Researchers call for the design of HR practices that identify proactive and innovative talent

The work of a team of researchers from Edith Cowan University on innovative work behaviour in the public sector has been published in the March 2020 Issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

Successive Australian governments have placed a high importance on innovation since the mid-2000s. However, the majority of research on organisational innovation is from the United States and Europe (see, for instance, the work of Anderson, Potočnik and Zhou, 2014). This new research by Dr Yuliani Suseno, Professor Craig Standing, Associate Professor Denise Gengatharen and Dr Diep Nguyen from the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University, helps correct this imbalance through the study of a large Australian public sector organisation.

WHAT IS INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR?

Innovation work behaviour has been defined as the ‘behaviour directed towards the initiation and application… of new and useful ideas, processes, products or procedures’ (see De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007).

It has further been described by Scott and Bruce (1994) as a three-stage process:

1. an individual employee comes up with creative ideas and solutions after a problem or issue has been identified
2. the employee mobilises support for their innovative ideas and elicits other employees’ enthusiasm about the ideas and solutions
3. the idea is transformed into a model, a prototype, or a useful application for the individual’s work role, group or the organisation.

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