Everyone must contribute to innovation

Innovation should be considered a common goal for everyone in public organizations. This is the heart of the doctoral thesis of Barbara Rebecca Mutonyi, which she will defend on 3 June.

Portrait photo of Barbara Mutonyi

Barbara Rebecca Mutonyi will defend her thesis on 3 June.

Photo: Private

“In public organizations today, it is no longer sufficient that only the management or a specific research department is responsible for coming up with new products or services,” Mutonyi writes to inn.no. “In particular, the value and use of employees should be more in focus and seen as an important resource when it comes to promoting innovations.”

 

 

In her thesis, this is described as employees' innovative behaviour. Employees' innovative behaviour is understood as the behaviour employees display when it comes to implementing new and useful ideas in their job performance.

The thesis focuses on various factors that promote innovative behaviour among employees in the public sector.

The data is based on surveys that study the topic in three different public sectors: transportation, higher education, and health. By combining both theoretical and methodological perspectives, the thesis contributes new knowledge about the value of employees' innovative behaviour in public services.

“By promoting employees' innovative behaviour, today's managers can benefit from the great potential employees have as drivers for innovation-oriented activities at work,” says Barbara Rebecca Mutonyi.

The thesis provides practical suggestions for how public services can promote innovative behaviour among their employees.

The main findings of the doctorate:

  • The results point to the importance of managers giving employees sufficient autonomy in how they perform their work tasks.
  • The thesis points out that the management should aim to create an organizational culture suitable for promoting employees innovation and for cultivating employees' innovative behaviour.
  • The thesis also sheds light on the important role that decision-makers have in acquiring knowledge about the topic in order to better facilitate a working environment that promotes and enables new thinking.
  • Further findings reveal the benefits of using complex research methods to build knowledge about innovative behaviour in public services.

About the public defence:

Barbara Rebecca Mutonyi will defend her doctoral thesis in the PhD programme Innovation in Services in the Public and Private Sectors at INN University on Friday 03 June 2022.

The title of the thesis is“Employee innovative behavior in public sector services”.

The evaluation committee consists of:

  • First opponent: Professor Kristina Zgodavova, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
  • Second opponent: Professor Mehmet Mehmetoglu, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
  • Third opponent / administrator: Professor emeritus Rolf Rønning, INN University

The Chair of the Evaluation Committee is Dean Marit Roland, Inland School of Business and Social Sciences.

The candidate’s main supervisor has been Professor Terje Slåtten, INN University, and Professor Gudbrand Lien, INN University.

Opposition ex auditorio:

Potential opponents ex auditorio must sign up during the break between the first and second opponents’ contributions. This is done by registering via text message to the chair of the public defence (telephone number is posted in the chat during the public defence). Those who are physically present can make direct contact with the chair of the public defence during the break. Such contributions must be well prepared and precisely formulated. They should not exceed 800 words / 10 minutes of speaking.

Guide to using Zoom:

The public defence will be streamed via Zoom Webinar. The first opponent will participate via zoom, the second opponent and the committee's administrator will be present in auditorium A, Lillehammer.

Join Zoom Client. All participants must download the program in advance. If you do not have it already, you can obtain it here (free). Select the topmost, "Zoom Client for Meetings".

Log in 5-10 minutes before the start of the session. The people in charge of the sessions are in place 10 minutes before the sessions begin.

Sit alone. Use your own PC, and do not sit in the same room as other meeting participants.

Network cable instead of Wi-Fi. It is more reliable to use a fixed network cable than a wireless network, as it minimizes the risk of choppy sound and blurred video.

Using the chat function is not allowed during the trial lecture or public defence. If you have technical questions, these can be sent by e-mail to mehran.amirnejad@inn.no.

Leaving the meeting. If you wish to leave the meeting along the way, press “Leave Meeting” at the bottom of the screen. You will be able to re-join the session by using the same link above.

 

This public defence was held on 3.6.2022.

This article was translated from Norwegian by Noorit Larsen.

Tags: public defence of thesis, innovation By Ole Martin Ringlund
Published May 22, 2022 8:10 PM - Last modified Mar. 21, 2023 2:27 PM