Analysing the environmental antecedents of innovation adoption among politicians and public managers

This study presents evidence on public innovation from the perspectives of politicians and public managers. Environmental antecedents are analysed with regard to their impact on innovation adoption. Data are drawn from a survey of over 600 mayors and managers in Austrian local government. Results show that they identify the same innovation types but indicate different antecedents of innovation adoption. Findings for managers are broadly in line with results from larger jurisdictions. Since there are crucial dissimilarities in the factors explaining the adoption of innovation, we suggest that politicians and managers both be included in future studies of local government innovation.