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

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.

Gender differences in innovation: the role of ambidextrous leadership of the team leads

“…Sources of innovation can be inside or outside the company, entity or industry and can appear in unexpected ways such as process needs, changes in the market, demographic changes, new knowledge and changes in customer perception (Liu et al, 2018;Perkins, 2019;Van Acker et al, 2018). Particularly crucial in modern society, innovation resides in two knowledge categories: generation and integration.…”

“…The pervasive question remains what specifically causes female team leaders to show lower innovation performance (Hegelson and Goldsmith, 2018;Hill et al, 2010). There is evidence that there is a substantial bias against female leadership (Cooper, 2012;Koenig and Eagly, 2014;Ranga and Etzkowitz, 2010;Van Acker et al, 2018).…”

“…Women are perceived negatively when engaging in agentic behavior and yet agentic behavior is expected of effective leaders (Perkins, 2017;Schaubroeck et al, 2016;Van Acker et al, 2018).…”

“…Very little research has looked at the role of gender in innovation performance in organizations (Henry et al, 2016;Van Acker et al, 2018). There are few studies that examine whether women and men manage differently for innovation (Pons et al, 2016) and whether leadership qualities make a difference in innovation performance (Schaubroeck et al, 2016).…”

“…There are few studies that examine whether women and men manage differently for innovation (Pons et al, 2016) and whether leadership qualities make a difference in innovation performance (Schaubroeck et al, 2016). Yet, there is still a significant need to better understand how leadership interacts with gender on innovation outcomes (Huang et al, 2017;Van Acker et al, 2018).…”