Behavioral Public Administration

Co-Chairs

Amandine Lerusse
Leiden University, The Netherlands
a.v.lerusse@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Sheeling Neo
American University, USA
sneo@american.edu

Joris van der Voet
Leiden University, The Netherlands
j.van.der.voet@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Saar Alon-Barkat
University of Haifa
s.alon.barkat@poli.haifa.ac.il

Peter Rasmussen Damgaard
University of Southern Denmark
pda@sam.sdu.dk

The research group on Behavioral Public Administration focuses on advancing scholarship that applies a behavioral perspective to the study of public administration, drawing on insights from psychological and behavioral science (Grimmelikhuijsen et al. 2017). Its strategic aim is to explore the micro-foundations of public services from both the supply side (e.g., public decision makers, public employees and organizational models) and the demand side (e.g., citizens and clients), as well as their interactions. Within this framework, the research group focuses on a central question: how can we understand the attitudes, intentions, and behaviors of citizens, public professionals, and elected officials in the public sector – and what do these micro-foundations mean for governance and democracy? The research group will be used to develop a joint research program on the topic of Behavioral Public Administration, including international publication opportunities and collaborations.   

Methodologically, while BPA scholars have recognized the potential of experimental designs to advance both theory and empirical insights in public administration, the research group is open to other methodological approaches. It encourages the use of diverse approaches, including surveys, qualitative methods, text analysis, administrative data or mixed methods, so long as they rigorously integrate a behavioral perspective into their study.