Tracing the effects of politicization on public procurement specialists’ decision-making through values: A structural equation model of the broker-purist lens
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-17-01-2017-B003 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Pages | 53-88 |
| Author | Alexandru V. Roman |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1, 53-88 SPRING 2017
TRACING THE EFFECTS OF POLITICIZATION ON PUBLIC PROCUREM ENT
SPECIALISTS’ DECISION-MAKING THROUGH VALUES: A S TRUCTURAL
EQUATION MODEL OF THE BROKER-PURIST LENS
Alexandru V. Roman*
ABSTRACT. Currently, our understandings of the dynamics behind the effects
of politicization on values and on administrative decision-making remain
largely muddled and far from complete. The richness of theoretical accounts,
amassed over the past eight decades, has yielded only a limited number of
empirical examinations. This failure to develop a coherent collection of
empirical works can be for the most part at tributed to the com plexity
associated with studying values, particularly to the lack of clear and test able
theories and models. This article attempts to address this deficit and to add
to our understandings of the association between val ues and administrative
decision-making at the individual level by explicitly testing the Broker-Purist
(BP) mod el (within a sample of public procurement specialists) . It is found
that the BP model fits the data well, which suggest the framework as a valid
and useful pe rspective for conceptualizing the effects of en vironmental
politicization on administrative decision-making in public procurement
specifically, and in public administration in general.
INTRODUCTION
Public administration scholars have long acknowledged the
critical role played by values within the context of public service. From
its onset, public administration literature has recognized that
personal, professional, political and social values, under one form or
another, are inherently imbedded in the nature of administrative
decision-making and within most aspects of governance. This is very
much reflected within the current body of literature, which provides a
------------------------------------
* Alexandru V. Roman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor with the College of
Business and Public Administration, California State University at San
Bernardino. He is the Director of the Research Institute for Public
Management and Governance. His research interests include public
procurement, strategic management and leadership.
Copyright © 2017 by PrAcademics Press
54 ROMAN
lengthy list of high quality theoretical discussions on the values-
decision-making nexus. Ironically, while the early acknowledgement of
values as a critical concern for public administration expanded the
theoretical reach of the field, it came at the cost of shattering its
philosophical foundations. Scholarly debates such as Simon1
(1947/1997, 1952) vs. Waldo (1948/2007, 1952a, 1952b) and
Fredrich (1940) vs. Finer (1941) have “condemned” public
administration theory to a continuous, and what appears to an
unsolvable, deliberation regarding the normative role of values within
public administration.
At present, despite the “enormous attention to values and value
theory, fundamental disagreements remain about such critical issues
as the most useful concept of value, the differences between ‘value’
and ‘valuing’, the possibility or a hierarchy of values, the transitivity of
individuals’ values, and the justification for value-based collective
actions – all issues pertinent to public values and public interests”
(Bozeman, 2007, p. 113). Nevertheless, given the importance of this
topic for public administration as a field, especially within the context
of an increasing politicization of public service, the significance of the
area is only expected to grow. In fact, a number of scholars have
delineated the study of values and their effects on public servants’
decision-making as vital for the intellectual growth of the field of
public administration (Jørgensen & Bozeman, 2007; Nabatchin,
2012; van der Wal & van Hour, 2009).
While the area continues to receive a relatively significant degree
of academic attention, our understandings of dynamics behind the
effects of values on administrative decision-making remain largely
muddled and far from complete. Moreover, the richness of theoretical
accounts, amassed over the past eight decades, has yielded only a
limited number of empirical examinations. This failure to develop a
coherent collection of empirical works can be for the most part
attributed to the complexity associated with studying values,
particularly to the lack of clear and testable theories and models.
This article attempts to address this deficit and to add to our
understandings of the association between values and administrative
decision-making at the individual level by explicitly testing the Broker-
Purist (BP) model (Diggs & Roman, 2012; Roman, 2014a). The BP
lens provides a parsimonious model for explaining administrative
decision-making based on a posited association between
EFFECTS OF POLITICIZATION ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS’ DECISION-MAKING 55
environmental factors and individual values. The model assumes that
patterns in a public administrator’s decision-making can be explained
by one’s personal and professional values. More specifically, it argues
that if an administrator’s environment is highly politicized and one is
ill at ease with one’s organizational role, one is more likely to make a
clear differentiation between one’s “on the job” and “off the job”
values and therefore engage in a different decision-making pattern.
The model due to its claim to predictability, if confirmed, is bound to
come with significant implications for administrative practice and
public administration theory in general. The main contribution made
by this study is that it represents a rare empirical examination of a
decision-making model that places values at its core. To this extent, it
actively promotes the development of a coherent research agenda on
the topic. To the best knowledge of the researcher, this study
represents the first empirical evaluation of the BP model.
Beyond this introduction, the discussion in this article is
organized in four broad sections. The first section provides a brief
overview of the normative streams of thought on the role of values in
public service and discusses the complexity associated with research
in this area. In the second section, the BP model is introduced and
explained in some detail. This is then followed by a discussion on the
methodology, model and the instrument that were employed in this
study. The last section presents the empirical results and reviews
their overall implications. As is customary, a few summarizing
thoughts and suggestions conclude the narrative.
DEFINING AND SORTING THE LITERATURE ON VALUES
Defining Values
Values can be defined as “a complex and broad-based
assessment of an object or set of objects (whether the objects may
be concrete, psychological, socially constructed, or a combination of
all three) characterized by both cognitive and emotive elements,
arrived at after some deliberation, and, because a value is part of the
individual’s definition of self, it is not easily changed and it has the
potential to elicit action” (Bozeman, 2007, p. 117). To a large extent,
it is integral to values “that they need not be ‘explained’; rather they
are ‘explanations’ for norms or conduct” (Biddle, 1979, p. 295,
original emphasis).
To continue reading
Request your trial