Rethinking Local Public Sector Innovation

A theoretical framework is proposed in this chapter to draw together and expand elements of the discussion. A relational perspective constitutes a co-productive and relational approaches for addressing complex place-based challenges, which is based upon the effectiveness of relationships and is rooted to local place. It generates public value through the inclusion of citizens as co-creators of public sector innovation. The elements of this perspective include a supportive culture, the community leadership of open innovation, mutual collaborative learning, and the institutional flexibility to allow risk to be accepted as inevitable even though it includes the possibility of failure. Relational approaches permit the move from transactional to transformative public sector innovation with a corresponding change to their management. A relational public sector innovation approach provides the basis for further research, and it stands in sharp contrast to the foundational underpinnings of traditional accounts of innovation, which have emphasised rationality, the sequential development of change, and a more hierarchical model of the organisation.