Do Attributes of Innovative Administrative Practices Influence Their Adoption?: An Exploratory Study of U.S. Local Government

Abstract

This study examines whether particular attributes of innovative administrative practices associated with the new public management/reinventing government reform movement affect their adoption. The study uses three commonly cited attributes of innovation—cost, complexity, and relative advantage—and introduces a new one: ideological alignment. Using expert-panel and International City/County Management Association survey data, the role of the four attributes for 25 administrative innovations is analyzed across 725 U.S. local governments. Regression analysis suggests that ideological alignment (i.e., the innovation's embodiment of the new public management/reinventing government movement's ideals) and relative advantage (i.e., the innovation's beneficial impact on local government) are positively associated with the adoption of administrative innovations. The implications of findings are discussed for the process of innovation adoption and the roles of public administrators in the process.

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