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dc.contributor.authorThomann, E
dc.contributor.authorvan Engen, N
dc.contributor.authorTummers, LG
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-17T09:48:08Z
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-09T15:17:39Z
dc.date.issued2018-07-03
dc.description.abstractThe topic of discretion continues to be hotly debated in policy design and policy implementation. In top-down theories, discretion at the frontline is often seen as a control problem: discretion should be avoided as it can mean that the policy is not implemented as intended. Conversely, bottom-up theories state that discretion can help policy implementers tailor a policy to specific circumstances. However, there has been little systematic research into how the experience of having discretion motivates frontline workers to implement a policy. We conceptualize and test this relationship by combining public administration and motivation literature, using datasets in healthcare and education and large-N set-theoretic configurational analysis. Results robustly show that experiencing discretion is a quasi-necessary condition and, hence, a prerequisite for high implementation willingness. This finding is more in line with bottom-up than with top-down theories. Policy implementers crucially need the freedom to adapt the program to local conditions for being motivated to implement a policy. The evidence encourages scholars and practitioners to move from the question whether frontline workers should be granted discretion to how to best make use of frontline workers’ discretion instead.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationPublished online 3 July 2018en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/jopart/muy024
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/33421
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherOxford University Press (OUP) for Public Management Research Associationen_GB
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Public Management Research Association. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.comen_GB
dc.subjectPolicy implementationen_GB
dc.subjectDiscretionen_GB
dc.subjectStreet-level bureaucracyen_GB
dc.subjectlarge-N set-theoretic configurational analysisen_GB
dc.subjectNecessary conditionsen_GB
dc.titleThe necessity of discretion: A behavioral evaluation of bottom-up implementation theoryen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2018-07-09T15:17:39Z
dc.identifier.issn1053-1858
dc.descriptionThis is the final version of the article. Available from OUP via the DOI in this record.en_GB
dc.identifier.journalJournal of Public Administration Research and Theoryen_GB


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