Which factors influence implementation and fate of public innovations? Some research
has been conducted on factors influencing innovation introduction but little on those influencing
fate of public sector innovations. This study considers eleven factors potentially and actually
influencing a full-population of 183 public innovations introduced by the Government of
Saskatchewan (GoS) 1971-82 and their fate over 50 years (124 terminated, 59 survived). These
antecedents include economic situation, government finances, time period (decades) elapsed,
ideology, politics, government in power, governments’ priorities, sectors, types of innovation,
relationship to information, and interactions among antecedents. Differences were found among
the antecedents of innovation implementation, survival and termination; the influence of
antecedents on implementation and fate were not identical but the factors were shared. The
analysis inductively informs the following innovation questions: (1) What were the antecedents
of implementation of GoS innovations? (2) What were the antecedents of termination of
innovations? (3) Were termination rates consistent over time or did terminations cluster? 4) What
were the innovating government’s innovation priorities? 5) What were subsequent governments’
priorities, revealed by termination of innovations and new programs added? 6) What were the
governments’ relationships to information? 7) Did the antecedents interact, and if so, how
(assessed by a multiple-streams analysis). The factors are assessed for each innovation and a new
database prepared. Implementation, survival and termination rates varied by the factors assessed.
The most important factor in fate was ideology, due to the dominant government ideology
changing from the implementing to the next government).