The Effects of Empowerment Practices on Perceived Barriers to Innovation: Evidence from Public Organizations

Abstract

Governments around the world have adopted employee empowerment practices. Many public organizations are concerned with and wish to reduce barriers to innovation. Using the 2012 Australian Public Service Commission (APSC)'s the State of the Service data, this paper examines the association between four empowerment practices and perceived barriers to innovation. Results show that a unit increase in granting power to employees has a very large effect on reducing perceived barriers to innovation. Additionally, while providing information is positively associated with perceived barriers to innovation, offering rewards and providing access to knowledge and skills are negatively associated with perceived barriers to innovation. This paper discusses the implications of these results.