Decision making orientations of state government budget analysts: Rationalists or incrementalists?

This research investigates the deicsion making behavior of state-level budgetary experts responsible for the development of state agency spending plans. Whereas past research has concentrated on what is easily measurable-both in terms of expenditure data and surveys of the factors budgeters find most helpful when making spending decisions-in order to develop theories of budgetary behavior, this study focuses on the behavior itself. Specifically, this project required the active participation of state government budget analysts involved in a familiar and necessary decision making task, the review of state agency budget requests prior to recommendation to the governor. Results from analyses of analysts’ decisions in a simulation indicate the factors which these employees consider most important when developing spending plans for their governor. There are several noteworthy implications of these results. Primarily, the role of the governor in budget development at the state level is substantiated. Second, the successful integration of rational decision aids in state government budget process is exhibited. And finally, the method of analysis chosen proves an excellent means of developing analytical models of human judgment behavior, in this case, of a budgetary nature.