Introduction

Public sector managers are increasingly asked to do more with less. They are expected to find ways to improve organisational performance – even in times of decreasing financial resources, and often in the face of scarce human resources. Even if they know how to make improvements, they may not be able to implement the appropriate changes. A gap may exist between what is known and what is done – what Pfeffer and Sutton (2000) called ‘the knowing–doing gap’. The newer waves of knowledge translation research (e.g. Grimshaw et al. 2005) frame the gap as a disconnection between knowledge acquisition and the use or implementation of that knowledge. Similarly, a recent systematic review of diffusion of innovation (Greenhalgh et al. 2004) refers to the lags or gaps between knowledge, action and innovation as indication of oversimplification of diffusion models combined with a lack of robust evidence concerning how diffusion occurs and indicators of when and how it is successful.

In addressing the knowing–doing gap within the context of improving performance in a public sector organisation, a shortage of management or organisation-based knowledge can create a gap in knowledge acquisition. The assumption that public sector managers should be able to understand what needs to be done to achieve organisational goals and activities presumes their ability to develop and use managerial strategies towards these ends. Accordingly, strategy in the public sector has become an increasingly relevant research topic (Llewellyn and Tappin 2003).