Innovation-driven Culture in the Public Sector: a Case Study of Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior

Abstract

In the face of increasing policy complexity and rising citizen expectations, governments have little choice but to innovate so that they can cope with public problems and respond to citizen needs more effectively. A key factor driving innovation, particularly policy innovation and public service innovation, is organizational culture that is innovationdriven. The purposes of this study are 1) to examine the level of innovation-driven culture of the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior and 2) to study factors related to innovation-driven culture of the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior. This study employs a quantitative research method by conducting surveys. The research instrument is a questionnaire used to collect data from 200 public employees of the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior. The findings indicate that the level of innovation-driven culture is high and the innovative culture traits with the highest level include commitment and trust, followed by respect. It is also revealed that there is a significant correlation between organizational factors and innovation-driven culture at the 0.01 level. The organizational factors which are highly correlated with innovation-driven culture are work environment and organizational structure. Therefore, the organization’s leaders should focus on improving work environment to make employees feel relaxed and happy at work, leading to creativity. In addition, it is essential to change the organizational structure towards decentralization, cross-departmental collaboration, flexibility, and agility.