New opportunities for institutional analysis in public administration research

Abstract

This Symposium features research that engages an institutional analysis approach, called the Institutional Grammar. Institutional analysis is the study of rules, norms, and strategies (e.g., public policies, organizational bylaws, social conventions) that govern social systems and organizations. The Institutional Grammar is an approach for comprehensively capturing the design of institutions; in particular, for describing the language of directives that comprise them. We posit that the engagement of the Institutional Grammar in public administration research can advance understanding of institutional dynamics of administrative settings and behaviors by lending conceptual and methodological clarity on the definition and measurement of institutions. In support of this position, we (i) provide a brief commentary on institutional analysis in public administration research; (ii) offer a brief overview of the Institutional Grammar; and (iii) highlight how methodological innovations presented in the Symposium articles advance the Institutional Grammar, and present opportunities for advancing institutional analysis in administrative settings.

Understanding the Emergence of Computational Institutional Science: A Review of Computational Modeling of Institutions and Institutional Dynamics

“…In identifying and modeling these components of the "smaller world", conceptual accuracy and precision can be offered by institutional analysis approaches like the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework and its rule-based classification of institutions (Ostrom 2005) and the Institutional Grammar and its systematic dissection of institutional statements (e.g., rules, norms) into syntactic components and discrete semantic meaning (Crawford and Ostrom 1995;Frantz and Siddiki 2022). Thus, these CIS-ABM applications can help researchers move beyond traditional barriers in social science inquiry (e.g., one-time, self-reported data providing only a snapshot of social phenomena) and towards investigations of institutional phenomena with more depth, length, and breadth (Frantz and Siddiki 2022;Lazer et al 2009;2020;Siddiki and Frantz 2021). In particular, as scholars have further developed its capacity, ABM has become increasingly viable for: (1) exploring the emergent social patterns and equilibria of endogenous institutions and (2) building and evaluating theories through the simulation and replication of various dimensions of exogenous institutions (Gilbert and Terna 2000;Janssen and Ostrom 2006a;Smajgl et al 2008).…”

A grammar of institutions for complex legal topics: Resolving statutory multiplicity and scaling up to jurisdiction‐level legal institutions

“…Known in the institutional analysis as the ADICO syntax, IG's standard components identify to whom the institutional statement applies ( A ttribute), denotes expected behavior ( D eontic), prescribes particular action (a I m), specifies the circumstances under which it applies ( C ondition), and provides the institutionally assigned sanction for noncompliance ( O r else). I review IG's standard mechanics in the Supplemental Information and direct readers to Crawford and Ostrom (1995, 2005), Siddiki and Frantz (2021), Bushouse et al (2021), and Frantz and Siddiki (2021) for further explanations.…”