Decision‐Makers’ Generation of Policy Solutions amidst Negative Performance: Invention or Rigidity?

• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Author: Joris Voet,Elvira Lems
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13462

Research Article:

HERBERT SIMON

Symposium

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

931

Abstract: Behavioral theory proposes that decision-makers engage in search to identify satisfactory policy solutions to

organizational problems. For complex problems, required solutions cannot be identified merely through search, but

must be created and designed. While behavioral theory suggests that negative performance will spur creative solution

generation, threat-rigidity theory provides a competing view that decision-makers’ creative efforts are ultimately

thwarted through restricted information processing and constriction of control. We test these competing expectations

through a survey-experimental comparison of the creativity of policy solutions in response to negative budgetary

performance, generated by a nationally representative sample of local government decision-makers. The findings

indicate that negative performance decreases the creativity of policy solutions as rated by policy experts, and reveals

that key mechanisms of threat-rigidity theory are at play. This reduced generation of creative policy solutions amidst

negative performance places limits on public organizations’ capacity to adapt to adverse circumstances.

Evidence for Practice

• This experiment examines decision-makers’ capacity to generate creative policy solutions to complex societal

problems, as rated by independent policy experts.

• More creative policy solutions are not seen as less practically or politically feasible and are rated as more

effective, indicating that creativity is a crucial component of effective policy responses to wicked problems.

• Negative performance information decreases the creativity of policy solutions that decision-makers put

forward.

• This reduced creativity is explained by threat-rigidity effects: decision-makers emphasize increased

monitoring, reduced collaboration, and an efficiency orientation.

Behavioral theory (Simon1997)—as initiated

by Administrative Behavior (Simon1997) and

the Carnegie school more generally (Cyert

and March1992; March and Simon1993)—has

proven a pervasive and enduring influence on

public administration research, theory and practice.

Utilizing concepts such as performance relative

to aspirations and problemistic search, behavioral

theory asserts that organizational reform, innovation,

and policy change are most in evidence in response

to negative performance (Cyert and March1992).

In such processes of adaptation, Simon(1997,

77) places particular emphasis on the constrained

cognitive capacity (or “bounded rationality”) of

organizational decision-makers. Decision-makers

are not omniscient: In response to any problem,

the full range of possible policy solutions and their

consequences are not known to them. When faced

with a particular problem, organizational decision-

makers therefore engage in processes of search in

order to identify a satisfactory solution (cf. Cyert and

March1992, 188).

For contemporary public administration research and

practice, Simon’s classic insights on administrative

behavior are of continued relevance. However, the

challenges that are faced by public administrations

are increasingly complex, place multifaceted and

contradictory demands on potential solutions, and

have complex interdependencies with other societal

problems (Moon2020; Rittel and Webber1973; Van

der Wal2020; Weber and Khademian2008). Such

“wicked problems,” characterized by Simon(1997,

128) as ill-structured problems, pose a particular

difficulty to organizational decision-makers. For

complex societal problems, the required solution

cannot be identified through search, but a novel

solution must be created and designed. “The task is not

to search but to synthesize: to design” (Simon1997,

126). To address wicked societal problems, decision-

makers’ capacity to generate creative policy solutions is

therefore of paramount importance.

In the commentary in the Administrative Behavior’s

fourth edition, Simon(1997, 126) acknowledges that

Decision-Makers’ Generation of Policy Solutions amidst

Negative Performance: Invention or Rigidity?

Joris van der VoetElvira Lems

Leiden University, The NetherlandsBMC Advisory, The Netherlands

Elvira Lems is a graduate (with honors)

of the Master of Public Administration at

Leiden University, with a specialization

in Public Management and Leadership.

Her master thesis addresses the effects

of negative performance information on

creativity of public sector decision-makers.

Upon graduation, she was employed at

Leiden University as an academic lecturer

and researcher. She is currently a trainee at

BMC Advisory, focusing on the policy fields

of education and youth.

Email: elviralems@gmail.com

Joris van der Voet is an Associate

Professor of Public Management at the

Institute of Public Administration, Leiden

University. His research examines how

decision-makers bring about change to

enhance effectiveness, adaptivity, and

resilience of public organizations in

response to societal challenges, adverse

performance, and declining financial

resources. He is currently principal

investigator on a research project that

is funded by the Dutch National Science

Foundation, titled “Administrative Attention

amidst Political Failure.”

Email: j.van.der.voet@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 5, pp. 931–945. © 2022 The Authors.

Public Administration Review

published by

Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American

Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13462.