Innovation entry as governance filter: shaping exploratory digital innovation in the public sector
Andrea GajicPurpose
Digital transformation intensifies pressures for experimentation and iterative innovation in public organizations. Yet many public-sector innovation processes remain structured around industrial governance models emphasizing problem-first entry, linear progression and deliverable-based evaluation. This study aims to examine how innovation governance shapes exploratory digital innovation trajectories, conceptualizing innovation entry as a governance filter.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts an interpretive case study of innovation practices in a large Swedish regional healthcare organization. Drawing on interviews with innovation intermediaries and formal governance documents, it traces how digitally oriented initiatives move through a stage-gated innovation process.
Findings
The findings show that innovation governance operates as a path-creating mechanism. Innovation entry requirements, stage-gated progression, evaluation criteria and legitimacy pressures cumulatively function as governance filters that privilege industrial logics. Problem-first entry conditions stabilize exploratory initiatives and create path dependencies that narrow experimentation. Rather than rejecting digital innovation, governance structures reshape exploratory trajectories to align with institutional expectations of predictability, deliverability and organizational fit.
Originality/value
This study contributes by conceptualizing innovation entry as a governance filter and demonstrating how governance mechanisms structure innovation trajectories from their point of origin. Integrating exploration–exploitation theory and innovation governance research, it advances a mechanism-based explanation of how digital transformation unfolds within institutionalized public-sector systems. The findings offer guidance for designing innovation processes that better accommodate experimentation while maintaining public accountability.