Exploring the impact of professionalism on administrative innovation

Abstract

This study is an empirical analysis of data related to professionalism of public personnel directors, adoption or nonadoption of drug-testing policies by their agencies, the reported role of the personnel director in the policy adoption decision, and the characteristics of the drug-testing policy. The study addresses three major conceptual areas: innovation, professionalism, and drug-testing policies. It analyzes the relationship between the professionalism of public personnel managers and the decision to adopt drug-testing policies in the public workplace, within an innovation adoption framework. First, it examines the theoretical underpinnings of the innovation model as defined within the organizational theory literature. Second, it analyzes professionalism and its relationship to innovation from an organizational perspective. Third, it defines drug-testing policies and their characteristics, showing that drug-testing policies meet the definitional criteria of innovation. The authors recognize that this research is framed within a body of literature and research concerning the historical, legal, and political context of workplace drug-testing policies and programs in public agencies. This general topic will not be reviewed here because it has been covered elsewhere and because the focus of this present research concerns a different issue-the impact of professionalism on administrative innovation. © 1993 by The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc.