The purpose of this paper was to support in the unraveling of the various complexities problematizing the concept of social innovation. The concept, generally understood as those innovations that serve to solve societal and social issues, is plagued by ambiguity and weak conceptualization which makes empirical studies difficult. To achieve the paper’s goal a concept analysis, a form of qualitative text analysis method based in philosophy and deductive hermeneutics, was performed. The results of the study were a new definition of social innovation that synthesizes previous definitions of social innovation as a multi-dimensional construct and ideas of social innovation being motivated by altruistic ideals. This new definition strikes a balance between specificity and generality by combining a variation of nuanced conceptual attributes with a clear distinction from the similar, economically motivated market innovations, including those market innovations that, with or without intention, also creates public value and helps combatting societal issues.

Svenska myndigheter har en skyldighet att sprida information, vilket bland annat görs genom kampanjfilmer. Bilder påverkar mottagarens känslor och inställning, inom marknadskommunikation förekommer stereotyper både för olika kön och etniciteter. Myndigheter har ett större demokratiskt ansvar att anpassa sin kommunikation efter än privat sektor. Denna studie ämnade att undersöka om fenomenet stereotyper förekommer i myndigheters kommunikation. Studiesyftet var att undersöka hur myndigheter med högt förtroende, inom olika verksamhetsområden porträtterar människor av olika kön och etnicitet i kampanjfilmer samt diskutera vilka potentiella implikationer stereotypers förekomst kan ha på myndigheter. Studien är en komparativ fallstudie baserat på myndigheterna Skatteverkets, Polisens och Folkhälsomyndighetens kampanjfilmer. I en multimodal analys analyserades filminnehållet i tre respektive två filmer från år 2021 utifrån en frågemall. Dessa myndigheter kategoriserades som myndigheter med högt förtroende baserat på studier från Medieakademin.Huvudresultatet var att myndigheter med högt förtroende generellt porträtterar olika människor på ett likvärdigt eller jämställt sätt, på grund av att inga stora skillnader gick att utläsa från materialet. Vissa skillnader fanns i porträtten, huvudsakligen för olika kön, avseende rolluppgifter och scenografi. Sammantaget gick det därmed inte att säga att stereotyper var ett allmänt förekommande fenomen i myndigheters kampanjfilmer

No / Workers in public sector organisations might expect any threat to their physical and psychological safety and wellbeing to fall far short of any unreasonable risk. However, the evidence is by no means certain. One of the most persistent and prevalent organisational perils is work victimisation. A propensity towards this type of abuse in government organisations is most disturbing, since they remain a major employer, and hence, have a direct bearing on the occupational fates of a large and growing number of personnel. This paper provides a brief discussion of work victimisation and focuses attention one of its most unrepentant and enigmatic perpetrators, the corporate psychopath. The paper highlights some individual and institutional measures designed to enable employees to mitigate the risk of abuse by these victimisers.

This degree project has enquired about the experiences of deaf and hearing-impaired people in Sweden, in the context of cultural awareness within public sector organizations. The aim of the study was to find out if professionals within the public sector are culturally sensitive towards d/Deaf people and if the cultural, as well as the minority rights are considered by professionals who have d/Deaf clients.Initially, the data was planned to be collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews, however this method had to be changed as there were various difficulties in recruiting sign language interpreters. Therefore, the method of data collection for this study had to be adapted to the circumstances and an online survey with 25 open questions was created instead. This shift allowed participants to express their experiences and perceptions in writing.The results of the study suggest that the degree of cultural sensitivity among professionals within public sector organizations is varied, according to the experiences shared by the study participants. These findings offer small, but meaningful insights into the realities experienced by d/Deaf people in Sweden and into the practices of public sector professionals which may require adjustments based on the negative experiences expressed by most of the participants. This study and its findings present areas which may benefit from further studies in regard to maintaining a culturally responsive environment for all people within the organizations of the Swedish public sector.

Rural communities require means for obtaining access to affordable broadband infrastructure and services to meet their economic development, education, and quality of life objectives. Due to the comparatively low potential for return on investment in serving isolated rural communities, the private sector telecommunications providers have proved unwilling or unable to provide beyond the very basic services for rural communities. Private sector providers must maximize their return on investment as it is their responsibility to shareholders. Return on investment is maximized in urban areas as opposed to rural areas because the high capital cost per connection is higher in rural areas; the operating cost per connection is higher; and the revenues per connection tend to be lower. This thesis explores the feasibility of municipal and private sector provider strategic alliances as an approach to provisioning rural areas with improved telecommunications infrastructure and services. As a means of determining whether the possibility exists of a "meeting of the minds" between municipalities and private sector telecommunications providers, a series of interviews was conducted. Common themes from the interviews were analyzed for areas of mutual interest and of polarized perspectives. In pursuing an alliance model, communities may need to consider less than the optimal technological solution in exchange for the opportunity to exemplify the ability to collaborate with a willing private sector partner. The results suggest that, while the prospects for strategic alliances as an emerging business model appear dim, opportunities do exist for rural communities and small private sector companies to find mutual interest on an exceptional basis in developing strategies for access to telecommunications infrastructure and services. / Master of Science

The implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) signifies a pivotal shift in how organizations approach sustainability. This change introduces new institutional norms and pressures that can reshape organizational practices towards enhanced sustainability. One critical aspect of this transition is how organizations interpret and operationalize the CSRD framework, which has significant implications for organizational behavior and strategy. This study aims to empirically examine the responses of public sector organizations to the CSRD, focusing on the internal and external pressures that influence their sustainability reporting practices. It also intends to illustrate how stringent requirements affect the public sector. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews from ten public sector organizations, this study uncovers challenges and opportunities presented by the CSRD. Our findings indicate that there is a strong institutional pressure to comply with the new regulation, resulting in organizational efforts to promote sustainability. The results highlight that the public sector's traditional values of accountability, transparency, and public welfare facilitate a generally positive perception of the CSRD. However, the study also identifies substantial administrative and strategic challenges, particularly in the initial implementation phase. The conclusion of this study suggests that CSRD can transform organizational practices, culture, and strategies by institutionalizing norms within the public sector.

No / Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions – notably stress – and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be ‘safe’. This study’s locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, in the context of efficiency savings programmes. The key initiative was lean working, which involved redesigned workflow, task fragmentation, standardization and individual targets. Utilizing a holistic model of white-collar OHS and in-depth quantitative and qualitative data, the evidence of widespread self-reported ill-health symptoms is compelling. Statistical tests of association demonstrate that the transformed work organization that accompanied lean working contributed most to employees’, particularly women’s, ill-health complaints.

No / The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean, which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sector reform and challenges the received wisdom that it unambiguously delivers ‘efficiencies’. Quantitative and qualitative research in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) centred on employees' experiences has indicated the extent to which work has been reorganized along lean principles. However, employees perceive that changes in organizational processes and working practices have unintentionally generated inefficiencies which have impacted on the quality of public service. These suggested outcomes raise wider concerns as lean working is adopted in other public sector organizations.

No / The work was funded by the Leeds Social Science Institute.

Yes / Government organisations have been shifting to cloud-based services in order to reduce their total investments in IT infrastructures and resources (e.g. data centers), as well as capitalise on cloud computing’s numerous rewards. However, just like any other technology investments there are also concerns over the potential risks of implementing cloud-based technologies. Such concerns and the paucity of scholarly literature focusing on cloud computing from a governmental context confirm the need for exploratory research and to draw lessons for government authorities and others in order to ensure a reduction in costly mistakes. This paper therefore investigates the implementation of cloud computing in both a practical setting and from an organisational user perspective via three UK local government authorities. Through the qualitative case study enquiries, the authors are able to extrapolate perceived rewards and risks factors which are mapped against the literature so that emergent factors can be identified. All three cloud deployments resulted in varying outcomes which included key rewards such as improved information management, flexibility of work practices and also posed risks such as loss of control and lack of data ownership to the organisations. These findings derived from the aggregated organisational user perspectives will be of benefit to both academics and practitioners engaged in cloud computing research and its strategic implementation in the public sector.