Behavioral public administration
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Behavioral Public Administration (BPA) is the study of psychological methods and findings in political administrative settings e.g. cognitive and decision biases and discriminations by bureaucrats, interaction between citizens and bureaucrats, psychological effects of public service failure.[1] Behavioral public administration is a study subject in behaviors and methodology for administrative purpose. It refers to the study done in understanding the cause and consequence cycle when evoking certain orders or laws to govern or administrate one or many humans within a group. It is an interdisciplinary academic discipline that studies public administration “from the micro-level perspective of individual and group behavior and attitudes.”[2]
Components of study
Behavioral public administration has three main components:
- It uses individuals and groups of citizens, employees, and managers within the public sector as the units of analysis.
- It emphasizes the behavior and attitudes of these groups.
- It integrates insights from psychology and the behavioral sciences to study public administration.[2]
The behavioral approach to public administration complements traditional public administration research, adding nuance to classical macro-level theories of public administration.[2] It uses theories and methods from psychology to study the attitudes and behaviors of citizens, public professionals, and public managers.[3] By drawing on these insights, the approach attempts to improve knowledge and the skill of practitioners in public administration and academia. For example, the behavioral approach could shed light on improving citizens’ perceptions of performance or to what extent nudging works efficiently as a policy tool, benefitting policy-makers, and public officials.[2] The integration of public administration and psychology can also benefit psychologists, by offering insights into how theories developed in controlled environments hold up when tested in complex public environments.[2]
History and development
The growing prevalence of research at the intersection of psychology and public administration led to the creation of the Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, which published its first issue in 2018.[4] The journal, edited by professors Sebastian Jilke, Joanna Lahey, Kenneth J. Meier, and William G. Resh,[5][6] is dedicated to behavioral and experimental research in public administration.
The trend of behavioral research within public administration can be traced back to scholars such as Herbert A. Simon.[2] In his book Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization, Simon asserts that "decision-making is the heart of the administration, and that the vocabulary of administrative theory must be derived from the logic and psychology of human choice."[7] Other public administration scholars have also argued for a tighter connection between the fields of psychology and public administration. [2][8]
There have been quite a few BPA research studies published in the recent years by Baekgaard et al., 2019; Baviskar & Winter, 2017; Borrelli & Lindberg, 2018; Hallsworth et al., 2018; Harrits, 2019; James & Van Ryzin, 2017; Loyens, 2015; Thomann et al., 2018; Tummers, 2017, Moseley & Thomann, Akram, 2018; Hardin & Banaji, 2013; Olsen et al., 2021, Bellé & Cantarelli, 2017; Brest, 2013; Cantarelli et al., 2020.
Psychological methods and theories in the field of public administration are still not applied as often as in other disciplines such as economics, political science, and management studies.[2] In these fields of research, psychology-informed sub-fields have emerged, for example, political psychology, behavioral economics, and industrial and organizational psychology.
While the number of psychology-informed research studies in public administration might be small, the number is increasing.[2][9] Public administration scholars have begun incorporating theories from the field of psychology in the study of public leadership and public service motivation, transparency, public service competition, and choice, blame avoidance among policymakers, performance information, and trust of civil servants. The methods and measurement techniques used to study public administration have, to an increasing extent, drawn on the methodological toolkit of psychology, most notably seen as in the more frequent use of experiments.
References
- ^ Gofen, Anat; Moseley, Alice; Thomann, Eva; Weaver, R. Kent (2021-05-04). "Behavioural governance in the policy process: introduction to the special issue". Journal of European Public Policy. 28 (5): 633–657. doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1912153. ISSN 1350-1763.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan; Jilke, Sebastian; Olsen, Asmus Leth; Tummers, Lars (2017). "Combining Insights from Public Administration and Psychology". Public Administration Review. 77 (1): 45–56. doi:10.1111/puar.12609. S2CID 147863938 – via Wiley.
- ^ Tummers, Lars; Olsen, Asmus Leth; Jilke, Sebastian; Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan (2016). "Introduction to the Virtual Issue on Behavioral Public Administration" (PDF). Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Virtual Issue (3): 1–3.
- ^ Jilke, Sebastian; Meier, Kenneth J.; Van Ryzin, Gregg G. (2018). "Editorial". Journal of Behavioral Public Administration. 1: 1–3. doi:10.30636/jbpa.11.9.
- ^ "Journal of Behavioral Public Administration". JBPA. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Journal of Behavioral Public Administration - Editorial Team". JBPA. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Simon, Herbert A. (1947). Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization. New York: Macmillan Inc. pp. xi.
- ^ Olsen, Asmus Leth (2015). ""Simon Said," We Didn't Jump". Public Administration Review. 75 (2): 325–326. doi:10.1111/puar.12330.
- ^ Battaglio, Paul R.; Belardinelli, Paolo; Bellé, Nicola; Cantarelli, Paola (2019). "Behavioral public administration ad Fontes: A synthesis of research on bounded rationality, cognitive biases, and nudging in public organizations". Public Administration Review. 79 (3): 304–320. doi:10.1111/puar.12994.