Contextualising the Processes of Technological Innovation in Public Services: The Case of Indonesia

Citation

Webster W, Setiawan H & Murad N (2023) Contextualising the Processes of Technological Innovation in Public Services: The Case of Indonesia. Permanent Study Group 1: eGovernance. European Group of Public Administration (EGPA), Zagreb, Croatia, 05.09.2023-08.09.2023. https://iias-iisa.org/egpa-2023-conference/

Abstract
Innovation is seen as critical to the advancement of organisations and services alike. There is a burgeoning literature on innovation, which is increasingly focused on maximising the perceived benefits of new digital technologies. For public services, there is a long history of technological innovation in the form of eGovernment. This paper seeks to develop a more nuanced, in-depth characterisation of the innovation process in public services by highlighting a range of intertwined features of an innovation's contextual environment, including the technological characteristics of the innovation, fit with existing organisational arrangements and the role of key actors. The research investigates critical success factors and barriers within the innovation process by analysing and comparing eight case study technology innovations in the Indonesian public services environment. The research has taken place in the context of eGovernment initiatives in the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. Data is primarily gathered from 35 semi-structured interviews with employees involved in the innovation process and the collection of policy materials and related documents. The core emergent research finding is that the main failing of technology innovation studies is that by focusing mainly on technology, they separate the technology from its organisational and institutional setting and, in doing so, are 'separated' from the elements of the process that are most likely to determine the success or otherwise of the innovation. The paper concludes with an alternative theoretical model derived from the empirical work.

Keywords
public service innovation; technological innovation; innovation process; barriers to innovation; e-government