The southern initiative: How indigenous values inspire social innovation and impact

Xiaoliang Niu, Jason Paul Mika, Chellie Spiller, Jarrod Haar, Matthew Rout, John Reid, Tāne Karamaina · 2025 · Journal of Management & Organization

Summary. The Southern Initiative, a unit within Auckland Council, demonstrates how Māori values transform public sector management and drive social innovation. The organization uses indigenous principles like mana (prestige) and whānau-centered design alongside distributed leadership to co-create place-based solutions that improve community wellbeing. This case study shows that embedding indigenous values into bureaucratic structures produces systemic change, social justice outcomes, and community resilience.

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@article{niu-2025-southern-initiative-how-indigenous-values,
  title   = {The southern initiative: How indigenous values inspire social innovation and impact},
  author  = {Xiaoliang Niu and Jason Paul Mika and Chellie Spiller and Jarrod Haar and Matthew Rout and John Reid and Tāne Karamaina},
  journal = {Journal of Management & Organization},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1017/jmo.2025.10032},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.10032}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - The southern initiative: How indigenous values inspire social innovation and impact
AU  - Xiaoliang Niu
AU  - Jason Paul Mika
AU  - Chellie Spiller
AU  - Jarrod Haar
AU  - Matthew Rout
AU  - John Reid
AU  - Tāne Karamaina
JO  - Journal of Management & Organization
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.1017/jmo.2025.10032
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.10032
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1017/jmo.2025.10032

Countries

New Zealand

Regions

Oceania

Categories

indigenous-innovation, regional-innovation-systems, policy, general-innovation

Added

2026-05-01