ABSTRACT The current push towards increased innovation within the public sector calls for new approaches to IT Governance. However, recent findings highlight the aim to avoid trade-offs between innovation and efficiency through organisational ambidexterity. This paper reports a case study of ambidextrous IT Governance in two large government agencies. According to the findings, ambidextrous IT Governance is enacted through two separate but interrelated mechanisms that emerge simultaneously. In terms of exploitation, the “efficiency creep” mechanism creates a bias for efficiency – rather than innovation-oriented investments. In terms of exploration, the “shadow innovation” mechanism involves unsanctioned innovation activities. These two mechanisms interplay, in the enactment of ambidextrous IT Governance. The contribution of this study lies in theorising about how ambidextrous IT Governance is enacted in public sector organisations, and how efficiency creep and shadow innovation influence each other. This contribution aids future research and practice on public sector innovation and IT Governance.

中文翻译：

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效率蠕变和影子创新：在公共部门实施灵巧的 IT 治理

摘要 当前在公共部门内推动更多创新需要新的 IT 治理方法。然而，最近的研究结果强调了通过组织二元性来避免在创新和效率之间进行权衡的目标。本文报告了两个大型政府机构中的灵巧 IT 治理案例研究。根据调查结果，灵巧的 IT 治理是通过同时出现的两个独立但相互关联的机制制定的。在开发方面，“效率蠕变”机制产生了对效率的偏见——而不是以创新为导向的投资。在探索方面，“影子创新”机制涉及未经批准的创新活动。这两种机制相互影响，在制定灵巧的 IT 治理过程中发挥作用。本研究的贡献在于对公共部门组织中如何实施双元 IT 治理以及效率蠕变和影子创新如何相互影响进行理论分析。这一贡献有助于未来关于公共部门创新和 IT 治理的研究和实践。