Advancing knowledge on organizational change and public sector work

A recent literature review on change management in the public sector by Kuipers et al. (2014) argue that there is a need to adopt a public administration perspective (see Tummers, 2013; Vann, 2004). This is because the change management literature has tended to focus on the private sector with little attention being paid to the way public sector workers experience and respond to change (Kickert, 2010). This Special Issue contributes to the need for thoughtful and critical assessment of organizational change (such as that induced via new public management (NPM)) and public sector work. Of particular interest is the role managers as leaders take as agents of change (Fernandez and Rainey, 2006), developing better theoretical understandings of public sector management and governance of change, and formulating practical, evidence-based principles for implementing change (Azzone and Palermo, 2011; Barton Cunningham and Kempling, 2009).