Caroline Fischer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4788200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Caroline Fischer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Caroline |
| FAMILY NAME | Fischer |
| SIGNATURE | FISCHER C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Twente |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5870-4498 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 5 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 6 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Navigating Digital Transformation? The Guiding Role and Socialization Processes of Change Agents
This article investigates the role of internal change agents in advancing digital transformation within public sector organizations. In response to the complexities of digitalization, these change agents guide their peers in adopting technology and bridging the gap between strategy and implementation. We draw on an 18‐month diary study ( N = 68, n = 1007) and interviews with 20 change agents from two mid‐sized municipalities in Germany. Building …
The Power of Language and Discourse in eGovernment
The Power
Collaborative competences for agile public servants
In times of crisis and with the increase of new ways of working, public sector organisations increasingly include agile practices in their working practices. To successfully transform public sector organisations into agile organisations, public servants require a new set of competences. Informal learning is a key element that helps public servants to build and apply these competences, e.g., through the collaboration with external experts in publi…
Project management logics for agile public strategic management
In this paper, we call for an integration of project management logics within the now mature field of public strategic management, to analyze the potential contribution of projects in terms of increased strategic agility, in a context where traditional strategic planning and management tools and approaches are increasingly seen at risk of not being responsive enough to rapidly changing external conditions. To pursue this objective, we carry out a…
Disentangling Risk Management and Error Management in the Public Sector
Public organizations have little tolerance when it comes to risks and errors. At the same time, environmental, technological, and demographic changes call for new ways of doing things to improve public sector performance. Achieving this may involve trial and error. Therefore, there is a need to effectively combine risk management and error management practices. However, the concepts tend to be intermingled and confused, which hinders public manag…
What Determines Civil Servants’ Error Response? Evidence From a Conjoint Experiment
To err is human and learning from mistakes is essential for finding viable solutions to grand societal challenges through development and innovation. Yet, public organizations often exhibit a punitive zero-error culture, and public employees are stereotyped as error and risk-averse. Little is known about the underlying behavioral mechanisms that determine civil servants’ likelihood of handling errors positively, namely reporting and correcting th…
Introduction to the special issue ‘Towards a Multi-Level Understanding of Agile in Government
As public organizations increasingly adopt agile practices, understanding their opportunities, challenges, and transformative potentials is important. This article introduces the special issue on ‘The Future of Agile in Public Service Organizations: Macro, Meso and Micro Perspectives’ and explores the evolving landscape of agile in public service, drawing from diverse scholarly perspectives. To that end, we discuss various definitions of agile in…
What drives the adoption of agile government? Insights from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
Agile approaches are increasingly being used in the public sector. What is driving the adoption of agile ways of working, however, remains unclear. In this paper we ask the following two questions: Which agile approaches are being used in public sector organizations? Under which circumstances do public sector organizations use which agile practices? To analyze these questions, we conducted a standardized survey among over 450 civil servants in Au…
Modern talking
Despite growing interest, we lack a clear understanding of how the arguably ambiguous phenomenon of agile is perceived in government practice. This study aims to alleviate this puzzle by investigating how managers and employees in German public sector organisations make sense of agile as a spreading management fashion in the form of narratives. This is important because narratives function as innovation carriers that ultimately influence the mani…
Resilience through digitalisation
This article examines public service resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and studies the switch to telework due to social distancing measures. We argue that the pandemic and related policies led to increasing demands on public organisations and their employees. Following the job demands-resources model, we argue that resilience only can arise in the presence of resources for buffering these demands. Survey data were collected from 1,189 Germa…
Why people enter and stay in public service careers
This article examines the effect of parental socialization and interest in politics on entering and staying in public service careers. We incorporate two related explanations, yet commonly used in different fields of literature, to explain public sector choice. First, following social learning theory, we hypothesize that parents serve as role models and thereby affect their children’s sector choice. Additionally, we test the hypothesis that paren…
Introduction to the special issue ‘Towards a Multi-Level Understanding of Agile in Government
As public organizations increasingly adopt agile practices, understanding their opportunities, challenges, and transformative potentials is important. This article introduces the special issue on ‘The Future of Agile in Public Service Organizations: Macro, Meso and Micro Perspectives’ and explores the evolving landscape of agile in public service, drawing from diverse scholarly perspectives. To that end, we discuss various definitions of agile in…
Modern talking
Despite growing interest, we lack a clear understanding of how the arguably ambiguous phenomenon of agile is perceived in government practice. This study aims to alleviate this puzzle by investigating how managers and employees in German public sector organisations make sense of agile as a spreading management fashion in the form of narratives. This is important because narratives function as innovation carriers that ultimately influence the mani…
What Determines Civil Servants’ Error Response? Evidence From a Conjoint Experiment
To err is human and learning from mistakes is essential for finding viable solutions to grand societal challenges through development and innovation. Yet, public organizations often exhibit a punitive zero-error culture, and public employees are stereotyped as error and risk-averse. Little is known about the underlying behavioral mechanisms that determine civil servants’ likelihood of handling errors positively, namely reporting and correcting th…
Collaborative competences for agile public servants
In times of crisis and with the increase of new ways of working, public sector organisations increasingly include agile practices in their working practices. To successfully transform public sector organisations into agile organisations, public servants require a new set of competences. Informal learning is a key element that helps public servants to build and apply these competences, e.g., through the collaboration with external experts in publi…
What drives the adoption of agile government? Insights from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
Agile approaches are increasingly being used in the public sector. What is driving the adoption of agile ways of working, however, remains unclear. In this paper we ask the following two questions: Which agile approaches are being used in public sector organizations? Under which circumstances do public sector organizations use which agile practices? To analyze these questions, we conducted a standardized survey among over 450 civil servants in Au…
Why people enter and stay in public service careers
This article examines the effect of parental socialization and interest in politics on entering and staying in public service careers. We incorporate two related explanations, yet commonly used in different fields of literature, to explain public sector choice. First, following social learning theory, we hypothesize that parents serve as role models and thereby affect their children’s sector choice. Additionally, we test the hypothesis that paren…
Why people enter and stay in public service careers
This article examines the effect of parental socialization and interest in politics on entering and staying in public service careers. We incorporate two related explanations, yet commonly used in different fields of literature, to explain public sector choice. First, following social learning theory, we hypothesize that parents serve as role models and thereby affect their children’s sector choice. Additionally, we test the hypothesis that paren…
Resilience through digitalisation
This article examines public service resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and studies the switch to telework due to social distancing measures. We argue that the pandemic and related policies led to increasing demands on public organisations and their employees. Following the job demands-resources model, we argue that resilience only can arise in the presence of resources for buffering these demands. Survey data were collected from 1,189 Germa…
The Power of Language and Discourse in eGovernment
The Power
Collaborative competences for agile public servants
In times of crisis and with the increase of new ways of working, public sector organisations increasingly include agile practices in their working practices. To successfully transform public sector organisations into agile organisations, public servants require a new set of competences. Informal learning is a key element that helps public servants to build and apply these competences, e.g., through the collaboration with external experts in publi…
Project management logics for agile public strategic management
In this paper, we call for an integration of project management logics within the now mature field of public strategic management, to analyze the potential contribution of projects in terms of increased strategic agility, in a context where traditional strategic planning and management tools and approaches are increasingly seen at risk of not being responsive enough to rapidly changing external conditions. To pursue this objective, we carry out a…
Disentangling Risk Management and Error Management in the Public Sector
Public organizations have little tolerance when it comes to risks and errors. At the same time, environmental, technological, and demographic changes call for new ways of doing things to improve public sector performance. Achieving this may involve trial and error. Therefore, there is a need to effectively combine risk management and error management practices. However, the concepts tend to be intermingled and confused, which hinders public manag…
What Determines Civil Servants’ Error Response? Evidence From a Conjoint Experiment
To err is human and learning from mistakes is essential for finding viable solutions to grand societal challenges through development and innovation. Yet, public organizations often exhibit a punitive zero-error culture, and public employees are stereotyped as error and risk-averse. Little is known about the underlying behavioral mechanisms that determine civil servants’ likelihood of handling errors positively, namely reporting and correcting th…
Introduction to the special issue ‘Towards a Multi-Level Understanding of Agile in Government
As public organizations increasingly adopt agile practices, understanding their opportunities, challenges, and transformative potentials is important. This article introduces the special issue on ‘The Future of Agile in Public Service Organizations: Macro, Meso and Micro Perspectives’ and explores the evolving landscape of agile in public service, drawing from diverse scholarly perspectives. To that end, we discuss various definitions of agile in…
What drives the adoption of agile government? Insights from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
Agile approaches are increasingly being used in the public sector. What is driving the adoption of agile ways of working, however, remains unclear. In this paper we ask the following two questions: Which agile approaches are being used in public sector organizations? Under which circumstances do public sector organizations use which agile practices? To analyze these questions, we conducted a standardized survey among over 450 civil servants in Au…
Modern talking
Despite growing interest, we lack a clear understanding of how the arguably ambiguous phenomenon of agile is perceived in government practice. This study aims to alleviate this puzzle by investigating how managers and employees in German public sector organisations make sense of agile as a spreading management fashion in the form of narratives. This is important because narratives function as innovation carriers that ultimately influence the mani…
Navigating Digital Transformation? The Guiding Role and Socialization Processes of Change Agents
This article investigates the role of internal change agents in advancing digital transformation within public sector organizations. In response to the complexities of digitalization, these change agents guide their peers in adopting technology and bridging the gap between strategy and implementation. We draw on an 18‐month diary study ( N = 68, n = 1007) and interviews with 20 change agents from two mid‐sized municipalities in Germany. Building …
Business (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (7 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Public sector (6 works) · Agile software development (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Knowledge management (3 works) · Management (3 works)