Creativity, innovation, and digital transformation in the public sector: a crossroads between internal HRM and external sources of knowledge
In line with EGPA Conference theme, “Public Governance for the Common Good: Human Intelligence Serving the Global Community”, the Ad Hoc Group 2 places particular emphasis to the capacity of public institutions to mobilize, develop, and sustain human intelligence in contexts marked by digitalization, complexity, and societal transformation —all-embracing skills, creativity, ethical decision, and predict and adaptive capabilities—in order to generate public value and address organizational and collective challenges.
In this perspective, HRM emerges as a strategic governance function that goes beyond regulating work to enable learning, innovation, inclusion, and well-being.
Creativity, innovation, and digital transformation as collective, relational, and knowledge-intensive processes in which human capital in public sector is positioned as key agents of democratic value creation in service of society at the intersection between internal HRM practices and external sources of knowledge, within citizens, civil society, academia, private sector, and the new digital ecosystems.
Digital transformation has profoundly reshaped public organizations, affecting workflows, leadership styles, organizational cultures, and modes of service delivery (Bunker, 2020; Mascio et al., 2020; Schuster et al., 2020; Välikangas & Lewin, 2020; Yang, 2020). In the public sector, these transformations are increasingly driven by societal expectations for high-quality, transparent, and real-time digital services that serve the public interest and the common good, pushing administrations to redesign governance arrangements and organizational practices (Mergel et al., 2019). Digital technologies operate simultaneously as enablers of service transformation, organizational culture change, and new forms of public value creation (Scupola & Mergel, 2022), while also accelerating pressures on public employees and institutions (Sudarmo, 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic further intensified these dynamics, exposing structural vulnerabilities in public administrations and placing human resource management (HRM) at the center of organizational resilience and adaptive capacity (Van der Wal, 2020; Wang et al., 2009). The rapid diffusion of flexible and hybrid forms of work—such as smart working—has expanded autonomy and performance opportunities, while simultaneously demanding new creative, flexible, and experimental practices from civil servants (Gratton, 2021; Jeyasingham, 2016; Petani & Mengis, 2021; Todisco et al., 2023; Tomo, 2023; Houtgraaf et al., 2023). Yet, persistent bureaucratic rigidities and reform legacies continue to constrain creativity and innovation within public organizations (Kärreman & Alvesson, 2009; Lapsley, 2009; Tomo, 2018).
In response, public organizations increasingly rely on external and marketized sources of expertise to pursue innovation and flexibility, a trend that raises critical concerns regarding accountability, organizational learning, and the long-term development of human intelligence within public governance systems (Furusten & Werr, 2017; Kirkpatrick et al., 2018; Ylönen & Kuusela, 2019). Despite extensive reform rhetoric (Kickert, 2011), limited attention has been paid to how these tensions shape micro-level organizational processes, such as HR policies, leadership practices, skills development, and professional identities, precisely where creativity, ethical judgment, and public value creation are enacted in practice.
Session format
Inspired by innovative formats developed within the EGOS community, this AHG aims to create an interactive and experimental space within EGPA. Sessions will go beyond traditional panel presentations by fostering cross-paper dialogue, collective sense-making, and shared agenda setting. The objective is not only to discuss individual contributions, but also to stimulate methodological exchange, collaborative thinking, and future research collaborations. Conferences can be conceived not merely as venues for academic dissemination, but as living laboratories of knowledge creation aimed at fostering deeper theoretical dialogue, methodological exchange, and collective sense-making (Bertella & Castriotta, 2024).
Rather than focusing solely on individual paper presentations, sessions will be designed to:
foster collective sense-making around emerging research questions;
encourage cross-paper dialogue and thematic clustering;
actively involve participants in shaping a shared research agenda, projects collaborations and co-authoring papers (last session).