Fredrik Söderström
email: fredrik.soderstrom@liu.se

Ulf Melin
email: ulf.melin@liu.se

Fredrik Söderström

Creating Local Government Innovation

Keywords: Local Government Innovation, Public Sector Innovation, Institutional Theory, Public Sector ICT, Digitalisation

de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

A general perception, in research as well as practice, is that public sector organisations face significant challenges in the present and future. These challenges are the result of increasing internal demands, e.g. increased efficiency, as well as external demands on quality, availability and resilience of services. Taking advantage of the internal intellectual capital in order to increase the innovative ability of public sector organisations is seen as a suitable means, or even a must, to aid in meeting current challenges [e.g. [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF][START_REF]OECD: Embracing Innovation in Government -Global Trends[END_REF]. By investigating a local government innovation initiative, this study aims at looking beyond current perspectives in research focusing on formal structures to support and facilitate government innovation. The focused local government innovation programme is the result of current internal and external demands or pressures put-on public-sector organisations in Sweden to increase their innovative ability. This ability is related to the creativity of co-workers, hence the aim is to facilitate internal innovation. In previous studies, innovations are described as new ways of structuring and arranging processes and activities in order to achieve significant improvement [e.g. [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]]. An innovation always starts with an idea. The idea is the spark that ignites the process of innovation with the goal of implementing innovation into daily operations. However, an idea does not always become an innovation. The innovation process is associated with a significant amount of uncertainty and risk; hence this creates a need for structured and systematic process management [START_REF] Anthony | The Innovator's Guide to Growth[END_REF], but at the same time, uncertainty and risk challenge the planning, control and coordination of innovation activities [START_REF] Van Assche | Innovation in Governance[END_REF]. The innovation and operations must converge to be successful; the organisation needs to successfully manage "action knowledge and thinking knowledge" [START_REF] Frankelius | Questioning two myths in innovation literature[END_REF]. However, government innovation tends to be problematic, as confirmed by research and shown in this study.

Existing processes and structures are potentially challenged [START_REF] Borins | Encouraging innovation in the public sector[END_REF], and public organisations, as examples of bureaucracies, often have a "zero-error culture" [START_REF] Sørensen | Enhancing collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Moreover, there are several contradictions regarding local government innovation. For example, municipalities have the mission to be politically driven tax-funded service providers. They are local bureaucracies, albeit with a positive connotation. One can, therefore, question whether local government innovation is in line with this mission and the public interest? What creates the acceptance and legitimacy for local government to spend resources on initiatives associated with significant risks, uncertainty and potential failure? In contrast to research and practice focusing on formal and rational ways of increasing government innovation, equal attention must be given to the social, behavioural and value-based prerequisites and capacity to innovate; i.e. the "actual patterns of behaviour and work routines" [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. These informal structures are manifested in shared behaviour, culture, norms and values and have a potential impact in this area.

This study applies institutional theory1 as a theoretical lens. As a point of departure, we see local government innovation as a collective behaviour that needs to be socially established [START_REF] Hughes | The ecological aspect of institutions[END_REF], i.e. institutionalised, across the organisation. Institutional theory provides opportunities to better understand organisational irrationalities [START_REF] Avgerou | IT and organizational change: an institutionalist perspective[END_REF] as seen in this context as well as a way to relate formal and informal structures in local government innovation. Moreover, digital artefacts have an important role in facilitating government innovation. These artefacts can act as carriers of institutional ideas [START_REF] Scott | Institutional carriers: reviewing modes of transporting ideas over time and space and considering their consequences[END_REF], i.e. government innovation as a desired collective behaviour, across organisational boundaries. This study addresses the following research questions: RQ-1) What are the results and effects of a local government innovation programme? RQ-2) What lessons can be learned from applying institutional theory on local government innovation? The paper structure is as follows: Section two covers related research in the areas of ideas and innovations, government innovation as well the institutional perspective. Section three presents the case study and the research approach followed by empirical findings from the case study presented in section four. The result of apply-ing an institutional perspective is discussed in section five, and the paper concludes with implications for research and practice as well as suggestions for further research in section six.

2

Related Research

Ideas and Innovations

There is some disagreement among researchers about the meaning of the concepts of ideas and innovations. However, there is a shared consensus that these two concepts are significantly different. Every innovation starts with an idea, but innovation also requires management and coordination to bring potential benefits [START_REF] Kastelle | Ideas are not innovations[END_REF]. Innovations depend on ideas but far from all ideas become innovations. The stage of idea generation can be seen as trivial while there are significant challenges during the realisation of ideas into innovations [START_REF] Kastelle | Ideas are not innovations[END_REF]. This study is based on the following definition: "Successful innovation is the creation and implementation of new processes, products, services and methods of delivery which result in significant improvements in outcomes efficiency, effectiveness or quality" [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. The idea is the critical prerequisite, the spark, initiating the process of realising the idea into an innovation. Innovations are often described as processes [START_REF] Van De Ven | The innovation journey[END_REF], and one must also bear in mind that innovation processes do not always result in successful innovations [START_REF] Kastelle | Ideas are not innovations[END_REF]. Transferring an idea from the intellectual to conceptual level further on to the operational level is always related to significant risks. Systematic and structured innovation processes have a positive impact on realising ideas into innovations [START_REF] Anthony | The Innovator's Guide to Growth[END_REF]. It is essential to identify and successfully manage different stages or phases in innovation work [START_REF] West | Creativity and innovation implementation in work groups: The paradoxical role of demands[END_REF]. Innovations are categorised as incremental, radical or transformative [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. While incremental innovations result in minor changes in existing activities, radical innovations lead to significant improvements while maintaining existing dynamics between actors (ibid.).

Transformative innovations fundamentally change a sector's foundation and give rise to new organisational forms [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF].

Government Innovation

Innovation has a critical strategic value for public management [START_REF] Moore | Break-through innovations and continuous improvement: Two different models of innovative processes in the public sector[END_REF]. Government organisations face unprecedented challenges, and traditional established approaches will not be enough [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF]. The processes supporting government innovation cannot be traditional top-down but instead must take advantage of all potential sources of innovation; internal as well as external to the organisation [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF]. To be able to gain a positive result from innovation work, public organisations must be exposed, willing and responsive to innovation [START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Like other organisational changes, there is a need for top-management support to create the legitimacy needed for innovation work across organisations [e.g. 7]. Government innovation addresses and challenges traditional structures and operations. It becomes essential to acknowledge the need for minimising the potential resistance to new and innovative ways of structuring work and performing activities [START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Moreover, government innovation always occurs at the expense of regular activities [START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Limited resources and strained operations in contem-porary public sector organisations can, therefore, cause problems [START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Government innovation differs from innovation work in the private sector. Public organisations are tax-financed and governed by laws and regulations; organisations must thereby fund the innovation work themselves instead of bringing in external venture capital [START_REF] Borins | Encouraging innovation in the public sector[END_REF].

The error margins in the public sector are also different from the private sector. Constant media coverage does not hesitate to make headlines of any failure [START_REF] Borins | Encouraging innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Different approaches to tackle current and future societal challenges are put forth. For example, the concept of social innovation focuses on meeting social needs by developing and using new social processes [START_REF] Grimm | Social innovation, an answer to contemporary societal challenges? Locating the concept in theory and practice[END_REF]. Another strategy proposed specifically for government innovation is collaborative innovation [e.g. [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF][START_REF] Bommert | Collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF][START_REF] Nambisan | Transforming government through collaborative innovation[END_REF]. Collaborative innovation utilises diversity across the organisation while challenging existing organisational boundaries [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF]. By opening up the innovation process and integrating different actors, the availability of resources and assets without bureaucratic boundaries become a crucial factor for this approach [START_REF] Bommert | Collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. As a networkbased approach, the origin of collaborative innovation is linked to historical research on governance networks and network governance [START_REF] Sørensen | Enhancing collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Since the research field of government innovation is a relatively new subfield, researchers acknowledge a need for more studies [e.g. [START_REF] Sørensen | Enhancing collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF][START_REF] Demircioglu | Reinventing the Wheel? Public Sector Innovation in the Age of Governance[END_REF]. Accordingly, this study is an answer to this call.

Institutions and Institutional Carriers

The institutional theory perspective emphasises the need for considering informal aspects of organising as well as formal and rational structures and activities [START_REF] Avgerou | IT and organizational change: an institutionalist perspective[END_REF]. The organisational context is thereby considered being of importance as having a significant influence on decisions and activities [START_REF] Bowring | De/constructing theory A look at the institutional theory that positivism built[END_REF]. There is a need to acknowledge how different terms and variations in the organisational context affect organisational activities [START_REF] Barley | Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution[END_REF]. The focus is put on the tacit, implied or unspoken, for example, in the form of norms, values, beliefs and interpretations [START_REF] Barley | Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution[END_REF]. These are socially constructed meanings shared among individuals and transferred over time [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Institutions are systems of social control [START_REF] Berger | The social construction of reality -A treatise in the sociology of knowledge[END_REF] or social structures that restrict and guide behaviour in social arrangements [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Studies apply the institutional perspective to analyse either the external, i.e. environment as an institution or the internal, i.e. organisation as an institution [START_REF] Zucker | Institutional theories of organization[END_REF]. The concept of institutionalisation is a constructionist view addressing institutional elements such as norms and values [START_REF] Zucker | Institutional theories of organization[END_REF]. Organisational legitimacy is an essential factor that affects and is affected by institutional aspects such as norms and values [START_REF] Suchman | Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches[END_REF]. Legitimacy is the appropriateness of action in line with existing definitions, beliefs, norms and values [START_REF] Suchman | Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches[END_REF].

Decoupling is a critical aspect of institutionalisation and refers to the process of the organisation, avoiding integration of formal structures due to, for example, inconsistencies or anomalies [START_REF] Meyer | Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony[END_REF]. Formal structures are changed only in a ceremonial manner letting organisational units perform their activities as usual [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Decoupling results in formal structures not being aligned or coupled with how work is being performed across the organisation. Institutions are also transferred across an organisation by different institutional carriers [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF][START_REF] Scott | Institutional carriers: reviewing modes of transporting ideas over time and space and considering their consequences[END_REF][START_REF] Jepperson | Institutions, institutional effects, and institutionalism[END_REF] such as values and expectations, activities and artefacts [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Studies have shown that for example, digital artefacts as carriers are important to consider when investigating the process of institutionalisation [e.g. [START_REF] Melin | Understanding an Integrated Management System in a Government Agency-Focusing Institutional Carriers[END_REF][START_REF] Gosain | Enterprise information systems as objects and carriers of institutional forces: the new iron cage[END_REF]. Although institutional theory has received considerable attention in e-government research, the application of this type of sociological perspective in government innovation research is still limited. However, this study is in line with previous research put forth by, for example [START_REF] Van Assche | Innovation in Governance[END_REF].

Research Approach and Case Study

The presented research is the result of a study conducted at a municipality in 2017 and was initiated in late 2016 when the municipality contacted the authors. The municipality described a desire to evaluate the outcome of the idea and innovation programme, henceforth referred to as the innovation programme. Mainly based on qualitative data, quantitative data was also used as a complementary source. During the first phase of the study, a web survey was designed and submitted to 40 respondents assigned to roles linked to the innovation programme. The online questionnaire consisted of 13 five-point Likert scale questions supplemented with six open-ended/free text questions. The web survey reached a response rate of 75 per cent. The focus of this survey was to investigate the introduction of the programme, its outcome and current effects on a general organisational as well as operational level. The results were analysed using basic descriptive statistics and integrated into the overall qualitative case study. During the second phase of the study, ten semistructured interviews [e.g. 37] were conducted face-to-face with respondents on different organisational levels across the organisation. Identified by referral sampling [START_REF] Biernacki | Snowball sampling -problems and techniques of chain referral sampling[END_REF], all respondents had clear connections to the programme either as department managers, owners/coordinators of related processes or as assigned representatives to support the programme.

Distribution of respondents' roles2 : manager (2), idea coach (2), IT strategist 3 (1), contact person (2), inspirer [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. The aim was to involve employees already involved in the programme to assess and evaluate the results and effects. The interviews were guided by the preliminary result of the web survey and aimed at further investigating ideas and innovations as interpreted and translated among respondents as well as the level of operationalisation of the programme. In parallel with data collection activities, a hermeneutic literature review [START_REF] Boell | A hermeneutic approach for conducting literature reviews and literature searches[END_REF] was performed covering relevant areas of research. Institutional theory and previous research on innovations were used as a guide for further investigations and analysis [START_REF] Walsham | Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method[END_REF]. A thematic approach was applied iteratively during data analysis allowing for constant focus shifts between empirical data and literature; i.e. a reflexive approach [START_REF] Krippendorff | Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology[END_REF]. The analysis was performed on different levels such as individual, group and organisational. Digital artefacts were also handled as a level of analysis. During the case study, the researchers stayed in regular contact with the municipality. Emerging findings and tentative results were discussed in meetings and seminars in order to report work in progress as well as to validate results. The result and implications for practice were reported back in written form to the municipality in October 2017 and therefore also served as a process of validating the results.

4

Empirical Findings: The Innovation Programme

Formal Structure and Process

The innovation programme was established in 2015 with the objective to realise at least 100 ideas per year. The aim is to increase the ability to make use of employees' creativity and competence to handle current and future challenges. The programme should also support current initiatives in research and business development through increased cooperation between administrations. Employees are supported during assessment, development and realisation of their ideas. The programme should also facilitate administrations' prioritisation and implementation of proper development efforts. The programme consists of a formal structure and process, a central supporting function (the Idea Sluice) 4 and a web portal (the Idea Portal). There are defined roles assigned to the programme: (1) the carrier -an employee having an idea, (2) the coaches -central roles responsible for supporting the innovation process and (3) the counsels -which at the administrative level decides whether the idea is to be supported or not. On a general level, the municipality's innovation programme contains a formal innovation process consisting of four main phases as illustrated in Figure 1 below. The first phase of Assessment (1) is performed by the carrier in cooperation with the coach with the aim of concretisation and quality assurance of the idea. The idea is then presented to the council deciding if the idea is to be supported or not. If supported, the second phase of development, test and evaluation (2) can be initiated. The result is presented to the council assessing and evaluating the result. If showing positive realisability, the process can continue into the third phase of expanded pilot testing (3) and the fourth phase of implementation (4).

Fig. 1. The formal innovation process

If the idea is dismissed by the council or administration, the carrier can always try to develop further and refine the idea and try to initiate another process cycle. The process is supported by a digital artefact, the Idea Portal, described in the next section.

The programme also includes two additional roles not directly involved in the formal innovation process. The contact persons act as local contact points, and the aim of the inspirers is to support and facilitate the innovation programme at the local operational level.

The digital artefact: An Idea Web Portal

The digital artefact, the Idea Portal, is based on a traditional web interface and is accessible via the municipality's Intranet. The portal allows for basic functionality for submitting ideas and keeping information of ideas updated during the phases of the process, e.g. assigning different statuses with progress updates. The assigned status of an idea corresponds to the main phases of the process as previously described (see Figure 1 above). Ideas can also be shown with a status of being cancelled, paused or redirected, i.e. passed on to a specific business area. The carrier can access their own ideas in a personalised view while all employees have access to the overall view of submitted ideas. The portal is mainly used by the coach and carrier during the first two phases, i.e. assessment (1) and development, test and evaluation [START_REF]OECD: Embracing Innovation in Government -Global Trends[END_REF]. The Idea Portal is described as a positive incentive, for example, bringing visibility and transparency to the programme (Manager 2, 2017). "I think it is important because it becomes a structure -otherwise it would have been totally invisible. [..] It [the portal] supports legitimacy and understanding." (Inspirer 2, 2017). The part of the organisation affected by the idea and its current status becomes clear (Inspirer 1, 2017).

The Idea Portal has had a positive contribution; however, mostly focused on the initial phase of submitting ideas. This phase now has a much higher level of legitimacy, and the portal, together with assigned roles, has contributed to increased visibility (Contact Person 2, 2017). Instead of using a dedicated system, i.e. innovation management software, the portal is developed based on a traditional case management system (Coach 2, 2017). Respondents thus describe a need to further develop the portal, for example, regarding improved functionality for dialogue, interaction, coopera-tion as well as features for evaluating/rating ideas. Hence, the innovation process could potentially make better use of digital channels (Coach 2, 2017).

Results and Effects

The programme is described as having positive effects on a general level. According to one respondent: "This is a municipality where you are serious about the idea work. You really want to take advantage of the employees' creativity." ). There is a perceived distance between assigned roles and areas covered by the programme. An example is a distance in time and space between the idea carrier, the support function and the decisions on the administrative management level (see phase 3 and 4 in Figure 1 above).

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With too much distance between regular operations and innovation process, the latter risks being perceived as too vague and unclear in turn resulting in a low degree of concern and commitment across the organisation. As a result of this challenge, some administrations have even actively decided not to support the innovation process at all since it is deemed to be redundant (Coach 1, 2017). Respondents, therefore, describe that a potential solution would be to move the central support function closer to local operations. Minimising this gap would facilitate a stronger connection between the innovation programme and regular development activities and in turn, promote a stable and sustainable approach, i.e. integrated with regular business development processes (Manager 2, 2017; Contact Person 2, 2017). In summary, the case study shows that the innovation process, its structure and supporting roles and artefact have had a positive contribution but this initiative has been created and introduced without enough support from regular operations (Manager 1, 2017).

Discussion

Norms and Values

The central concepts, i.e. the idea and the innovation, have not been problematised to any greater extent in the studied organisation during the introduction of the programme. The formal process and structure have been implemented and communicated across the organisation (see Section 4.1). Thus, the municipality has not taken any further notice of how these concepts are interpreted and institutionalised among employees. This motivates a discussion of normative or taken-for-granted assump-tions [START_REF] Barley | Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution[END_REF] about the programme among respondents. In line with Tolbert and Zucker [START_REF] Tolbert | Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of civil service reform, 1880-1935[END_REF] we argue that the adoption of the programme can be determined by its level of institutionalisation. This social structure aims to guide employees towards being more creative in their workplace for the greater good of local operations as well as the organisation as a whole. To socially establish, i.e. institutionalise, the collective behaviour [START_REF] Hughes | The ecological aspect of institutions[END_REF], the programme needs support from employees' norms and values and its perceived legitimacy. Norms and values are often discussed together without separating them. However, it is essential to acknowledge their differences. As conceptions of the desirable or the preferred, values must have standards for assessment and comparison of behaviours and structures [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. The outcome of the assessment defines if a behaviour should be considered being of value or not. We consider the official aim of the programme as such a standard, and it is notable that the organisation emphasises how employees' ideas can be used to support internal research and business development through increased cooperation across administrations. This approach can be justified in one sense since employees more easily can relate to ideas than innovations. However, we argue that it poses a significant risk. We find no traces of what is to be desirable or preferred regarding the ability to innovate. According to the programme, ideas are already there ready to be submitted via the Idea Portal for further development. To be able to manage innovations in a systematic and structured way [START_REF] Anthony | The Innovator's Guide to Growth[END_REF], and to reach a higher level of success, the different stages of the innovation process should be handled [START_REF] West | Creativity and innovation implementation in work groups: The paradoxical role of demands[END_REF]. We, therefore, argue that the municipality disregards a critical aspect of the innovation process; a work environment that promotes, values and utilises creativity. The working climate must promote creativity since government innovation occurs at the expense of regular activities [START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. Put shortly; the programme neither prescribes that the employee should be creative at the expense of daily work, nor does it say that the employee should take risks or even make any mistakes.

The municipality does not further elaborate on the tradition of government having a potential "zero-error culture" [START_REF] Sørensen | Enhancing collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF] hence being a bureaucracy. According to the programme, a network-based collaborative approach is desirable [START_REF] Sørensen | Enhancing collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF] resembling public sector collaborative innovation [e.g. 1]. Still, to accomplish this, collaboration must be facilitated, and deeply institutionalised organisational boundaries must be challenged and crossed [START_REF] Bommert | Collaborative innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. So again, a non-valued behaviour becomes an assessment standard for other behaviours prescribed in the programme. Based on this discussion, we have identified a recurring pattern of focusing on idea-driven phases of the process as managed by the central support function. There is a lack of normative as well as value-based prescriptions, assessment standards and objectives to cover the later innovation-driven phases of the process.

Legitimacy and Decoupling

Legitimacy is "a generalised perception or assumption that the actions of an actor are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions." [START_REF] Suchman | Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches[END_REF]. The legitimacy of the programme is therefore closely interrelated to its norms and values. The programme consists of a complex, multi-faceted and dynamic set of processes. These processes affect and are affected by formal as well as informal structures. The programme can, on a general level, be seen as an example of an attempt to introduce structured and systematic innovation work [START_REF] Anthony | The Innovator's Guide to Growth[END_REF]. The result of the programme is closely related to the level of internal legitimacy gained. The municipality shows the ability and willingness to act and launches an ambitious programme as a response to internal and external pressures and demands. In line with national initiatives [e.g. [START_REF] Vinnova | Överenskommelse: Stärkt innovationsförmåga i offentlig verksamhet 2015-2017[END_REF][START_REF] Vinnova | Reviderad sammanfattning av arbetsprogram -Stärkt innovationsförmåga i offentlig verksamhet 2015-2017[END_REF][START_REF]Utlysning: Idéslussar i kommuner -Utvecklingsprojekt 2016[END_REF], the aim is to develop and increase local government innovation. Gaining legitimacy by acting upon this pressure is also confirmed by respondents staying favourable of this work. However, respondents report that the programme lacks communicated and sustainable support from top management. Hence, the municipality needs to acknowledge the strategic value of government innovation [START_REF] Moore | Break-through innovations and continuous improvement: Two different models of innovative processes in the public sector[END_REF] on the top management level. While research describes this kind of support as critical for innovation initiatives [START_REF] Borins | Encouraging innovation in the public sector[END_REF], we also argue that this lack affects employees assigned to the central support function as well as the willingness among administrations to support the system. Respondents show apparent concerns about the support and sustainability of the municipality's innovation programme. We are in full agreement with researchers stating that "ideas are not innovations" [START_REF] Kastelle | Ideas are not innovations[END_REF]. Ideas are a critical part of innovations, but the innovation is so much more! As previously described, the municipality has neither clarified nor problematized these central terms or concepts but instead conflated the concept of ideas in the programme. We argue that this strategy causes fundamental problems and challenges. For example, the case study shows that there are varying interpretations of the aim and purpose of the programme, which in turn directly affect how the programme is perceived based on employees' norms and values. Thus, we argue that this has a direct effect on the programmes perceived legitimacy across the organisation.

As described, decoupling occurs when the integration of formal structures for some reason is avoided; hence, decoupling or coupling instead builds on the notion of the alignment of structures and activities in organisations [START_REF] Meyer | Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony[END_REF]. We argue that this case shows clear signs of decoupling since a large number of administrations have not integrated the innovation programme into local operations. There can be several reasons for this outcome. For example, respondents report activities prescribed by the programme as conflicting with regular business development efforts [c.f. 27]. Another example is that the aim and purpose of the programme might be seen as ambiguous [START_REF] Meyer | Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony[END_REF] by employees, especially among those with a lack of knowledge and experience in innovation work. Judging by the result of the case study, the formal structures of the programme works as intended, but in reality, the programme is buffered on the local administration level in turn effectively minimising any conflicts or disputes [START_REF] Meyer | Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony[END_REF]. We, therefore, argue that the innovation programme, to a large extent, becomes an example of an organisation adopting the required structures but failing in operationalising them, i.e. to have them carried out in daily activities [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF].

Institutional carriers

Our findings indicate that carriers of institutional elements are important in local government innovation. This argument is in agreement with researchers stating that carriers are important when considering how institutions change in a way that is divergent or convergent [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Institutional carriers are not neutral; they affect the message they carry, as well as how this message will be received [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. We, therefore, argue that these carriers become essential during the process of institutionalisation; what they are, the messages and inscriptions they convey and how actors interpret them. Institutions can, therefore, be transferred across social contexts such as organisations by institutional carriers of several types [START_REF] Jepperson | Institutions, institutional effects, and institutionalism[END_REF]. Examples of such carriers are relational and symbolic systems, as well as artefacts and activities [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. The most notable example of a relational carrier, or role system, with defined patterns of interaction [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF] in the innovation programme is the structure and process of the programme as a whole with clearly defined related roles on different levels in the organisation. For example, there are clear patterns of interaction in the programme regarding how ideas are assessed on an administrative level by the councils.

The symbolic system acting as a carrier in the programme is made up of the values, expectations and standards [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF], in this case, regarding how the municipality will benefit from government innovation. However, the effectiveness and appropriateness of the symbolic system acting as an institutional carrier are also closely related, as previously described, to how the prescribed norms and values affect the organisation and the behaviour of employees, i.e. how these norms and values are institutionalised. The structured phases and tasks included in the formal process (see Figure 1 above) are examples of activities as institutional carriers [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF]. Moreover, the aim of the Idea Portal, acting as an artefact as a carrier [START_REF] Scott | Institutions and organizations[END_REF], is to facilitate information and communication primarily during the first two phases of the innovation process.

Based on respondents' reports, the outcome of this artefact as a carrier of information between the Carrier and Coach during the phases of assessment (1) and development, test and evaluation (2) (see Figure 1 above) seems to be positive. Respondents also report that the artefact brings transparency to the process for employees in assigned roles on central as well as administrative and individual levels. However, if the described carriers of the programme are considered in relation to how the institutional idea [START_REF] Scott | Institutional carriers: reviewing modes of transporting ideas over time and space and considering their consequences[END_REF] of the entire process of government innovation as beneficial for the organisation are transferred, we have found that ideas are predominantly put in the foreground. Hence, there is a lack of how the carriers support the institutionalisation of the later phases of the innovation process; i.e. how the idea is further developed into an implemented innovation.

6

Concluding remarks and future research

In this study, we focus on the results and effects of a local government innovation programme (RQ-1) and what lessons can be learned from applying institutional theory as a theoretical lens on local government innovation (RQ-2). Addressing the first research question, we conclude that the innovation programme, in the studied organisation, has been a limited success. The municipality has an established a formal structure and process supporting local government innovation. Findings show that the programme has had a positive impact on the opportunity for employees to submit ideas and receive support during initial development and evaluation. However, several shortcomings and challenges have also been identified regarding insufficient support, unclear responsibilities, lack of resources and distance in time and space all negatively affecting the programme (see Section 4.3). Addressing the second research question, themes were identified and discussed based on institutional theory. Findings from this analysis show limitation and fragmentation in informal systems and structures supporting the programme (see Section 5.1) as well as insufficient legitimacy and decoupling of the innovation programme from local operations (see Section 5.2).

As a result of a limited process view, the Idea Portal, acting as an institutional carrier, fails to support operationalisation and institutionalisation of the innovation process as a whole (see Section 5.3). As a general conclusion, we, therefore, argue that this study shows that formal and informal structures are equally important in the context of government innovation; government innovation needs to be operationalised as well as institutionalised. Although the innovation programme seems to be a coherent and adequate approach, this study reveals a recurring limited focus on the idea-driven phases of government innovation. This results in a significant lack of how the institutionalisation of the programme is supported; a lesson that goes beyond the studied case. Implications for research suggest a need for supplementing systematic and structured approaches on government innovation [START_REF] Anthony | The Innovator's Guide to Growth[END_REF] with studies focusing on the institutionalisation of government innovation. In government innovation research, there seems to be a tendency to focus on how to encourage and support innovation from a management perspective [e.g. [START_REF] Eggers | The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in government[END_REF][START_REF] Moore | Break-through innovations and continuous improvement: Two different models of innovative processes in the public sector[END_REF][START_REF] Stewart-Weeks | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF]. However, as Demircioglu [START_REF] Demircioglu | Reinventing the Wheel? Public Sector Innovation in the Age of Governance[END_REF] points out, there is a need for research on employees' attitudes and behaviour in relation to government innovation. In line with this call and based on this study, we put forth the importance of investigating how institutions, as structures of social control [e.g. 9, 24], guide or restrict government innovation. The institutional theory perspective brings a needed constructive potential to reveal the informal structures surrounding and affecting government innovation.

Implications for practice emphasise the importance of acknowledging government innovation as a fundamental government transformation or shift in paradigm across the public sector. In government innovation programmes there is a need to expand the perspective also to include conditions such as how to cultivate innovation culture in public sector organisations and the importance of not only focus on the outcomes regarding ideas and innovations. For example, the conditions for employees also need to facilitate and support creativity; thus, support can be in the form of facilitating creative environments as well as by increasing employees' margin of error. We argue that it becomes crucial to acknowledge local government innovation as a transformative innovation [START_REF] Mulgan | Innovation in the public sector[END_REF] in itself with a potential to fundamentally transform public sector organisations. One limitation in this study is the focus on one local government organisation, in a particular national setting. However, the patterns and results presented above can be linked to previous research and have an analytical generalisability. Although, there is room for expanding future research into new empirical settings and also to compare with other government organisations, on regional, and national level to contrast and to de-and re-contextualise empirical data and findings.

This should be considered being a new or neo-institutional perspective (see e.g. Scott,

2014).

Please refer to section 4.1 for a description of roles.

A former employee involved in the development of the innovation programme.

The motive for using this term as a metaphor in this context is based on the purpose of the supporting function resembling a device for facilitating and controlling the flow of ideas within the organisation.


Euripidis Loukis
email: eloukis@aegean.gr

Manolis Maragoudakis

Niki Kyriakou

Economic Crisis Policy Analytics Based on Artificial Intelligence

Keywords: policy analytics, policy informatics, artificial intelligence, feature selection, crisis

An important trend in the area of digital government is its expansion beyond the support of internal processes and operations, as well as transactions and consultations with citizens and firms, which were the main objectives of its first generations, towards the support of higher-level functions of government agencies, with main emphasis on public policy making. This gives rise to the gradual development of policy analytics. Another important trend in the area of digital government is the increasing exploitation of artificial intelligence techniques by government agencies, mainly for the automation, support and enhancement of operational tasks and lower-level decision making, but only to a very limited extent for the support of higher-level functions, and especially policy making. Our paper contributes towards the advancement and the combination of these two important trends: it proposes a policy analytics methodology for the exploitation of existing public and private sector data, using a big data oriented artificial intelligence technique, feature selection, in order to support policy making concerning one of the most serious problems that governments face, the economic crises. In particular, we present a methodology for exploiting existing data of taxation authorities, statistical agencies, and also of private sector business information and consulting firms, in order to identify characteristics of a firm (e.g. with respect to strategic directions, resources, capabilities, practices, etc.) as well as its external environment (e.g. with respect to competition, dynamism, etc.) that affect (positively or negatively) its resilience to the crisis with respect to sales revenue; for this purpose an advanced artificial intelligence feature selection algorithm, the Boruta 'all-relevant' variables identification one, is used. Furthermore, an application of the proposed economic crisis policy analytics methodology is presented, which provides a first validation of the usefulness of our methodology.

Introduction

An important trend in the area of digital government is the exploitation of ICT for supporting higher-level functions of government agencies, with main emphasis on public policy making, leading to the gradual development of 'policy analytics' (sometimes termed also 'policy informatics') [START_REF] Janssen | Introduction to Policy-Making in the Digital Age[END_REF][START_REF] Tsoukias | Policy analytics: an agenda for research and practice[END_REF][START_REF] Daniell | Policy analysis and policy analytics[END_REF][START_REF] De Marchi | From evidence-based policy making to policy analytics[END_REF][START_REF] Gil-Garcia | Policy Analytics: Definitions, Components, Methods, and Illustrative Examples[END_REF]; it can be defined as the exploitation of existing data of government agencies, possibly in combination with data possessed by private sector firms (such as business information and consulting ones), using advanced quantitative analysis techniques, in order to support various stages of public policy making for the complex problems that modern societies face. Policy analytics represents a major and highly ambitious expansion of digital government, beyond the support of internal processes and operations, as well as transactions and consultations with citizens and firms, which were the main objectives of its first generations [START_REF] Janowski | Digital government evolution: From transformation to contextualization[END_REF][START_REF] Lachana | Identifying the Different Generations of e-Government -An Analysis Framework[END_REF], towards higherlevel functions of government. Some first research has been conducted in this area of policy analytics, which has developed some useful knowledge concerning approaches and methodologies for exploiting various sources of public sector data, in order to support various stages of the policy making cycle in some domains of government intervention, such as the economy, the social insurance, the environment, the energy, the justice and the management of emergency crises [START_REF] Hiltz | Introduction: Social Media and Collaborative Systems for Crisis Management[END_REF][START_REF] Baer | Analysis of Policy Cases in the Field of Energy Policy[END_REF][START_REF] Ekstrom | Policy Analytics Tools to Identify Gaps in Environmental Governance[END_REF][START_REF] Park | An Event-Driven Lens for Bridging Formal Organizations and Informal Online Participation: How Policy Informatics Enables Just-in-Time Responses to Crises[END_REF][START_REF] Vaan Den Braak | Development and Use of Data-Centric Information Systems to Support Policymakers: Applied to Criminal Justice Systems[END_REF][START_REF] Van Dijk | Smart monitoring of the criminal justice system[END_REF]. However, this promising area of policy analytics is still in its infancy, and the potential of the large quantities of the data that government possesses for supporting and enhancing policy making has been exploited only to a limited extent. So it is necessary to conduct extensive research in order to exploit these data for supporting the highest-level government functions of policy making, focusing on the most important problems/challenges our societies face. Another important trend in the area of digital government is the increasing exploitation of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques by government agencies. According to a recent relevant report of the EU [START_REF] Craglia | Artificial Intelligence -A European Perspective, EUR 29425 EN[END_REF] AI can be defined as a group of technologies that enable computers to become more intelligent, by learning from their environment, gaining knowledge from it, and using this knowledge for taking intelligent action or proposing decisions. There are several technologies in this group that provide such learning capabilities, with the most important of them being definitely the Machine Learning (ML). Though most of the AI technologies, and in particular the ML algorithms, exist for several decades, it is only recently that an increasing 'real life' exploitation of them has started, mainly by private sector firms, and to a lower extent by government agencies, due to: a) the availability of large amounts of data enabling more effective training of AI algorithms (i.e. extraction of more reliable rules and models); b) advances in computing power and cost reduction of it; c) substantial improvements of the AI algorithms [START_REF] Craglia | Artificial Intelligence -A European Perspective, EUR 29425 EN[END_REF][START_REF] Makridakis | The forthcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution: Its impact on society and firms[END_REF]. The multiple success stories of the first experimentations of AI exploitation in the private sector have generated high levels of interest in exploiting and applying AI techniques in the public sector as well, in order to automate or support more sophisticated mental tasks than the simpler routine ones automated or supported by the traditional operational IS of government agencies [START_REF] Eggers | AI-augmented government. Using cognitive technologies to redesign public sector work[END_REF][START_REF] Desouza | Learning from public sector experimentation with artificial intelligence[END_REF][START_REF] Desouza | Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities[END_REF][START_REF] Sun | Mapping the challenges of Artificial Intelligence in the public sector: Evidence from public healthcare[END_REF]. However, the exploitation of AI in the public sector so far has been mainly for the automation, support and enhancement of daily operational tasks and lower-level decision making (e.g. [START_REF] Rockoff | Can you recognize an Effective teacher when you recruit one?[END_REF][START_REF] Chandler | Predicting and preventing shootings among at-risk youth[END_REF][START_REF] Kang | Where not to eat? Improving public policy by predicting hygiene inspections using online reviews[END_REF][START_REF] Camacho-Collados | A Decision Support System for predictive police patrolling[END_REF][START_REF] Ku | A decision support system: Automated crime report analysis and classification for e-government[END_REF]), but only to a limited extent for the support and enhancement of higher-level functions, and especially policy making. So it is necessary to conduct extensive research in order to exploitat AI for supporting this highest-level government functiton of policy making.

Our study contributes to the advancement and the combination of these two important and promising digital government trends, policy analytics and AI exploitation, towards filling the abovementioned research gaps, focusing on one of the most serious problems that governments face: the economic crises [START_REF] Keeley | From Crisis to Recovery -The Causes, Course and Consequences of the Great Recession[END_REF][START_REF] Knoop | Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles -2nd edition[END_REF]. In particular, it proposes a policy analytics methodology, which exploits existing data of taxation authorities, statistical agencies, and also of private sector business information and consulting firms, in order to support the design of policies for reducing the negative consequences of the economic crises, which repeatedly occur with varying intensities in market economies, leading to serious contractions of economic activity, with quite negative consequences for huge numbers of citizens (see section 2.1). In particular, our methodology enables the identification of characteristics of a firm (e.g. with respect to strategic directions, resources, capabilities, practices, etc.) as well as its external environment (e.g. with respect to competition, dynamism, etc.) that affect (positively or negatively) its resilience to economic crisis with respect to sales revenue (i.e. the degree of sales revenue reduction due to economic crisis). For this purpose we are using a 'big data oriented' AI technique, feature selection (FS), which enables filtering from a large number of potential independent variables (contained in the available high-dimensionality big datasets) the ones that actually affect a dependent variable of interest; in particular, we are using the Boruta 'all-relevant' variables identification FS algorithm [START_REF] Kursa | Boruta -A System for Feature Selection[END_REF][START_REF] Kursa | Feature Selection with the Boruta Package[END_REF] (see section 2.2). The proposed policy analytics methodology can provide a substantial support for the design of public policies for reducing the negative impact of economic crises on firms, which can significantly impair both short-term and also medium-and long-term performance and competitiveness. This is highly beneficial as economic crises of various origins and intensities frequently occur in market economies, being an inevitable trait of them, have quite negative consequences for the economy and the society, so they are among the toughest challenges that governments face. Furthermore, an application of our methodology is presented, which is based on Greek firms' data concerning the economic crisis period 2009-2014, leading to interesting conclusions/insights, providing a first validation of the usefulness of our methodology.

In the following section 2 the background of our economic crisis policy analytics methodology is outlined, while in section 3 the methodology is described, and in section 4 its abovementioned application is presented. The final section 5 summarizes conclusions and proposes directions for future research.

Background

Economic Crises

One of the most serious problems of market-based economies are the fluctuations of economic activity that repeatedly appear, which cause many problems to the economy and the society in general, so they have to be addressed by government through appropriate policies, aiming on one hand at reducing their intensities and durations, and on the other hand at mitigating their negative consequences on firms and citizens [START_REF] Keeley | From Crisis to Recovery -The Causes, Course and Consequences of the Great Recession[END_REF][START_REF] Knoop | Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles -2nd edition[END_REF]. Economic crises can be defined as significant reductions of economic activity, which can be due to the 'business cycles' (i.e., the fluctuations that economic activity usually exhibits in market-based economies), or caused by various kinds of events in the society or economy (such as the oil crisis in the early 1970, or banking crises) [START_REF] Knoop | Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles -2nd edition[END_REF]. The economic crises have negative short-term as well as medium-and long-term consequences for the economy and the society. The short-term consequences usually are reductions of the demand for many goods and services, which result in serious decrease of firms' sales, production and profits, as well as personnel employment (increasing unemployment) and materials' procurement (propagating the crisis towards the suppliers). Furthermore, during economic crises firms usually reduce capital investment in production equipment, ICT, buildings, etc., and also in product, service and process innovations, which reduce the degree of renewal and improvement of their equipment, products, services and operations, as well as exploitation of emerging new technologies, and this has serious medium-and long-term consequences on their efficiency and competitiveness [START_REF] Keeley | From Crisis to Recovery -The Causes, Course and Consequences of the Great Recession[END_REF][START_REF] Knoop | Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles -2nd edition[END_REF], [START_REF] Izsak | The impact of the crisis on research and innovation policies[END_REF]. Therefore it is imperative that government agencies, especially the ones having competences and responsibilities for the domains of economy and social welfare, design and implement public policies for reducing the above negative shortterm as well as medium-and long-term consequences of the economic crises. However, it should be noted that the above negative consequences of the economic crises are not the same for all firms: the more efficient and effective firms, which offer higher value-for-money products and services, and have higher capacity to make the required adaptations, are more resilient to the crisis, and have less negative consequences on their sales revenue, and therefore on their employment, procurement, as well as their capital investment and innovation, than the less efficient and effective ones. Therefore, it is important and highly useful to develop policy analytics methodologies for identifying characteristics of the firm, as well as its external environment, that affect positively or negatively its resilience to economic crisis. Our study makes a contribution in this direction, based on the Boruta 'all-relevant' FS algorithm, which is outlined in the following section.

Artificial Intelligence Feature Selection -The Boruta Algorithm

The FS algorithms are an important class of 'big data oriented' AI algorithms, which aim at determining from a large number of features -potential independent variablesthe ones that actually affect a dependent variable of interest [START_REF] Tang | Feature Selection for Classification: A Review[END_REF]. They can be divided into two main categories: i) the 'minimal -optimal' ones, which determine a smallminimal set of features affecting the dependent variable, which can provide optimal prediction accuracy for it (most traditional FS algorithms belong to this category); ii) the 'all-relevant' ones, which determine all the features that affect the dependent variable, not only the non-redundant ones, as it happens in 'minimal -optimal' FS algorithms (there is a smaller number of novell algorithms belonging to this category) [START_REF] Kursa | Boruta -A System for Feature Selection[END_REF][START_REF] Kursa | Feature Selection with the Boruta Package[END_REF][START_REF] Alelyani | The effect of the characteristics of the dataset on the selection stability[END_REF][START_REF] Tang | Feature Selection for Classification: A Review[END_REF]. Therefore if there are a number of features that affect the dependent variable, which are to some extent redundant (i.e. there is some degree of association among them), the 'minimal-optimal' FS algorithms will select only some of them (a minimal subset), which have low levels of redundancy (association) among them; however,they will not select some other features, which affect the dependent variable, but have high levels of association with the selected ones, as the latter features do not increase further the prediction accuracy of the dependent variable, beyond the accuracy achieved based on the former features. On the contrary the 'all-relevant' FS algorithms will select all the features affecting the dependent variable, regardless of possible associations among them.

Since the objective of this study is the to extract from available datasets as much knowledge and insight as possible concerning characteristics of a firm as well as its external environment that affect the degree of sales revenue reduction due to economic crisis we are using an 'all-relevant' FS algorithm. In particular, we are using the Boruta 'all-relevant' variables identification algorithm [START_REF] Kursa | Feature Selection with the Boruta Package[END_REF][START_REF] Alelyani | The effect of the characteristics of the dataset on the selection stability[END_REF], which is a FS approach, particularly useful when one is interested in understanding the mechanisms related to a dependent variable of interest, rather than just building a 'black box' predictive model of it with good prediction accuracy. The basic idea of the Boruta algorithm is that based on the original feature set, another artificial set of features is created, which consists of shuffled copies of all features (which are called 'shadow features'). This shadow set is then merged with the original one, a Random Forest classifier is constructed based on the merged data set, and for each feature an importance measure is calculated (the default one is the 'Mean Decrease Impurity' (MDI) of the feature), in order to evaluate the importance of each feature. At each iteration, Boruta FS algorithm evaluates one real feature, by assessing whether it has a higher importance than the best of the shadow features, and if this does not happens the feature is removed as unimportant for the dependent variable. Finally, the algorithm stops when either all features gets confirmed or removed, or it reaches a specified limit of runs.

The Boruta FS algorithm offers three crucial advantages: I) It can handle large numbers of features without performance and reliability deterioration, so it is appropriate for exploiting really 'big data'; this does not happen in other techniques that might be used for the same purpose, such as regression analysis, in which when the number of independent variables increases, the confidence intervals of the estimated bi coefficient increase as well, so some statistically significant ones may incorrecty be found non-significant. II) If there are associatedcorrelated features that all affect the dependent variable the Boruta FS algorithm will not omit some of them due to their associationcorrelation with other selected features; again this does not happen in other techniques that might be used for the same purpose: for instance in regression analysis, if some independent variables that actually affect the dependent variable have high levels of correlation, then for some of them their bi coefficients might be incorrectly found statistically non-significant (multi-collinearity problem). III) Also, the Boruta FS algorithm can identify not only the features that have linear effects on the dependent variable, but also the ones having non-linear effects.

3

The Proposed Methodology

The proposed economic crisis policy analytics methodology aims to identify characteristics of the firm and its external environment that affect its resilience to economic crisis, with respect to the most important negative aspect/consequence of economic crisis: the reduction of firms' sales revenue. Therefore the dependent variable of our methodology is the degree of firm's sales revenue reduction due to the crisis. The capabilities and advantages offered by abovementioned advanced Boruta AI FS algorithm (outlined in section 2.2) allow us to examine a large number and a wide thematic range of potential independent variables, in order to identify all the relevant and influential ones. The above can provide a substantial support for the design of policies for reducing this negative impact of economic crisis on firms, which can significantly impair their short-term and also their medium-and long-term performance and competitiveness.

Our methodology exploits existing data from two main sources: I) from taxation authorities: data about firms' sales revenue before and during the economic crisis, from which sales revenue reduction due to crisis can be calculated; II) from statistical agencies, and also from private sector business information and consulting firms: data concerning various characteristics of firms (concerning strategic directions, resources, capabilities, practices, etc.) and their external environment (concerning the intensity of competition, the degree of dynamism, etc.).

These data undergo two stages of processing: a) An initial selection of potential independent variables (characteristics of firm as well as its external environment) from the numerous variables that might be available in the large government and private sector datasets we are using, based on theoretical foundations from previous management science research. One of them is definitely the classical 'Leavitt's Diamond' framework [START_REF] Leavitt | Applied organization change in industry: structural, technical, and human approaches[END_REF], which defines four main elements of a firm, which should be strongly interconnected: a) task (= the strategies as well as the administrative and production processes of the firm); b) people (= the skills of firm's human resources of the firm); c) technology (= the technologies used for implementing the above processes); and d) structure (= the organization of the firm in departments, and the communication and coordination patterns them). Also, highly useful can be theoretical foundations developed in previous research concerning firm's resources as well as capabilities [START_REF] Johnson | Exploring Corporate Strategy. 9 th edn[END_REF][START_REF] Chen | IT Capability and Organizational Performance: The Roles of Business Process Agility and Environmental Factors[END_REF], both ordinary and dynamic ones [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: the Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF][START_REF] Drnevich | Clarifying the Conditions and Limits of the Contributions of Ordinary and Dynamic Capabilties to Relative Firm Performance[END_REF]. With respect to the selection of external environment characteristics useful can be foundations from previous research concerning 'generalised competition' (such as Porter's Five Forces Framework [START_REF] Johnson | Exploring Corporate Strategy. 9 th edn[END_REF]) and environmental dynamism [START_REF] Sherehiy | A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes[END_REF]. b) Processing of the selected variables through the abovementioned Boruta AI FS algorithm in order to identify 'all-relevant' ones (i.e. all the variables that actually affect the degree of sales revenue reduction due to the crisis).

In particular, we can select potential independent variables of the following eight categories: -Strategic orientations: this category can include variables concerning the degree of adopting the main strategies described in relevant strategic management literature [START_REF] Johnson | Exploring Corporate Strategy. 9 th edn[END_REF], such as cost leadership, differentiation, focus, innovation, export, etc. -Processes: it can include various characteristics of firm's processes, such as complexity, efficiency, formality, flexibility, etc.

-Human Resources: it can include variables concerning the general education/skills level of firm's human resources (e.g. shares of firm's personnel having tertiary education, vocational/technical education, etc.), as well as the possession of specific skills concerning various ICT, the provision of relevant training, etc. -Technology: variables concerning the use of various important ICTs (such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Customer Relationships Management (CRM) systems, Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, Business Intelligence/Business Analytics (BI/BA) systems, Collaboration Support (CS) systems, esales, social media, cloud computing, etc., or the use of various production technologies).

-Structure: variables concerning various aspects of the structure of the firm, such as main structural design (functional, product/service based, geographic, matrix), degree of differentiation, specialization, centralization/decentralization, use of organic structural forms (such as teamwork, job rotation), etc. [START_REF] Jones | Organizational Theory, Design, and Change[END_REF].

-Ordinary Capabilities: variables concerning the levels of firms capabilities to perform efficiently and effectively the main firm's functions, such as the ones proposed by Porter's Value Chain Model (Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing and Sales, Service (primary ones), and Human Resource Management, Technology Development, Procurement, Infrastructure) [START_REF] Johnson | Exploring Corporate Strategy. 9 th edn[END_REF]; and also the levels of various ICT capabilities of the firm [START_REF] Chen | IT Capability and Organizational Performance: The Roles of Business Process Agility and Environmental Factors[END_REF].

-Dynamic Capabilities: variables concerning various aspects of firm's ACAP (such recognition and acquisition or relevant external knowledge, assimilation of it, integration/combination of it, and exploitation for innovations in its processes, products and services) [START_REF] Cohen | Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Camisón | Absorptive capacity: New insights for its conceptualization and measurement[END_REF], agility (e.g. with respect to emergence of new technologies, new suppliers, new products and services as well change of prices by competitors) [START_REF] Sherehiy | A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes[END_REF][START_REF] Lu | Understanding the link between information technology capability and organizational agility: An empirical examination[END_REF].

-External Environment: variables concerning the intensity of the five aspects of the 'generalized competition' proposed by Porter's Five Forces Framework [START_REF] Johnson | Exploring Corporate Strategy. 9 th edn[END_REF]: price and non-price competition, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants and threat of substitutes; and also variables concerning various aspects of dynamism of firm's [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: the Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF][START_REF] Drnevich | Clarifying the Conditions and Limits of the Contributions of Ordinary and Dynamic Capabilties to Relative Firm Performance[END_REF][START_REF] Sherehiy | A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes[END_REF].

Application

An application of the economic crisis policy analytics methodology described in the previous section has been made for the identification of characteristics of Greek firms as well as their external environment that affect the degree of their sales revenue reduction due to the long and intensive economic crisis that Greece experiences since 2009. For this purpose, we have used existing Greek firm's data for the period 2009-2014 from three sources: i) the Ministry of Finance -Taxation Authorities; ii) the Hellenic Statistical Authority; and iii) the ICAP S.A., a well-known business information and consulting firm. In particular, we have used data from these sources for 363 Greek firms; 40.2% of them were manufacturing ones, 9.4% constructions, and 50.4% services ones; 52.6% of them were small, 36.1% medium and 11.3% large ones. Our dependent variable was the percentage of sales revenue reduction due to the economic crisis in the period 2009 -2014, which was discretized by the Ministry of Finance (in order to avoid providing too detailed data about this critical topic) into a variable with 13 possible discrete values (SALREV_RED): increase by more than 100%; increase by 80-100%; increase by 60-80%; increase by 40-60%; increase by 20-40%; increase by 1-20%; unchanged sales; decrease by 1-20%; decrease by 20-40%; decrease by 40-60%; decrease by 60-80%; decrease by 80-100%; decrease by more than 100%. We selected the following 64 independent variables, from 7 out of the 8 categories described in the previous section (with the only exception of the 'Processes' category, for which we did not find any variable in the available datasets): -Strategic orientations: degree of adopting a cost leadership strategy (STRAT_CL), a differentiation strategy (STRAT_DIF), a product/service innovation strategy (STRAT_INNOV) (five levels ordinary variables); introduction of product/service innovations in the last three years (INNOV_PRS), introduction of process innovations in the last three years (INNOV_PROC) (binary variables); percentage of sales revenuecoming from new products/services introduced in the last three years (NEW_PRS_P), percentage of sales revenue coming from products/services significantly improved in the last three years (IMPR_PRS_P) (continuous variables); introduction of innovations in the production processes or in the services delivery processes (INN_PRSD), introduction of innovations in the sales, shipment or warehouse management processes (INN_SSWM), introduction of innovations in support processes (such as equipment maintenance) (INN_SUPP); conduct of R&D (R&D) (binary variables); exports as percentage of firm's sales revenue (EXP_P) (continuous variable).

-Human Resources: number of employees (EMPL); percentage of firm's employees having tertiary education (EMPL_TERT), vocational/technical education (EMPL_VOT), high school education (EMPL_HIGH), elementary school education (EMPL_ELEM); percentage of firm's employees using for their work computer (EMPL_COM), firm's Intranet (EMPL_INTRA), Internet (EMPL_INTER); ICT personnel as a percentage of firm's total workforce (EMPL_ICT) (continuous variables).

-Technology: degree of ERP systems use (D_ERP), CRM systems use (D_CRM), SCM use (D_SCM), BI/BA use (D_BI_BA), CS systems use (D_CS) (five levels ordinary variables); conduct of e-sales (E-SAL) (binary variable); use of social media for sales' promotion (SM_SALPRO) for collecting customers' opinions and complaints about firm's products and services (SM_OPCOM), for collecting ideas for improving producs and services (SM_IMPR), for finding personnel (SM_PERS), for internal cooperation within the firm (SM_INT), for information exchange with other partner firms (SM_PART) (three levels ordinary variables); use of cloud computing (CLOUD) (binary); degree of using cloud computing IAAS (CL_IAAS), cloud computing PAAS (CL_PAAS), cloud computing SAAS (CL_SAAS) (five levels ordinary variables) -Structure: use of organic structural forms (teamwork, job rotation) (ORG) (binary variable).

-Ordinary Capabilities: six variables concerning the main ICT capabilities [START_REF] Chen | IT Capability and Organizational Performance: The Roles of Business Process Agility and Environmental Factors[END_REF] for: ICT strategic planning (ICT_PLAN), cooperation between ICT and business unitsn(ICT_BUS), cooperation with ICT vendors (ICT_VEND), development of ICT applications (ICT_DEV), modification of ICT applications (ICT_MOD), integration of ICT applications (ICT_INT) (five levels ordinary variables).

-Dynamic Capabilities: four variables concerning the main aspects of ACAP [START_REF] Cohen | Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Camisón | Absorptive capacity: New insights for its conceptualization and measurement[END_REF]: external relevant knowledge recognition and acquisistion (ACAP_ACQ), dissemination and analysis (ACAP_DIS), assimilation and integration in firm's knowledge base (ACAP_INT) and exploitation for process, products and services innovations (ACAP_EXP); and six variables concerning the main aspects of organizational agility [START_REF] Sherehiy | A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes[END_REF][START_REF] Lu | Understanding the link between information technology capability and organizational agility: An empirical examination[END_REF] with respect to introduction of new products and services by competitors (AG_PRS), new pricing policies of them (AG_PRI), changes of the demand for its products and services (AG_DEM), customization of products and services to customers' special needs (AG_CUST), expansion to new markets (AG_EXP) and change of suppliers (AG_SUP) (five levels ordinary variables).

-External Environment: number of competitors (N_COMP) (continuous variable); intensity of price competition (INT_PCOM), non-price competition (INT_NPCOM); and also four environmental dynamism variables concerning changes in products and services (DYN_PRS), technologies (DYN_TECH), competitors' movements (DYN_COMP) and demand for our products/services (DYN_PRS) (five levels ordinary variables) [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: the Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF][START_REF] Drnevich | Clarifying the Conditions and Limits of the Contributions of Ordinary and Dynamic Capabilties to Relative Firm Performance[END_REF][START_REF] Sherehiy | A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes[END_REF].

-General: sector (SECT) (binary variable: manufacturing/services)

The results from processing these variables using the Boruta FS AI algorithm are shown in Table 1, in which we can see 'all-relevant' identified variables affecting the degree of sales revenue reduction due to the crisis in order of importance. In particular, ten variables have been identified that actually affect the degree of sales revenue reduction due to the crisis (SALREV_RED). For each of them we examined whether it has a positive and negative effect: for the binary and ordinary variables this was done by calculating and comparing the averages of SALREV_RED for all their discrete values; for the continuous variables we first discretized them (initially we recoded them into corresponding binary variables based on their median values; and then we recoded them into corresponding four levels variables based on their quartile values) and followed the same procedure. The results are shown in the second column of Table 1.

Positive

We remark that the most important of the examined variables for the degree of sales revenue reduction due to the crisis is the use of organic structural forms (such as teamwork, job rotation), which belongs to the structural characteristics category; it has negative impact on SALREV_RED, so it reduces the negative consequences of the crisis on firm's sales revenue. The economic crises give rise to big changes in firms' external environment (e.g. decrease of the demand for their products and services, changes in customers' needs and preferences, new products and service offerings by competitors, etc.) and increase its complexity; the adoption of organic structures (mainly horizontal teams) allows a more intensive exchange and synthesis of information and knowledge among employees from different functions, departments and geographic locations, so they enable a better and understanding of these changes/complexities, and a more effective design and implementation of actions for responding to them (such as new pricing policies, new products/services with higher value-formoney, expansions to new markets, both domestic and foreign ones, etc.).

Also, we remark that four out of the ten identified relevant variables belong to the strategic orientations' category, and all of them have negative impact on SALREV_RED, so they represent strategies that increase firms' resilience to economic crisis. Three of them concern innovation strategies: percentage of sales revenue coming from new products and services, and process innovations concerning sales, shipment, warehouse management and support activities (such as equipment maintenance). Therefore, the introduction of new products and services creates new markets and sales opportunities, so it reduces the negative impact of crisis on sales revenue; also the above process innovations increase efficiency, which increases resilience to the difficult conditions of economic crisis. The fourth one concerns export strategies: it indicates that exports generate sales revenue from foreign markets, and reduce the realiance on firm's domestic market, so they decrease negative consequences of crises in the latter.

Furthermore, there are two of the identified relevant variables that belong to the technology category, and concern ICTs, both of them having negative impact on SALREV_RED: the use of ERP systems and the capabilities for integration of existing ICT applications. This reveals two important firm's technological characteristics that increase its resilience to economic crisis is. The use of ERP systems provides comprehensive and integrated electronic support of all firm's functions, so it enhances their efficiency, which is quite useful for coping with the crisis. Also, high level of capability for integrating existing ICT applications enables isolated 'islands of automation' (belonging to the same or different departments) to be interconnected and evolve towards an integrated ICT infrastructure, enabling data and functionality of one ICT application to be exploited by others as well; this improves cooperation and coordination between firm's departments, and enhances firm's efficiency, which increases its resilience to crisis. Finally, there are two of the identified relevant variables that concern belong to the human resources category: the employment of personnel with tertiary education increases firm's ability to cope with the crisis, however the employment of personnel having lower vocational/technical level education (though less costly) has the opposite effects. The number of firm's employees has a also negative impact on SALREV_RED, indicating that larger firms have lower reductions of sales revenue due to the crisis.

The above findings indicate that the Greek government agencies in order to reduce the negative consequences of the economic crisis on firms should design and implement effective public policies (such as legislation, financial support, provision of training and consulting, etc.) for promoting firms' innovation and export activities. Furthermore, it is necessary to design and implement effective public policies for promoting the adoption of ERP systems, organic structural forms (complementing their hierarchical structures with horizontal teamwork), and for employing personnel of higher educational level. These public policies should be focused mainly on the small and medium firms.

Conclusions

In the previous sections has been presented a policy analytics methodology, which exploits existing public and private sector data, based on an advanced big data oriented AI FS algorithm, in order to support policy making concerning one of the most serious problems that governments repeatedly face: the economic crises. It allows identifying firms' characteristics that affect their resilience to economic crisis. Furthermore, a first application of it has been presented, which provides a first validation of the usefulness of this methodology, and leads to interesting conclusions and insights. Our research has interesting implications for research and practice. With respect to research, it creates new knowledge in two emerging, highly important for the society, but minimally researched, digital government research domains: policy analytics and government AI exploitation. With respect to practice, it provides support to government agencies for designing policies for reducing the negative impact on firms of one of the most important problems of our market economies: the economic crises. In general, it provides an approach for combining and exploiting multiple sources of public and private sector data in order to understand the characteristics of firms exhibiting various positive behaviours/evolutions (e.g. export, expansion to other countries, adoption of new technologies, etc.) or negative ones (e.g. reduction of personnel employment, disinvestment, etc.), which will be useful for the design of relevant public policies. However, further application of our methodology is required in various national contexts, at both national and sectoral level, using a wider range of potential independent variables, and based on the experience gained improvements of the methodology.

Table 1 .

 1 Relevant variables affecting the degree of sales revenue reduction due to the crisis. Variable Effect Use of organic structural forms (teamwork, job rotation) (ORG) Negative Percentage of sales revenue coming from new products/services introduced in the last three years (NEW_PRS_P) Negative Introduction of innovations in support processes (such as equipment maintenance) (INN_SUPP); Negative Introduction of innovations in the sales, shipment or warehouse management processes (INN_SSWM) Negative Number of employees (EMPL) Negative Degree of ERP systems use (D_ERP) Negative Percentage of personnel having vocational/technical education (EMPL_VOT) Positive Exports as percentage of firm's sales revenue (EXP_P) Negative Percentage of personnel having tertiary education (EMPL_TERT) Positive Capability for integration of ICT applications (ICT_INT)