Policy Alienation of Public Professionals: The Construct and its Measurement

Public Administration Review, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 516-525, 2012

31 Pages Posted: 24 Dec 2012

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

Currently, there is an intense debate on the pressures facing public professionals during policy implementation. Frequently professionals have difficulty identifying with new policies, resulting in among else diminished policy performance. We examine this problem using the concept of ‘policy alienation’, for which we have developed and tested a scale for its measurement. Policy alienation is conceptually associated with five sub-dimensions: strategic powerlessness, tactical powerlessness, operational powerlessness, societal meaninglessness and client meaninglessness. Likert-type items have been developed for these sub-dimensions which together create a policy alienation scale. The initial scale was reviewed by interviewing 21 experts. These items were then administered in a survey of 478 Dutch healthcare professionals implementing a new financial policy: Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG, or DBC). The resulting 23-item policy alienation scale demonstrated good psychometric qualities. A reliable and valid policy alienation scale can ultimately help in understanding and enhancing policy performance.

Keywords: new public management, scale development, policy implementation, policy alienation

JEL Classification: D73, J2, J28, J58, J68, M12, M00, I18

Suggested Citation

Tummers, Lars, Policy Alienation of Public Professionals: The Construct and its Measurement (2012). Public Administration Review, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 516-525, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2193285

Lars Tummers (Contact Author)

Utrecht University ( email )

Vredenburg 138
Utrecht, 3511 BG
Netherlands

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