Public sector innovation management in the shadow: why the overlooked sibling still matters

This paper examines innovation management as a deliberate organizational arrangement through which public organizations seek to remain relevant in contexts of uncertainty, technological and societal changes, and bureaucratic constraints. Drawing on a multiple-case study of five national police agencies, the study analyzes what works well and less well in systematic innovation management arrangements. While all agencies established innovation units with similar responsibilities, they differed in how innovation management systems were configured and sustained. Three configurations are identified – Strong Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, and Lightweight – showing how enabling and constraining mechanisms help explain variation in innovation capacity across highly institutionalized public-sector contexts.