The impact of innovation for an inclusive public administration: a structured literature review

Purpose - This work aims to critically analyse the role of technologies to reduce inequality in public administration, exploring their contribution to the translation of knowledge into innovative dynamics. In the context of the growing recognition of innovation as central factor in organizational development (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2021; Provasi and Harasheh, 2021; Smith et al., 2020), this paper focuses specifically on its impact in fostering an inclusive work environment within public organizations. Methodology - Using the SLR methodology, this paper systematically reviews the existing literature to identify key trends and future directions for diversity management in public administration (Di Vaio et al., 2021). Specifically, 715 international contributions (articles, books and book chapters) on the selected SCOPUS database were analysed. Originality/value - The research builds on the notion of gender equality as a strategic resource allocation mechanism (Toren, 1993) and contributes to the stream of literature on gender studies by creating food for thought on the vital importance of pro-diversity management strategies in promoting an equitable work environment (Chordiya, 2022). Such analysis is essential to enable stakeholders to understand the added value that diversity management brings to public institutions. Findings – The findings, derived from the specific examination of public entities, may not wholly translate to the private sector's context. The dominant theme concerns "Social and Governance", demonstrating an intense focus on the importance of information transparency and citizen participation for good governance. Gender studies, on the other hand, underline the criticality of overcoming structural and cultural barriers, promoting policies and practices that enhance gender diversity within public administration. This contrast reflects a broad recognition of the social impact of innovation and a growing, but still insufficient, focus on gender mainstreaming as a key aspect for truly inclusive innovation in the PA. Limitations - The manual review process of Systematic Literature Review (SLR) results can be considered a limitation of this study. In addition, a further disadvantage of the research is its dependence on a single database.