Abstract With the rapid pace of digital transformation, motivating public participation has become a critical challenge for advancing both the theory and practice of digital co‐production. Drawing on incentive theory and social norm theory, this study uses a survey experiment conducted with Chinese citizens to explore their willingness to participate in digital co‐production, focusing on the effects of external incentives and social norms. The results show that material incentives are more effective than honour‐based incentives in driving participation. Additionally, positive descriptive norms have a stronger influence on participation willingness than negative norms. Notably, when positive descriptive norms are present, material incentives further amplify public engagement. This study offers insights into the motivational drivers behind citizen participation in digital co‐production and provides practical recommendations for governments on how to strategically leverage incentives and social norms to boost public involvement. Points for practitioners Material incentives appear to be more effective than honour‐based incentives in strengthening citizens’ willingness to participate in digital co‐production. Positive descriptive social norms demonstrate stronger effects than negative norms in promoting citizens’ willingness to engage in digital co‐production. The combination of material incentives and positive descriptive social norms may generate synergistic effects in enhancing citizens’ willingness to participate in digital co‐production.
Abstract The focus on fostering innovative work behaviour among public servants in Vietnam reflects a strategic effort to enhance public service delivery and citizen satisfaction. However, empirical insights into how to effectively motivate such behaviours remain scarce. This paper adopts a social cognitive theoretical lens to propose a conceptual framework linking supervisors’ servant leadership to employees’ affective commitment and their engagement in innovative work behaviour. The study draws on survey data from 244 public servants across multiple city government agencies in Vietnam to examine power distance orientation as a cultural boundary condition shaping employees’ affective responses to servant leadership and the broader association with innovative work behaviour. Findings indicate that power distance orientation weakens the positive relationship between servant leadership and affective commitment, whereas the direct relationship between servant leadership and innovative work behaviour remains stable across levels of power distance orientation. The study contributes to public administration and leadership research by demonstrating that cultural contingency may operate more strongly for employees’ affective evaluation of leadership behaviours than for behavioural enactment within reform‐oriented public sector settings. Managerial implications are discussed for public sector leaders operating across culturally diverse environments. Points for practitioners Leadership strategies may not be universally effective. Their impact depends on employees’ expectations about authority, particularly power distance orientation, which shapes how supportive leadership behaviours are interpreted. In teams receptive to participatory leadership, managers can stimulate innovation by encouraging staff input, consultation, and shared problem‐solving. In strongly hierarchical settings, combining clear authority with visible concern for staff welfare may build commitment without disrupting organisational norms. Innovation initiatives are more likely to succeed when explicitly linked to organisational priorities and endorsed by senior leaders, reducing perceived risks for employees. Public agencies can use staff surveys to assess leadership climate and employee willingness to propose improvements, enabling targeted interventions.
Abstract Existing scholarship widely recognises the importance of leadership as an antecedent of public‐sector innovation. As empirical research on the relationship between public‐sector innovation and leadership grows, it is important to review this scholarship to identify progress, knowledge gaps, and opportunities for future research that will help the field mature. This systematic review focuses on articles that rely on quantitative methods ( N = 62). We examine how public‐sector innovation and leadership are conceptualised and measured, the data sources and research designs used to study the relationship between the two, and the findings that emerge from this growing field of study. We identify the important contributions of this body of work as well as its limitations and conclude by presenting an analytic framework to guide future research in this area. Points for practitioners The relationship between public‐sector innovation and leadership is multifaceted: leaders at various levels in public organisations can shape innovation in different ways. Leaders often shape public‐sector innovation by affecting employee behaviours and actions, but they can also do so by shaping organisational conditions. Leaders need to better understand these nuances to be more effective in advancing public‐sector innovation.
Abstract Young people should have a say in policies that affect them. Power imbalances and limiting their involvement to consultative processes in policymaking continue to be barriers to participation. Progress has been made to involve young people directly in policymaking, but barriers to their full participation persist. The aim of this research study was to emulate a Policy Lab to learn from young people how they could be better included in this policy development method. Their reported experience of the workshop and perspectives as young people were analysed using rapid qualitative analysis and used to inform adaptations of the method. Three themes were identified: providing more information, greater accessibility, and facilitating participation. Overall, the collective feedback from young people was focused on being prepared to participate and addressing power imbalances between youth and adult participants. Implications for practice are identified. We present an adaptation of the Policy Lab method to better include young people. Points for practitioners While the importance of involving young people in the development of policy that effects their lives is understood, oftentimes practices continue to limit or restrict this involvement through persistent barriers to their involvement. Young people recognise the barriers they face to being equally involved in workshop activities with adults and have ideas on how to address them to improve their direct involvement in policy development methods. This research presents adaptations to a policy development method through providing more information, greater accessibility, and facilitating participation; that also provides direction for policy practitioners more generally.
Abstract Australian government organisations are pivotal in helping to meet the United Nations sustainable development goals. Yet while these organisations promote sustainability in their strategic plans, they struggle to embed these same commitments into their own infrastructure and construction projects. This study examines this persistent disconnect using the lens of strategic decoupling, which explains how organisations symbolically align with external expectations while internal practices remain unchanged. Using a two‐stage qualitative design, we conducted a positivist discourse analysis of strategic artefacts from six government organisations and a theoretically informed interpretivist analysis of 30 interviews with project professionals, framed by strong structuration theory. We identify widespread policy–practice decoupling, reinforced by institutional inertia and the flawed success logic in project management's iron triangle. Our findings reveal the moral burden experienced by middle managers who, as reflexively knowledgeable actors, find their professional identities in conflict with organisational mandates. We extend strategic decoupling theory by introducing the interpretive authority of middle managers and the concept of strategic recoupling. These are intentional efforts by agents to bridge the gap between rhetoric and practice. We call for systemic reform, including strengthened accountability and targeted support for managers to shift sustainability from a ceremonial commitment to an operational reality. Points for practitioners Government sustainability policies often decouple from project reality, creating persistent gaps between rhetoric and practice. Middle managers act as pivotal agents for recoupling but lack sufficient institutional authority and support. Middle managers strengthen accountability by embedding measurable sustainability targets and post‐project impact reviews into governance frameworks. Middle managers integrate sustainability ratings into design‐phase documents to avoid procurements locking in high‐emission materials.
