Search in Response to Negative Performance Feedback: Problem-Definition and Solution-Generation

Abstract

Behavioral theory states that decision-makers engage in search in response to a performance shortfall. However, public administration research has remained remarkably inattentive of decision-makers' attention. This study conceptually disentangles problem-defining and solution-generation as two distinct search objectives, in order to test theoretical expectations concerning individual decision-makers' search in response to negative performance. Using a survey experiment among 1,562 political and managerial public sector decision-makers across 263 local government organizations that links factual performance feedback about budgetary performance and citizen satisfaction to a behavioral measure of both search objectives, the study finds increased solution-generation search in response to negative budgetary performance feedback, but not in response to low citizen satisfaction. Search of politicians and managers is found to be highly similar. These findings contribute to a behavioral understanding of how performance information influences search by politicians and managers, and reveal novel research avenues about information-processing that are of particular relevance to public administration research and theory.