Presented at the Southern Political Science Association Conference

Many well known scholars have submitted sets of theoretical frameworks from which students and practitioners draw their knowledge of policy implementation. Current and past scholarship accurately identifies the need for increased empirical study from third generation researchers on the subject of policy implementation.

Understanding the underlying assumptions behind the implementation process requires social scientists to identify the group of implementors who inevitably make decisions. These implementors are entrusted with the power to bring a program to fruition after it is approved by a legislature or executive. In this study I focus on what scholars have labeled “discretionary experimenters.” These actors come from a variety of backgrounds and can be found at the cabinet, agency, and local levels of government.

When a discretionary experimenter is developing a program, what are his assumptions about what makes policy implementation successful? What expectations for successful implementation does he take with him into the process?

This study addresses the questions in the former paragraph by identifying a group of discretionary experimenters and conducting a simultaneous interview and survey. The survey tests several common variables associated with prevailing theories.

This study identifies variables that are commonly put into practice in the modern implementation process. This research also makes an applied contribution by considering other variables that may not have been applicable in earlier research. For example, the role of the private sector in successful policy implementation. The most important contribution is to provide a starting point from which future research can build.