IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jothpo/v2y1990i1p59-83.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Institutional Approach to the Theory of Policy-Making: The Role of Guidance Mechanisms in Policy Formulation

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen H. Linder
  • B. Guy Peters

Abstract

The premise of this paper is that the revision of the stages metaphor for the public policy-making process is best undertaken from an institutional rather than individualist approach to analysis. The theoretical linkage between policy formulation and information - including feedback about performance at other stages as well as the results of social research - is mediated at the level of the policy formulating institution by complex learning and adaptation processes. Together these processes constitute a guidance mechanism for managing error and making course corrections. Different types of mechanisms, however, will admit different kinds of information which, in turn, will condition how the institution adapts to changing circumstances. The analytical features of guidance mechanisms are related to knowledge utilization, normative theories of policy-making and implementation, and to policy design.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen H. Linder & B. Guy Peters, 1990. "An Institutional Approach to the Theory of Policy-Making: The Role of Guidance Mechanisms in Policy Formulation," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(1), pages 59-83, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:2:y:1990:i:1:p:59-83
    DOI: 10.1177/0951692890002001003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951692890002001003
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0951692890002001003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davis, Otto A. & Dempster, M. A. H. & Wildavsky, Aaron, 1966. "A Theory of the Budgetary Process," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 529-547, September.
    2. Daniel McFadden, 1975. "The Revealed Preferences of a Government Bureaucracy: Theory," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(2), pages 401-416, Autumn.
    3. Stephen H. Linder & B. Guy Peters, 1987. "A Design Perspective On Policy Implementation: The Fallacies Of Misplaced Prescription," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 6(3), pages 459-475, February.
    4. March, James G., 1987. "Ambiguity and accounting: The elusive link between information and decision making," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 153-168, March.
    5. Wildavsky, Aaron, 1987. "Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions: A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 3-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Norin Arshed & Sara Carter & Colin Mason, 2014. "The ineffectiveness of entrepreneurship policy: is policy formulation to blame?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 639-659, October.
    2. Michael Howlett & Ishani Mukherjee, 2014. "Policy Design and Non-Design: Towards a Spectrum of Policy Formulation Types," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(2), pages 57-71.
    3. Michael Howlett, 2014. "From the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ policy design: design thinking beyond markets and collaborative governance," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(3), pages 187-207, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pascale Amans & Sylvie Rascol-Boutard, 2006. "Controlling Complex Organizations on the Basis of an Operational Performance Measure," Post-Print hal-01659071, HAL.
    2. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8529 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Henderson, Dylan & Roche, Neil, 2018. "From consensus to conflict in the regional policy mix for broadband deployment: examining the role of informal coordination," 29th European Regional ITS Conference, Trento 2018 184944, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    4. Noldy Nofri Runtuwene & Marthinus Mandagi & Abdul Rahman Dilapanga, 2022. "Implementation of the Affirmation School Operational Cost Policy at SMP Negeri 3 Suluun Tareran, South Minahasa," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 14-25, January.
    5. Jonas Eliasson & Mattias Lundberg, 2011. "Do Cost--Benefit Analyses Influence Transport Investment Decisions? Experiences from the Swedish Transport Investment Plan 2010--21," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 29-48, April.
    6. Sun-Ki Chai & Dolgorsuren Dorj & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2018. "Cultural Values and Behavior in Dictator, Ultimatum, and Trust Games: An Experimental Study," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Experimental Economics and Culture, volume 20, pages 89-166, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. John Jackson, 2014. "Location, location, location: the Davis-Hinich model of electoral competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 197-218, April.
    8. Shrestha, Yash Raj & Krishna, Vaibhav & von Krogh, Georg, 2021. "Augmenting organizational decision-making with deep learning algorithms: Principles, promises, and challenges," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 588-603.
    9. Dominique Prunetti & Alexandre Muzy & Eric Innocenti & Xavier Pieri, 2014. "Utility-based Multi-agent System with Spatial Interactions: The Case of Virtual Estate Development," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 271-299, March.
    10. Valentino Larcinese & Leonzio Rizzo & Cecilia Testa, 2007. "Do Small States Get More Federal Monies? Myth and Reality about the US Senate Malapportionment," Royal Holloway, University of London: Discussion Papers in Economics 07/01, Department of Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, revised May 2007.
    11. Satish Nambisan & Yadong Luo, 2021. "Toward a loose coupling view of digital globalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(8), pages 1646-1663, October.
    12. Chiara Oppi & Cristina Campanale & Lino Cinquini, 2021. "Il problema dell?ambiguit? nei sistemi di misurazione della performance nel settore pubblico: un?analisi della letteratura internazionale," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(2), pages 11-38.
    13. Emre Toros, 2010. "The Relationship Between Islam and Democracy in Turkey: Employing Political Culture as an Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 253-265, January.
    14. Yu‐Lin Hsu & Gavin C. Reid, 2021. "Two‐stage decision‐making within the firm: Analysis and case studies," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(6), pages 1355-1373, September.
    15. Hannelore Weck-Hannemann, 1987. "Politisch-ökonomische Bestimmungsgründe der Vergabe von Entwicklungshilfe: Eine empirische Untersuchung für die Schweiz," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 123(IV), pages 501-529, December.
    16. Schneider, Andreas, 2019. "Deterrence Theory in Paraguay: Exploring Fraud and Violation of Trust Cases," MPRA Paper 102204, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Miravete, Eugenio & Seim, Katja & Thurk, Jeff, 2013. "Complexity, Efficiency, and Fairness of Multi-Product Monopoly Pricing," CEPR Discussion Papers 9641, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Power, Michael, 2015. "How accounting begins: Object formation and the accretion of infrastructure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 43-55.
    19. Brian Gibson, 1992. "Financial Information for Decision Making: An Alternative Small Firm Perspective," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 1(3), pages 221-232, Spring.
    20. Daniel A. Levinthal & Claus Rerup, 2021. "The Plural of Goal: Learning in a World of Ambiguity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 527-543, May.
    21. Baier, Scott L; Bergstrand, Jeffery H; Mariutto, Roland., 2010. "The Growth of Bilateralism," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 12, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:2:y:1990:i:1:p:59-83. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.