Bridging the academic-practitioner divide: Findings from a survey of public administration faculty and practitioners

ABSTRACT

The academic practitioner divide and strategies to close that gap have been important lines of inquiry in the fields of public administration and public affairs. This study contributes to that significant body of work by reporting results from two surveys of faculty in NASPAA accredited programs and of practitioners affiliated with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). These surveys tapped into the perceptions of both groups of respondents about five categories of strategies (e.g., knowledge sharing, technological strategies) aimed at reducing the divide. The overarching objective of this research is to examine if respondent status as faculty or practitioner had an impact on their perception of these strategies. Results from a multivariate analysis of variance indicate that both faculty and practitioners accord significantly different levels of importance to three of the five categories. Open-ended responses yielded additional insights. Implications of this research and its findings for public affairs education are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Public affairs education
• academic-practitioner
• pracademic
• theory-practice

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jesse Ancira

Jesse Ancira III, obtained a Master of Public Administration from Texas State University. He currently works at the Legislative Budget Board of the State of Texas as an Agency Performance Review (APR) Analyst and as a Fiscal Note Coordinator.

Nandhini Rangarajan

Nandhini Rangarajan is associate professor of political science at Texas State University. Her research interests are in creativity and innovation, public management, human resources and public affairs education. Her articles have appeared in prominent journals such as the Review of Public Personnel Administration, Public Productivity and Management Review and the Journal of Public Affairs Education. Her co-authored book, A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management, provides useful tools for graduate students to manage the research process. She earned a Ph.D. in public administration from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany. 

Patricia Shields

Patricia Shields is a professor of political science at Texas State University and she served as that institution’s MPA Program Director between 1998 and 2017. She was conferred the title of Regents Professor in 2020.  She has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Armed Forces & Society since 2001 and as a contributing editor for Parameters: US Army War College Quarterly. She has published 4 books and some 70 journal articles and book chapters on such topics as public pricing, civilian-military relations, peacekeeping, application of philosophical pragmatism to public administration, privatization, women in public administration, applied research methods, and Jane Addams. She received a BA in economics from the University of Maryland and an MA in economics and PhD in public administration from The Ohio State University.