Contextualising public entrepreneurship in Greek local government austerity

Abstract

Purpose Public entrepreneurs are an under-researched group in local government. The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual complexities of public entrepreneurs who pursue more creative ways of “doing more with less” to cope with dynamic financial and societal anxieties of Greek local government fiscal austerity policy reforms. Precisely, this study aims to the understanding of how specific contextual influences impact, first, on the nature of public entrepreneurship and, second, on manifested outcomes. A systematic approach marks the authors attempt to assess the broader impact pointing out the implications for research, policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach A case study of Greek local government draws on 26 in-depth semi-structured interviews with public entrepreneurs across top, middle and front-line levels of management, field notes, documentary and archival evidence. Findings The findings demonstrate unique Greek contextual complexities such as contradictory tensions between triggered decentralisation of control and responsibilities of the local government and attempts of external reinvention rather than internal renewal. These complexities influence public entrepreneurs’ systemic entrepreneurship behaviours in Greek local government since the implementation of fiscal austerity policy reforms in 2010. Their representation is manifest in policy, administrative and technological outcomes with public value consequences. Originality/value This research contributes to a deeper understanding of public entrepreneurship in context. Greek local government public entrepreneurs bring original insights on the contextual influences of their systemic enactment and manifested outcomes, with implications for research, policy and practice.

Practical implications of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma in the public administration sector: a systematic literature review

“…The sample articles reviewed refer to, among others: municipal services (Furterer and Elshennawy, 2005; Radnor and Walley, 2008; Suarez-Barraza et al , 2009a, 2009b; Krause-Jensen, 2017; Price et al , 2018; Kregel and Coners, 2018; Melissanidou and Johnston, 2019), the police (Barton and Barton, 2011; Barton, 2013; Smith, 2016; Antony et al , 2019a; Rodgers et al , 2019a, 2019b), the armed forces (Bateman et al , 2014), social security departments (Arlbjorn et al , 2011) and local authorities (Kumar and Bauer, 2010). As far as the study of Lean and/or SS in the public organizations is concerned, the sample articles focused on either Lean or SS or on comparing and criticizing the use of both Lean and SS or on examining a comprehensive LSS approach.…”

“…One of the main acclaimed contributions of Lean in a public organization lies in the elimination of waste (Antony et al, 2017a;Arlbjorn and Freytag, 2013;Arlbjorn et al, 2011;Suarez-Barraza et al, 2012;Lukrafka et al, 2020), Lean purports to be a win-win game and road to eliminating waste in a public organization, through worker participation, empowerment and enthusiasm (Krause-Jensen, 2017) Lean, SS or LSS barriersdifficulties A challenge to applying Lean in the service industry such as the public administration sector is the lack of awareness of the benefits of its implementation (Gupta et al, 2016), an organization, including a public organization should first identify and define the problems that require attention, and then choose approaches and methods that target these problems, by seeking alignment between the various elements of the change process (Langstrand and Drotz, 2016), challenges of the Lean implementation in the public administration sector are related to organizational culture, managerial engagement, or organizational resistance (Madsen et al, 2017) Human factor involved in Lean/ SS/LSS Lean implementation in a public organization should involve everyone in the organization and have a clear strategic grip from the top (Holmemo and Ingvaldsen, 2018), modernization (through Lean) should aim at changing public servants' working mentality that calls for more creativity and collaboration to be embedded in services (Melissanidou and Johnston, 2019), there is a clear need to involve staff in any continuous improvement initiative (such as Lean/SS/LSS) to separate value and waste and improve the service provided (Rodgers and Antony, 2019) Lean/SS/LSS training/ knowledge Organization-wide Lean seminars in the public administration sector are great arenas for sharing experiences and improving agreed-upon, standard practices clarifications (Holmemo and Ingvaldsen, 2018), training line managers in Lean thinking and Lean leadership during the implementation phase in the public administration sector are effective ways of changing managers' priorities (Holmemo et al, 2018b), public services organisations need training on basic Lean tools and techniques in process and performance improvement, where talented junior consultants can suggest, perform and teach the client organisation (Holmemo et al, 2018b) Lean/SS/LSS assessment framework and guidelines…”

Corporate entrepreneurship in public sector: A systematic literature review and research agenda

“…The majority of the empirical research conducted occurred at the mezzo level of analysis, i.e., the level of public organizations, local government (Melissanidou & Johnston, 2019), SOEs, municipalities, and academy schools (Woods et al, 2007). Regardless, research at the macro level, such as through the implementation and performance of government programs (Swann, 2017), funding processes (Zerbinati, 2012), and privatization policies in OECD countries (Schmitt, 2011), and on a micro level, such as municipalities and city employees (Kraus et al, 2019), were also represented.…”

“…The implementation of various policies examining public strategies and goals (Catney & Henneberry, 2016) that seek to create value for society through the exploration and exploitation of resources has been examined across different contexts. Melissanidou and Johnston (2019) explored how particular perspectives (the authors used fiscal austerity policy following the fiscal crises in Greece) impact upon PE outputs. According to Lindholst (2021), negative implications in terms of the public value of innovation-focused public policies could be bypassed for privatized companies as a result of remunicipalization.…”

“…In a local government context, scholars have recognized the potential of the entrepreneurship concept in recognizing and exploring opportunities, exploiting resources, and establishing an entrepreneurial environment (Kraus et al, 2019;Melissanidou & Johnston, 2019) to execute a different public policy, such as those pertaining to energy efficiency and sustainability.…”