Illuminating the Gender Divide in Public Sector Innovation: Evidence From the Australian Public Service

• Date: 01 June 2018
• Author: Sophie Op de Beeck,Wouter van Acker,Jan Wynen
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026017747299
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017747299

Public Personnel Management

2018, Vol. 47(2) 175 –194

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0091026017747299

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Article

Illuminating the Gender

Divide in Public Sector

Innovation: Evidence From

the Australian Public Service

Wouter van Acker1, Jan Wynen1,2,

and Sophie Op de Beeck1

Abstract

Like many other aspects of the work environment, “innovation” is a gendered

term that creates a barrier to women taking part in innovation processes and, in

particular, in male-dominated and “masculine” industries. This article looks into the

role of gender, as well as other potential determinants, in explaining differences in

the perceived innovation climate for public sector employees. This innovation climate

depicts the opportunities and support employees receive with creating, promoting,

and implementing innovative ideas in the workplace. Even though the public sector

is often regarded as a more “feminine” work environment, our results show that

women feel less encouraged in the innovation process when compared with men.

Moreover, length of service and red tape appear to have a detrimental effect on

individuals’ experiences of the innovation climate.

Keywords

public sector innovation, gender, innovation climate, red tape, length of service

Introduction

An organization’s ability to innovate is regarded as a vital factor for productivity,

growth, and overall success (Patterson, Kerring, & Gatto-Roissard, 2009) in both the

private (Audretsch & Frisch, 2003; Dess & Pickens, 2000; Dorenbosch, Van Engen, &

1KU Leuven, Public Governance Institute, Belgium

2University of Antwerp, Department of Political Science, Belgium

Corresponding Author:

Wouter van Acker, Faculty of Social Sciences, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45,

Leuven 3000, Belgium.

Email: wouter.vanacker@kuleuven.be

747299PPMXXX10.1177/0091026017747299Public Personnel Managementvan Acker et al.

research-article2017

176 Public Personnel Management 47(2)

Verhagen, 2005) and the public sectors (Arundel, Casali, & Hollanders, 2015;

Rosenblatt, 2011; Stewart-Weeks & Kastelle, 2015). Both practitioners and academ-

ics, therefore, increasingly recognize the need for organizations to continuously inno-

vate their products, services, and internal work processes (Agarwal, 2014; De Jong &

Den Hartog, 2010). The innovative potential of an organization resides, to a large

degree, in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individual employees, who create,

introduce, and put new ideas into practice (Agarwal, 2014; Kanter, 1988; Patterson

et al., 2009). In this article, we therefore focus on innovation at the level of individuals

in organizations.

Although the role of individuals in fostering innovations has been well documented,

research in more recent years has demonstrated an increased interest in uncovering the

factors that encourage employees to innovate (Yuan & Woodman, 2010, in Agarwal,

2014). In this regard, a large amount of work is being done on the factors that possibly

stimulate or inhibit the innovative potential of individuals (e.g., Bankins, Denness,

Kriz, & Molloy, 2017; Goduscheit, 2014; Patterson et al., 2009; Rost, Hölze, &

Gemünden, 2007). There is, however, one key characteristic of employees that has

received relatively little attention in this field, namely that of gender (Alsos, Hytti, &

Ljunggren, 2016). Although innovation is considered a term with specific gender roles

attached to it (Alsos, Ljunggren, & Hytti, 2013; Minniti, 2009; Nählinder, Tillmar, &

Wigren, 2015), the gender issues of innovation have seldom been discussed or exam-

ined, especially in a public sector context (Alsos et al., 2016). Due to the (mistaken)

inherent connection between innovation and technology, and the assumption that men

have superior technological skills to women, men are (often subconsciously) expected

to be more involved in innovation processes than women (Cooper, 2012; Ranga &

Etzkowitz, 2010). Consequently, women tend not to be perceived as innovators, mak-

ing it more difficult for innovative ideas advanced by women to be heard from the

outset (Alsos et al., 2013; Bray, 2007). In other words, the organizational innovation

climate that supports and encourages the creation, promotion, and implementation of

new ideas may be different for women than it is for men. As a result, the gendering of

the innovation process may be a barrier hindering women from engaging in innovation

and promoting their innovative ideas (Foss, Woll, & Moilanen, 2013; Nählinder et al.,

2015), which, in turn, poses a barrier to the innovative potential of the organization as

a whole.

This article investigates whether women in a public sector context perceive their

organization’s innovation climate differently than men. There are a number of reasons

to examine this subject.

First, although studies on the connection between innovation and gender have

increased over the preceding 5 to 10 years, they still remain sparse (Nählinder et al.,

2015). Innovation studies, on the whole, remain rather gender-blind, meaning that “[t]

he implementation and formulation of innovation policies and innovation research are

often designed as if innovation is gender-neutral” (Nählinder, Tillmar, & Wigren,

2012, p. 357; see also Kvidal & Ljunggren, 2010). Furthermore, when the gender issue

of innovation has been studied, the studies have mainly focused on highly technologi-

cal and male-dominated sectors, suggesting the continuing need for more research in