Understanding why civil servants are reluctant to carry out transition tasks

• Published in: Science & public policy Vol. 49; no. 6; pp. 905 - 914
• Main Authors: Braams, Rik B, Wesseling, Joeri H, Meijer, Albert J, Hekkert, Marko P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 10.12.2022
• ISSN: 0302-3427; 1471-5430
• DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scac037

Abstract The transition literature attributes various transition tasks to government to support socio-technical transitions toward overcoming societal challenges. It is, however, difficult for civil servants to execute these transition tasks, because they partly conflict with Public Administration (PA) traditions that provide legitimacy to their work. This dilemma is discussed in neither the transition literature nor the PA literature. In this paper, we ask civil servants about the normative arguments that reflect their role perception within the institutional structures of their ministry, when it comes to executing transition tasks. We see these situated and enacted normative arguments and underlying assumptions as implicit rules determining legitimacy. The arguments civil servants used confirm that transition tasks are currently difficult to execute within the civil service. We found seven institutionalized rules that explain this difficulty and highlight the inadequacy of civil servants to adhere to the PA traditions while trying to execute transition tasks.