Partecipazione Pubblica e Apprendimento Organizzativo: il ruolo degli Enti Locali

Public participation represents a strategic lever for strengthening local democracy and improving the quality of public policies, particularly in contexts marked by increasing social and institutional complexity. At the same time, organizational learning represents a key factor in public administrations’ ability to adapt, innovate, and respond effectively to citizens’ needs. Positioned at the intersection of these two fields of research, this study examines public participation as a potential driver of organizational learning in Italian local governments, adopting Peter Senge’s (1990) Learning Organization framework as its theoretical foundation. The research is based on a mixed-methods design articulated into two studies. Study 1, exploratory and descriptive in nature, employs a desk analysis of participatory processes in Italy using data drawn from the Participedia platform, with the aim of mapping initiatives at the municipal level and analyzing their main structural, functional, and design-related characteristics. Study 2 adopts a qualitative approach and is based on semi-structured interviews with local administrators, analyzed through Template Analysis, to explore representations, practices, and critical issues of public participation in relation to organizational learning processes. The findings indicate that participatory processes can support organizational learning when they foster dialogue, reflexivity, and the construction of shared meanings, in line with key dimensions of Senge’s (1990) Learning Organization. However, this potential is strongly contingent upon organizational and political conditions, including leadership style, the degree of institutionalization of participation, and the willingness to share decision-making power. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between public participation and organizational learning in the public sector and offers practical insights for the design of participatory processes capable of combining democratic legitimacy, administrative effectiveness, and continuous learning within local governments.