.

Hartley, J. (2006). Innovation and its contribution to improvement. Department for Communities and Local Government (UK).

Maffesoli, M. (1998). Société ou communauté. Tribalisme et sentiment d'appartenance. Corps et Culture, 3. https://doi.org/10.4000/corpsetculture.520

McGillivray, D. (2005). Fitter, happier, more productive: Governing working bodies through wellness. Culture and Organization, 11(2), 125-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759550500091036

Nicolini, D. (2009). Zooming in and out: Studying practices by switching theoretical lenses and trailing connection. Organization Studies, 30(2), 1391-1418. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840609349875

Nicolini, D., & Monteiro, P. (2017). The practice approach: For a praxeology of organisational and management studies. In A. Langley & H. Tsoukas (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook on Organizational Studies (pp. 110-126). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957954.n7

Nietzsche, F. W. (2000). The birth of tragedy. Oxford University Press.

OECD (2005). The measurement of scientific and technological activities. Oslo manual. Guidelines for collecting and interpreting innovation data (Third edition). OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264013100-en

Osborne, S. P. (2018). From public service-dominant logic to public service logic: Are public service organizations capable of co-production and value co-creation? Public Management Review, 20(2), 225-231. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2017.1350461

Osborne, S. P., Radnor, Z., & Strokosch, K. (2016). Co-production and the co-creation of value in public services: A suitable case for treatment? Public Management Review, 18(5), 639-653. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2015.1111927

Pantzar, M., & Shove, E. (2010). Understanding innovation in practice: A discussion of the production and re-production of Nordic walking. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 22(4), 447-461. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537321003714402

Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5(2), 243-263. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310222225432

Schatzki, T. R. (2002). The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. Pennsylvania State University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271023717

Schatzki, T. R. (2016). Keeping track of large phenomena. Geographische Zeitschrift, 104(1), 4-24.

Schatzki, T. R. (2019). Social change in a material world. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429032127

Skålén, P., Gummerus, J., von Koskull, C., & Magnusson, P. R. (2015). Exploring value propositions and service innovation: A service-dominant logic study. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(2), 137-158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-013-0365-2

Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2012). Introduction: Collaborative innovation in the public sector. The Innovation Journal, 17(1), 1-14.

Strati, A. (1992). Aesthetic understanding of organizational life. Academy of Management Review, 17(3), 568-581. https://doi.org/10.2307/258723

Sundbo, J. (1997). Management of innovation in services. Service Industries Journal, 17(3), 432-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069700000028

Torfing, J. (2016). Collaborative innovation in the public sector. Georgetown University Press.

Torfing, J. (2019). Collaborative innovation in the public sector: The argument. Public Management Review, 21(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1430248

Torfing, J., & Triantafillou, P. (2013). What's in a name? Grasping new public governance as a political-administrative system. International Review of Public Administration, 18(2), 9-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/12294659.2013.10805250

Voorberg, W. H., Bekkers, V. J. J. M., & Tummers, L. G. (2015). A systematic review of co-creation and co-production: Embarking on the social innovation journey. Public Management Review, 17(9), 1333-1357. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2014.930505

Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131-153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540505053090

Warde, A. (2015). On the sociology of eating. Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement - Review of agricultural and environmental studies, 96(1), 7-15.

Wegrich, K. (2019). The blind spots of collaborative innovation. Public Management Review, 21(1), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1433311

Westwood, R. (2004). Comic relief: Subversion and catharsis in organizational comedic theatre. Organization Studies, 25(5), 775-795. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840604042414