Innovative work behaviors and networking across government

Abstract

Public organizations have long faced pressures to become more innovative and entrepreneurial. This has been accompanied by a shift from traditional bureaucratic structures toward public management networks, both in scholarship and practice. We use the example of the Australian public service and its emphasis on increased networking to examine whether increased networking behavior is associated with greater innovative work behaviors. In developing our theoretical model, we hypothesize that networking activities are positively related to innovative work behaviors but that too few or too many networked actors are negatively associated with innovative work behaviors. Our analysis finds that networking practices are, indeed, associated with greater levels of innovative work behaviors but that they differ between the type of stakeholders public managers engage with. In addition, we find only limited evidence of a curvilinear relationship between these two constructs. The article ends with implications for research and practice. Points for practitioners Public organizations around the world are under pressure to become more innovative and collaborative. This is especially the case in the Australian public service. One way to achieve innovation is to encourage innovative work behaviors. We find that increased networking by public managers is associated with higher levels of innovative work behaviors. Contrary to our hypotheses, we find limited evidence of a curvilinear relationship between networking and innovative work behaviors, that is, too little or too much networking was not associated with reduced innovative work behaviors.