Behavioral Public Administration

Abstract

Behavioral public administration is an interdisciplinary research field that studies public administration topics by connecting insights from public administration with psychology and, more broadly, the behavioral sciences. Behavioral public administration scholars study important public problems such as discrimination, corruption, and burnout. Various public administration scholars—including Herbert Simon—have stressed the importance of connecting psychology and public administration. Yet until the early 2010s, public administration did not work systematically on this connection. This has changed profoundly with the development of various overview articles, dedicated special issues in general public administration journals, and development of new journals. Behavioral public administration has several uses. First, behavioral public administration tests and extends theories and concepts from psychology in political-administrative settings. Examples include tests of prospect theory and the choice overload hypothesis in public-administrative settings. Second, it tests and extends the micro-foundations of public administration theories and concepts, such as concerning co-production and isomorphism. Third, behavioral public administration scholars develop new theories and concepts. This has probably been less widespread than the previous two uses, but is nonetheless already apparent in, for instance, concepts such as public service motivation, policy alienation, and administrative burden. Fourth, behavioral public administration can help in tackling practical public problems. Insights from behavioral public administration have been used to increase diversity within public organizations and reduce burnout. The field of behavioral public administration can develop further. The field could move beyond one-shot single studies and aim to build cumulative knowledge. This can be done via large-scale collaborations and replications. In addition, it is also beneficial if behavioral public administration scholars broaden their methodological toolkit to answer different kinds of research questions. It should not only focus on causal inference questions but also on questions concerning description of societal problems (e.g. via representative surveys) or concerning prediction (e.g. by using machine learning).

Explaining the Use of Performance Information by Public Managers: Do Task-Related Factors Matter?

“…There is a question why performance information may be more useful than other information. The theory of bounded rationality developed by Simon suggests that the manager acts as a so-called 'satisficer' in the decision process (Tummers, 2020). Managers cannot evaluate all the potential alternatives so they look for a course of action that is "good enough", rather than search for the best alternative (Simon, 1997).…”

Behavioural governance in the policy process: introduction to the special issue

“…And how do their biases and standard operating procedures affect policy outputs and outcomes? Beginning with the seminal work of Pressman and Wildavsky (1973), scholarship on policy implementation, and in particular work which concerns the behaviour of administrative actors who are frontline workers, has been an important stream of behaviourally-informed policy research, as well as the main focus of BPA to date (Battaglio et al, 2019;Bellé & Cantarelli, 2017;Bhanot & Linos, 2020;Grimmelikhuijsen et al, 2017;James et al 2017a;Tummers, 2019a). In general, this research challenges top-down views of policymaking that posit a sharp distinction between politics and administration.…”

Pursuing Consilience: Using Behavioral Public Administration to Connect Research on Bureaucratic Red Tape, Administrative Burden, and Regulation

“…Focusing on core issues in public administration research, such as bureaucratic red tape, administrative burden, or regulation, opens opportunities for BPA to become more ingrained into the fabric of mainstream public administration research. Rather than simply being viewed as the application of psychology or behavioral economics to public administration settings, BPA can occupy a more central place in the public administration scholarship if its lines of investigation more directly address the field's core theories and practical concerns (Tummers ).…”

“…Whereas some assert that BPA came into its own with the 2017 PAR publication authored by Grimmelikhuijsen et al, others claim that BPA, understood as the use of psychological theories in public administration, has a long and storied history predating the widespread use of the behavioral public administration moniker (Hassan and Wright ). Indeed, this body of work can serve as a platform to build and elaborate upon what BPA scholars call micro‐foundations of behavior (Tummers ). Yet others talk about the proliferation of behavioral laboratories in government agencies in the United States and Europe as a key marker of the BPA movement (Bhanot and Linos ).…”

“…Although applying insights from psychology and behavioral economics represents a promising avenue to deepen understanding of a wide range of topics in public administration (Grimmelikhuijsen et al ), the full potential of BPA can only be realized, we argue, when behavioral insights are linked to core public administration themes (Pandey, Pandey, and Van Ryzin ; Tummers ). This Public Administration Review ( PAR ) symposium does just that by investigating what a behavioral perspective can add to our understanding of three related and salient topics in public administration research.…”