This e-book is inspired by our recent review of the IC literature in Guthrie et al. (2012, p. 74) in which we found that the public sector is one of the least addressed areas of IC research. This is surprising considering that the public sector contributes a significant proportion of GDP in most economies (Dumay et al., 2010; Guthrie et al., 2014b), and is strongly reliant on the generation and utilisation of capabilities and knowledge in its service delivery (Cuganesan et al., 2012). (Broadbent and Guthrie, 2008, p. 129) state that the delineation between the private and the public sector is becoming increasingly blurred as "these public services now are significantly managed, delivered and governed by private and third sector organisations". Thus, there appears to be a disproportionate lack of IC research about the public sector given the significant differences between it and other economic sectors. Thus, it seems that public sector IC research in an area worth exploring.

To help understand how IC can be involved in the public sector this e-book presents a collection of research articles that seeks to conceptualise and/or apply IC approaches across a wide range of public sector services in a number of countries. The collection of articles in this e-book highlight ways forward for research, researchers, practice and policy and focus on a variety of public sector organisations from around the world. This body of work contributes to putting the public sector firmly back onto the IC research agenda.