An integrative model of care ethics in public innovation

The paper examines how the concept of care can be used to explain innovation in a public institution. First, three indicators of care that have been derived from care ethics are discussed: engrossment, motivational displacement and recognition of the carer [Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley: University of California Press]. Next, in a qualitative study, we explore how these elements of care are present in, and relevant to, understanding a particular case of innovation in the Danish public library. The contribution of the paper lies in an attempt to explain how ethical issues in innovation can be understood as drivers of change that direct actions.