Collaborative Innovation in Labor Market Inclusion

• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Author: Colin Lindsay,Sarah Pearson,Elaine Batty,Anne Marie Cullen,Will Eadson
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13338

Research Article

Collaborative Innovation in Labor Market Inclusion 925

Abstract: This article deploys the concept of “collaborative innovation” to discuss key stakeholders’ and service users’

experiences of innovative labor market inclusion services. We draw on work by Sørensen and Torfing (2011, 2016,

2017) to frame collaborative innovation as a distinctive approach to the coproduction of services that respond to user

needs, and highlight the importance of governance and leadership practices that foster mutual learning and boundary

spanning innovation. The article reports on 102 interviews with service users (in this case, unemployed lone parents)

and 117 interviews with key stakeholders involved in local partnerships. We identify benefits from such collaborative

approaches in terms of innovative service design and positive outcomes for service users. We conclude that policy makers

should consider the potential added value of collaborative innovation in labor market inclusion.

Evidence for Practice

• Collaborative innovation provides a useful framework for understanding public policy stakeholders’

responses to wicked problems—in this case, the need for innovative labor market inclusion programs to

respond to the needs of vulnerable unemployed jobseekers.

• Collaborative governance and distributive leadership practices that empower local managers and employees

may be important in laying the groundwork for multi-stakeholder collaboration and service innovation in

labor market inclusion.

• Boundary spanning managers and “keyworkers” can be important in building trust, joining-up services, and

(crucially) empowering service users.

• As policy makers seek innovative solutions to high unemployment in post-COVID-19 labor markets, there

is value in considering the benefits of collaborative innovation as a route to more efficient and effective

services.

Policy makers acknowledge the need for

innovation in public services, including

labor market inclusion programs targeting

the unemployed (Ellison and Van Berkel 2014).

The growth of interest in public service innovation

has been driven by the following: pressure from

an increasingly demanding public that values

personalized services; financial crisis and/or a lack

of resources due to changing economic conditions;

and the need to respond to “wicked problems”—the

complex policy challenges associated with issues such

as the aging of the population, the dislocation caused

by pandemics such as COVID-19 and other public

health emergencies, the uncertainties created by

globalization, and concerns about both the threats and

opportunities that come with new technologies such

as artificial intelligence (Bekkers and Tummers 2018).

Various streams of research have sought to

conceptualize public service innovation. A challenge

for these studies in the literature has been to escape

from the shadow of dominant theories of New Public

Management (NPM). The legacies of NPM have

shaped and constrained thinking on innovation in

various ways. First, the critique often offered by

advocates of NPM, that “traditional” models of public

services are incapable of innovation, remains potent;

and this led for some time to the dominance of NPM-

inspired approaches to promoting public service

innovation. Furthermore, the failure of many such

NPM reforms to deliver genuinely new innovations,

and the unhelpful fragmentation and other managerial

challenges sometimes thrown up by NPM, needs to

be acknowledged (Ansell and Torfing 2014).

Given this context, our research instead draws on

the concept of collaborative innovation to frame

a discussion of facilitators, challenges, practices,

and outcomes associated with an innovative labor

market inclusion program in Scotland. Collaborative

innovation is less closely aligned with the tenets of

NPM than with a concept of new public governance

Colin Lindsay

Sarah Pearson

Elaine Batty

Anne Marie Cullen

Will Eadson

Collaborative Innovation in Labor Market Inclusion

Anne Marie Cullen is a Researcher at

Strathclyde Business School, University of

Strathclyde. She has conducted research and

published widely on labor market inclusion

initiatives, particularly those targeting lone

parents.

Email: anne.cullen@strath.ac.uk

Elaine Batty is a Research Fellow at

the Centre for Regional Economic Social

Research, Sheffield Hallam University. She

has conducted research and published on

a diverse range of issues in the fields of

housing, homelessness, welfare reform, and

the non-profit sector.

Email: e.batty@shu.ac.uk

Sarah Pearson is a Professor at the Centre

for Regional Economic Social Research,

Sheffield Hallam University. She is an expert

in project and programme evaluation and

has published research on identifying

the impact of complex interventions;

neighborhood and community regeneration;

community engagement; and the non-profit

sector.

Email: s.pearson@shu.ac.uk

Colin Lindsay is a Professor of work and

employment studies and deputy director

of the Scottish Centre for Employment

Research at the University of Strathclyde.

His research addresses innovation and

progressive workplace practices, public

service management, and the impact of

employability policies. He publishes widely

in international academic and professional

journals on employment-related issues in

public services.

Email: colin.lindsay@strath.ac.uk

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 81, Iss. 5, pp. 925–934. © 2020 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI:10.1111/puar.13338.

Will Eadson is a Reader in urban and

regional sustainability policy at the Centre

for Regional Economic Social Research,

Sheffield Hallam University. He has led

research on a wide range of urban and

regional sustainability policy agendas.

He publishes widely on employment and

energy policy issues.

Email: w.eadson@shu.ac.uk

University of Strathclyde University of Strathclyde

Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University