Responding to problems: actions are rewarded, regardless of the outcome
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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Responding to problems: actions are rewarded, regardless of the outcome. / Olsen, Asmus Leth.
In: Public Management Review , Vol. 19, No. 9, 2017, p. 1352-1364.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Responding to problems: actions are rewarded, regardless of the outcome
AU - Olsen, Asmus Leth
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - When faced with a problem, policymakers have a choice of action or inaction. Psychological research shows varying results on how individuals evaluate (in)actions conditional on the subsequent outcome. I replicate, generalize, and extend this research into a public management setting with two independent experiments embedded in a nationally representative sample of Danish citizens (n = 2,007). Both experiments show that actions are evaluated more positively than inactions – regardless of the outcome. This finding runs contrary to the inaction (or omission) bias but is consistent with evidence on a “norm of action”, in response to poor performance in political–administrative settings.
AB - When faced with a problem, policymakers have a choice of action or inaction. Psychological research shows varying results on how individuals evaluate (in)actions conditional on the subsequent outcome. I replicate, generalize, and extend this research into a public management setting with two independent experiments embedded in a nationally representative sample of Danish citizens (n = 2,007). Both experiments show that actions are evaluated more positively than inactions – regardless of the outcome. This finding runs contrary to the inaction (or omission) bias but is consistent with evidence on a “norm of action”, in response to poor performance in political–administrative settings.
KW - Attribution
KW - behavioural public administration
KW - blame avoidance
KW - omission bias
U2 - 10.1080/14719037.2017.1281998
DO - 10.1080/14719037.2017.1281998
M3 - Journal article
VL - 19
SP - 1352
EP - 1364
JO - Public Management Review
JF - Public Management Review
SN - 1471-9037
IS - 9
ER -
ID: 173628360