Policy Entrepreneurs Research Articles

Macrolevel factors encouraging bureaucratic policy entrepreneurship: The case of religion and state in Israel

AbstractHow do external macrolevel factors encourage bureaucrats to become policy entrepreneurs? And what are their organizational goals in pursuing entrepreneurship? Contrary to traditional public choice literature on bureaucracy that sees the latter as change‐resistant, this study stresses that bureaucracies can and do change; they are not as insulated from reformist pressure. In this study, we lay the conditions under which change occurs, making bureaucrats—policy entrepreneurs. We argue that: (1) bureaucratic inefficiency, leading to (2) societal pressure as expressed by public opinion, and consequently to (3) pressure from potential new providers offering bottom‐up competition, will encourage bureaucrats to turn to policy entrepreneurship strategies. In addition, we assert that their goals in doing so are to modify and design efficient services, while protecting their monopoly on service provision. We test these claims by analyzing the state‐religion dynamics in Israel, and specifically the case of the 2021 kosher food inspection reform.

Hotspurs in, sober bores out: A call and an agenda for entrepreneurship and innovation policies that foster rapidly scaling ventures

Our effort is motivated by the observation that European entrepreneurs who receive financial support from public entrepreneurship and innovation programs, set out as hotspurs (fiery highly motivated professionals) with a focus on innovation and scaling. However, over time their scaling ambitions erode, and efficiency starts to dominate ventures' strategies pursued with the financial support received becoming much more cautious managers (Sober Bores). We argue that European innovation and entrepreneurship policy fails to promote firm scaling because of the fundamental misunderstanding that innovation drives firms scaling, overlooking the crucial role of an entrepreneurial business model that ensures a fit between firms' market offerings and customer preferences throughout the firm development. We identify the underlying pain points that hamper firm scaling, deduct action points for scaling-oriented European innovation and entrepreneurship policies and suggest change agendas for policy and practice. Finally, we propose a novel approach for future research assessing innovation and entrepreneurship support schemes that can enhance our understanding and better inform evidence-based policies.

Conspicuous by their absence? The member states in European Union counter-terrorism

ABSTRACT This article investigates member state influence on the making of EU counter-terrorism policy. Crucially, member states have not been viewed as major drivers of change in EU counter-terrorism, despite their experience of attacks, policy expertise, and the domestic salience of the issue. To address this gap, I show how member states acted as policy entrepreneurs during EU Passenger Name Records (EU-PNR), on which final agreement was reached in 2016. Specifically, I demonstrate that the UK Home Office was a prominent, long-term actor in the development of the EU’s counter-terrorism policy and worked with the Commission to build an alliance in favour of EU-PNR. However, it was only with the ‘window of opportunity’ presented by jihadi terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016 that members of the French government were finally able to pressure critical elements of the European Parliament into agreement.

Agglomeration factors and the geography of growing early‐stage businesses in Chile

AbstractNew models of agglomeration cast the urban productivity premium as the outcome of agglomeration economies, a spatial sorting of skilled entrepreneurs and greater selection effects leading to less, but more productive businesses. We provide descriptive evidence of the spatial distribution of growing early‐stage businesses in Chile that concurs with the theory. We show, first, that while business entry rates increase systematically with the size of a region, the rates of growing early‐stage businesses are not related to the levels of agglomeration. Second, we show that, on the contrary, average early‐stage business productivity, the levels of human capital and business exit rates all relate positively with agglomeration. Third, we estimate regression models that verify the expected relationships between agglomeration factors and regional growing early‐stage‐business activity. The results for Chile suggest that the disadvantages of agglomeration largely offset the benefits, and therefore there is no obvious location penalty to venturing in peripheral areas. Entrepreneurship policies in less‐developed countries should not target excessively to specific industries and regions, as they might curtail an entrepreneurial potential that is ubiquitous.

What motivates urban climate leaders? A study of urban climate governance in eight Swedish municipalities

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the motivations behind urban climate governance in eight Swedish municipalities. The study demonstrates that political consensus among, and willingness of, urban political leaders is of importance for motivating climate actions. Municipalities are moreover motivated by the accomplishments of other cities, national and subnational policies, and an increasing climate concern in society. In line with previous research, individual policy entrepreneurs have been important for local climate action; however, with the adoption of national and subnational policies, local climate policies are becoming increasingly institutionalised. Although some of the conclusions of the study confirm the significance of a polycentric governance approach, little relevance was attributed to citizen participation. The institutionalisation of urban climate governance deserves further attention so as to better understand how the dynamics of polycentric governance can be affected, and what implications this may have on climate policy-making process, and the engagement and support of urban residents.

Influencing Mechanism of Rural Households’ Livelihood Capital on Entrepreneurial Behavior: Evidence from the CFPS

The livelihood capital of rural households is an essential basis for their selection of livelihood strategy. This paper uses rural household data from the 2018 CFPS to construct a “hexagonal” framework for the analysis of livelihood capital. Natural capital, material capital, financial capital, social capital, human capital, psychological capital, and total livelihood capital are measured using entropy weight method. The paper uses logit and tobit models to analyze how livelihood capital affects rural households’ entrepreneurship. Finally, the heterogeneous impact of livelihood capital on rural households’ entrepreneurial behavior is discussed from the view of household head gender, household education level, and regional differences. The results show that rural households’ livelihood capital distribution in each dimension is uneven and the difference is great. Rural households’ capital of livelihood and finance have positive effects on their entrepreneurial behavior. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the increase in livelihood capital impacts entrepreneurship in female-headed households more positively and significantly. Livelihood capital can significantly promote the entrepreneurial behavior of rural households with lower education levels. The impact of livelihood capital on rural household entrepreneurship presents a decreasing distribution pattern from east to the middle to west. The results of the robustness test show that the conclusion of the positive impact of livelihood capital on rural household entrepreneurship is reliable. The main conclusions provide guidance and a foundation for further optimizing rural household entrepreneurship policies and promoting rural household entrepreneurship.

Environmental sustainability in sport federations: a Swiss case study of environmental policy genesis

Since national sport federations (NSFs) represent sport clubs and engage in sport policy issues, they could play a crucial role in establishing measures to ensure the environmental sustainability of sport. Several Swiss sport federations have already launched such programmes. However, sport federations are primarily committed to the interests of their member clubs and the sport as their core business and environmental sustainability is generally not their primary issue. With regard to the usually limited resources, their environmental engagement does not appear to be evident. Therefore, this study investigated the extent to which environmental policies are generated by NSFs and which factors are relevant for policy genesis (agenda setting and decision coupling). We conducted an in-depth case study of the Swiss Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association based on the multiple streams approach with two coupling phases. The findings showed that whereas agenda setting of policies regarding biodiversity and access to nature primarily occurs through national regulations, climate protection policies are mainly pushed by engaged policy entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, member interests, functional issues (as opposed to normative arguments) and the practices of similar federations were found to be crucial for all environmental policies. Because decisions regarding environmental policies require knowledge that does not necessarily belong to the core topics of the board of management, the support of environmental officers is key for the decision coupling of such. An understanding of environmental policy genesis is essential because it is prerequisite for the subsequent implementation of such policies and their effects.

From Direct SMEs’ Support to Entrepreneurship Policy in Russia: Why Do Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Matter?

From Direct SMEs’ Support to Entrepreneurship Policy in Russia: Why Do Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Matter?

기업가적 태도가 창업에 미치는 영향

This study empirically analyzed the differences before and after COVID-19 in the effect of entrepreneurial attitude on entrepreneurship using the 2002-2022 national survey data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Entrepreneurial attitude indicators include ‘perceived opportunities rate’, ‘perceived capabilities rate’, ‘fear of failure’, and ‘entrepreneurial intentions rate’, and countries were classified into three different income groups according to GDP per capita. According to the results of a fixed-effect panel regression analysis, regardless of the country's income level, adults with entrepreneurial intentions participated more actively in entrepreneurial activities after the outbreak of COVID-19. In high-income countries with a GDP per capita of $40,000 or more, the possibility of adults with entrepreneurial skills becoming more involved in entrepreneurial activities increased after COVID-19. In middle-income countries with GDP per capita of $20,000 to $40,000, the share of adults who connect entrepreneurial opportunities to entrepreneurship has increased since COVID-19. Meanwhile, in high-income and middle-income countries, the proportion of adults who are reluctant to start a business due to fear of failure, but are forced to start a business, has increased after Corona 19. After all, the effect of entrepreneurial attitude on entrepreneurship has changed since COVID-19, but the effect of COVID-19 varies with the country's income level. The results of this study show that in order to improve the efficiency of entrepreneurship policies, the heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 by country should be reflected.

Correction to: Making sense of knowledge-brokering organisations: boundary organisations or policy entrepreneurs?

Correction to: Making sense of knowledge-brokering organisations: boundary organisations or policy entrepreneurs?

How Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Promotes Part-Time Entrepreneurial Behavior: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Resources

With the convergence of China’s “entrepreneurial society” and the “digital age,” part-time entrepreneurial behavior (PEB) has received widespread attention as a new form of labor relations and entrepreneurial paths. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is an important indicator of entrepreneurs’ confidence in their skills and in coping with uncertain entrepreneurial challenges. However, studies on how ESE affects different types of PEB have not been thoroughly carried out. To fill the existing research gap, the primary objective of this paper is to thoroughly investigate the individual impact of three key factors, namely organizational management self-efficacy (OMSE), opportunity development self-efficacy (ODSE), and risk-taking self-efficacy (RTSE), on economic profit-driven part-time entrepreneurial behavior (EPEB) and self-value-driven part-time entrepreneurial behavior (SPEB), respectively. Based on the “cognition-environment-behavior” logic of triadic reciprocal determinism, this study also aims to examine the moderating effect of entrepreneurial resources (ERs) and attempt to understand how external factors regulate internal factors (OMSE, ODSE, and RTSE) to form the results of EPEB and SPEB. This study adopted a quantitative research approach with a questionnaire survey, taking 457 part-time entrepreneurs in 11 major cities as subjects. The main results show that (1) OMSE and ODSE have a positive effect on EPEB, while RTSE has an inverted U-shaped effect on it; (2) ODSE and RTSE have a positive effect on SPEB, and OMSE has an inverted U-shaped effect on it; and (3) ERs play a positive moderating role in the above processes. The results can not only effectively guide part-time entrepreneurs in PEB but also provide a reference for the government to improve part-time entrepreneurship policies.

More than one way to get there: a configurational view on performance drivers in knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship

PurposeKnowledge-intensive entrepreneurial firms (KIE) strongly rely on scientific and strategic research and development (R&D) capabilities to achieve higher performance levels. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effects of scientific capabilities and strategic R&D on KIE performance; and how the constituent elements of these dimensions can be configured to generate conditions for high performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ empirical setting involves companies that submitted projects to the Innovative Research in Small Businesses (PIPE) program in Brazil. The authors then run partial least square structural equation modeling to verify how scientific and strategic R&D capabilities influence the performance construct. Second, the authors apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify configurations that are equifinal in terms of generating superior performance.FindingsFindings indicate a strong association between scientific capabilities and KIE performance. The configurational approach outlines the existence of multiple paths to success, but human capital stands as a core condition throughout estimations.Practical implicationsThe authors’ assessment has implications for how KIE firms are managed according to their organizational profiles and trajectories. Also, it advances the authors’ comprehension on how entrepreneurship policies can better target these distinct profiles.Originality/valueThe authors’ analysis provides new evidence on the inherent complexity behind the generation of high performance in KIE when addressing their portfolios of knowledge-related capabilities. More than that, the authors were able to identify the existence of heterogeneous profiles that can equally lead to higher levels of performance.

Performing social policy diffusion: Reflections on agents as social protection policy entrepreneurs in Africa

A growing literature explains the diffusion of social protection policies and, in particular, cash transfer programmes throughout Africa since the early 2000s as a paradigmatic policy transfer process. Most contributions emphasise the central role of transnational development agencies in this process, which is typically characterised as ‘donor-driven’. This article argues that individual agents, notably consultants who were commissioned by agencies to perform various roles in persuading African governments to introduce social protection, played a dual role insofar as many also shaped the positions of the agencies that hired them. They achieved both by deploying a range of influencing strategies associated with policy entrepreneurship, such as rhetorical persuasion, demonstration, and advocacy events. Other tactics, identified by the author from in-depth interviews conducted with 26 influential agents, include ‘piggybacking’, ‘Trojan horse’, and ‘accelerator events’. Although these agents believe in the value of their work, some expressed concern about their role in driving policy changes in African countries that appear to reflect the ideas and preferences of the international community, rather than aligning with the policy priorities of national governments.

When active representation is not enough: ethnic minority street-level workers in a divided society and policy entrepreneurship

When active representation is not enough: ethnic minority street-level workers in a divided society and policy entrepreneurship

Analysis of Commercial Banks’ Responses to Climate Change; a Case of Commercial Banks in Kitui County Kenya.

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed climate changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of climate change on banking performance in Kenya. The specific objectives were to assess the impact of climate change strategy, corporate governance, climate change disclosure, and climate change policy against the banking performance in Kenya. The total target population was all the commercial banks in operating Kitui town with 250 employees which according to Kenya central bank annual supervision report, the town has a total of 10 bank branches 2019. Descriptive survey design and correlational research design were used in this study. Primary and secondary data were used. While self-administered questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect primary data, the study reviews the previous evaluation reports to seek the secondary data on performance. The data collected was then analyzed by both descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Being that the current study was dealing with the relationship study, the study therefore used regression model as a tool of analysis and the results generated were presented in form of tables. The results of this study is to benefit policy makers, managers, administrators, entrepreneurs, researchers, consultants, scholars and trainers involved in strategic entrepreneurship development. This study tested the null hypotheses that climate change strategy, corporate governance, climate change disclosure, and climate change policy have no significant impact against the banking performance in Kenya. Pragmatism paradigm approach and mixed method research was adopted in this study. The questionnaire was tested for validity and reliability. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyze the collected data with the assistance of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Multiple regression and correlation analysis were carried out. The study found out that banking performance in Kenya was impacted positively by the change strategy, corporate governance, climate change disclosure, and climate change policy.

Pandemic lockdown as policy window for street-level innovation of health and substitution treatment services for people who use drugs

PurposeThis paper aims to examine policy innovation among street-level bureaucrats at low-threshold services to people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on two research projects conducted during the first pandemic lockdown in Denmark. The first is a case study of how COVID-19 impacted on people who use drugs (PWUD) and services for PWUD at the open drug scene in the neighborhood of Vesterbro in Copenhagen. The second is an ethnographic study of how users of services at the intersection of drug use and homelessness were impacted by lockdown.FindingsDrawing on Kingdon’s “multiple policy streams” approach, this study shows how lockdown opened a “policy window” for innovating services to people who use drugs. This paper further shows how the pandemic crisis afforded street-level bureaucrats new possibilities for acting as “policy entrepreneurs” in a context where vertical bureaucratic barriers and horizontal cross-sectoral silos temporarily collapsed. Finally, the authors show how this had more lasting effects through the initiation of outreach opioid substitution treatment.Social implicationsIn Denmark, the emergence of a “policy window” for street-level bureaucrats to act as street-level “entrepreneurs” occurred in a context of rapid government response to the pandemic. For crises to act as “policy windows” for innovation depends on strong, preexisting institutional landscapes.Originality/valueThis paper adds to existing literature on policy innovation during COVID-19 in two ways: methodologically by contributing an ethnographically grounded approach to studying policy innovation and theoretically by examining the conditions that allowed policy innovation to occur.

Citizensourcing policy advisory systems in a turbulent era

Abstract Extending previous works on major changes in policy advisory systems (PASs), such as externalization (locus) and politicization (government control), this study examines whether and how democratization (citizensourcing) of PASs works based on the case of the Kwanghwamun Citizensourcing Policy Platform, which operated for 4 years under the Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea. Analyzing more than 11,000 policy suggestions proposed by ordinary citizens on the digital policy platform, this study investigates how citizensourced policy ideas are discussed, incubated, and finally adopted through interactions among ordinary citizens, policy experts, and government agencies. Based on the belief that the operation of PASs becomes increasingly complicated and often dysfunctional as societies face more “wicked”, cross-cutting, and volatile policy problems than ever, this study argues that citizensourcing policymaking is critical to ensuring policy legitimacy and receptivity. This study suggests that both the quality and features of citizensourced policy ideas are important for advancing policymaking processes. This study also finds that political cycle and active citizen policy entrepreneurs are also critical factors, while it shows noteworthy limits on the quality and features of citizensourced policy ideas, which, in fact, lead to a frustratingly low policy adoption rate. This study suggests that governments need to actively capitalize on the power of ordinary citizens as citizen experts, while the shortcomings and risks of citizensourcing PASs also need to be carefully addressed.

'I was like a one-man band': the theory and practice of national development experts' work at the messy-middle

Despite their importance to project outcomes, the work of individuals who occupy the meso-level of international development projects at the interfaces between an ever-growing number of actor groups is often poorly reflected on. Using four typically disparate bodies of literature (brokers and translators, street level bureaucracy, policy entrepreneurs, and institutional bricolage), I analyze how the work of national development experts (NDEs) at the meso-level influences how project intentions become social realities that reshape local lives. Normative and personal-professional motivations underpin NDEs' work at the messy-middle, encouraging them to work in a 'bottom-up' manner and to formally and informally create room for maneuver for all actors involved, drawing on relational skills and negotiating and utilizing multiple aspects of their individual identities. NDEs also work through conscious institutional bricolage, which they try to manage formally through contracts and informally through relationship-building, to integrate the project with the social environments in which it is being implemented. The analysis helps address key questions in existing meso-level actor literatures. It also shows that understanding meso-level work can facilitate improved understandings of how development projects move from intentions to social effects, which is a key concern for political ecology. I conclude by proposing that critical reflection could be a suitable methodology for assessing meso-level practice as it allows meso-level work to be discussed and learnt from without fully removing the spaces of informality and discretion that are vital to its success.

Reframing physical activity in sport development: managing Active Partnerships' strategic responses to policy change

PurposeThis paper examines the role of senior personnel within Active Partnerships as the personnel seek to strategically manage UK policy developments. This paper explores how Active Partnerships engage with the policy process within an environment characterized by systemic structural changes, mounting fiscal challenges, political uncertainty and a succession of public health concerns.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Multiple-Streams Framework (MSF), a case study approach was adopted, focusing on the perspectives of senior personnel. Semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the management and operation of five Active Partnerships across the South of England and one national stakeholder that works closely with Active Partnerships were conducted. Data were collected during the period following Andy Reed's review of the operation of Active Partnerships. The interviews were complemented by documentary analysis.FindingsFindings illustrate that while senior practitioners within Active Partnerships often behave in line with Lipsky's notion of street-level bureaucrats, by maximizing collective leverage, advocating priorities and providing a voice for local partners, the senior practitioners adopt behaviors more akin to policy entrepreneurs. In this sense, they seek to influence the policy process at critical junctures in order to promote preferred outcomes and protect sectoral interests.Originality/valueThis study has explored the relationship between strategic management and the policy process in the context of the rapidly changing policy domain that frames the work of regional sports organizations known as Active Partnerships. The conceptual frame of the investigation is the concept of “policy entrepreneurship”, which seeks to articulate how individuals and collectives engage in the policy process, in order to secure outcomes conducive to their objectives. This, in turn, provides a sense of context for the contemporary challenges associated with the management of sport and physical activity (PA).

Policy entrepreneurs and problem definition: the case of European student mobility

AbstractIn the literature on the role of agency in the policy process, relatively little attention has been devoted to how agents define policy problems. This article helps to address this gap by asking when and how policy entrepreneurs are successful in defining problems. The article rests on a framework that shows how policy entrepreneurs holding specific ideas and given a propitious socioeconomic context are able to define problems, translate those problems into new frames, and draw on those frames, while using their personal skills and political and institutional resources, to help build supportive coalitions in favor of policy change. Illustrated by a puzzling case in the field of European mobility policy, the article offers a new perspective on the role of ideas at the problem definition stage of the policy process, while providing a richer understanding of the policy entrepreneur as a driver of policy change.