Dynamic capabilities in the public sector: The case of the UK’s Government Digital Service

This study by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose explores the concept of dynamic capabilities in the public sector using the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) as a case study.

Download working paper

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) Working Paper Series: IIPP WP 2021/01

Authors

• Rainer Kattel | Professor of Innovation and Public Governance, Deputy Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
• Ville Takala | Honorary Research Fellow, UCL Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose

Reference

Kattel, R. and Takala, V. (2021). Dynamic capabilities in the public sector: The case of the UK’s Government Digital Service. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2021/01). Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/wp2021-01

Abstract

This study explores the concept of dynamic capabilities in the public sector. Using the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) as a case study, we demonstrate how such capabilities form and how they evolve over time. Drawing on expert interviews with former and current employees, we argue that GDS’s success was based on introducing new ways of working and providing value in government. Through successfully professionalising such new skills and notions of value across government, GDS eventually undermined its own dynamic capabilities. Drawing on our findings, we show that dynamic capabilities are systemic resources and abilities to question existing routines and capacities. We conclude by arguing that dynamic capabilities need periodic renewal and nurturing as they are constantly being absorbed into existing routines.