Translating behavioral public policy into practice: Interpretations and traditions

ABSTRACT

Behavioral public policy (BPP) has become increasingly popular with governments across the globe but what defines it in practice? It is not a concrete concept, encompassing a series of instruments, evaluation methods and theoretical influences. Using the findings from an ethnographic study of a behavioral insights team in the Australian Government this paper interrogates how BPP has been translated from these discrete components into practice by policymakers. This research posits that a significant degree of adaptation has taken place during this translation process. Participants could be referring to multiple different things when speaking about and implementing BPP, sometimes even communicating at cross-purposes. This paper incorporates Bevir and Rhodes ‘traditions’ to existing policy translation research to further interrogate how actors make meaning from and adapt ideas like BPP. This framework makes it possible to explore which translations carry greater influence and asks what this means for the BPP agenda moving forward.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral public policy
• nudge
• policy
• ethnography

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

¹ All names have been changed to protect the identities of participants

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Ball

Dr Sarah Ball is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She is currently working on an ARC Linkage Project exploring the digital governance of welfare-to-work. Her research explores how policy ideas, such as behavioral economics or digitalization, are understood and enacted within the policy process. Prior this she worked for 5 years in the Australian Public Service, where she developed a deep interest in public administration, knowledge sharing and evidence-based policy.