The public sector has traditionally been considered inhospitable to innovation, particularly innovations initiated by middle managers and front‐line staff. Unlike the private sector, the public sector is characterized by asymmetric incentives that punish unsuccessful innovations much more...

This article considers the nature and role of leadership in three ideal types of public management innovation: politically‐led responses to crises, organizational turnarounds engineered by newly‐appointed agency heads, and bottom‐up innovations initiated by front‐line public servants and...