Understanding goal formation in strategic public management: a proposed theoretical framework

ABSTRACT

Organizational goals lie at the heart of strategic public management. While research has centred on the performance impact of organizational goals and goal clarity, the field remains unclear on where organizational goals come from and how they form over time. We argue that research has suffered from the lack of a multi-level, process-focused theoretical framework through which goal formation can be understood and studied. Drawing on a problematizing review of the goals-related literature and strategic management-related theory, we develop such a framework, which provides conceptual order to a field that is rather messy in theory and in practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic management
• organizational goals
• goal formation
• goal formulation
• goal implementation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2022.2103173.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John M. Bryson

John M. Bryson is McKnight Presidential Professor Emeritus at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He works in the areas of leadership, strategic management, and collaboration. He is a Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Public Administration and the recipient of lifetime scholarly achievement awards from several academic professional associations. Email: [email protected]

Bert George

Bert George is joining the Department of Public and International Affairs at the City University of Hong Kong as an Associate Professor. He focuses on strategic planning and management in public administration, public sector performance, and behavioral public policy. He is a Managing Editor of Public Administration Review. Email: [email protected]

Danbi Seo

Danbi Seo is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the California State University, Bakersfield. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the Seoul National University, South Korea, both with the highest honors. Her research interests include collaborative governance, public and non-profit management, leadership in public and non-profit sectors, and organizational behavior. Email: [email protected]