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Locating improvisation in public service management: Past, present, and future research directions

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

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Publication date20/09/2023
Host publicationThe Routledge Companion to Improvisation in Organizations
EditorsMiguel Pina e Cunha, Dusya Vera, António Cunha Meneses Abrantes, Anne Minor
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages21
Edition1
ISBN (electronic)9781003171768
ISBN (print)9780367771126
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Publication series

NameRoutledge Companions in Business and Management
PublisherRoutledge

Abstract

The public sector has been a missing ‘context’ in the wider study of improvisation, which has typically focused on traditional business settings. Its absence from the growing and large literature on improvisation is curious given the apparent applicability and relevance of improvisation to public administrations, public service organizations, and public managers alike. Indeed, the public sector is characterized by high levels of uncertainty due to the wide range of stakeholders, openness of the sector, short-term policy horizons, and often turbulent political processes. One explanation for why improvisation has been rarely investigated in the public service management context is because of the dominance of the rational-planning model, which has become ubiquitous to the sector. In this chapter, we explore why this is the case by tracing the past evolution of decision-making processes in the public sector; we then present an integrative framework that locates improvisation research to date in the public sector; upon revealing three distinct streams of improvisation research, the chapter closes with four future research themes and corresponding research questions.