| The purpose of this dissertation is further development of a theory of policy entrepreneurship and the relationship of policy entrepreneurs to public policy innovation. Policy entrepreneurs are policy innovators who invent or apply policy ideas in a policy sub-system, foster the enabling conditions to test and pilot the ideas, and work for the enactment of the policy ideas.;The data and findings answer four questions: Who, in the rich descriptive sense, are policy entrepreneurs? What are their key activities and operations? Why and how do they work together as an ad hoc group to influence policy? and What are their impacts on policy making?;The findings point to an entrepreneurial profile of actors in the public sector and identifies seven common attributes. However, the personality profile conflicts with the description provided by other theorists and indicates a group of well integrated, cognitively complex leaders motivated by higher-order values such as public service, justice and equity. Policy entrepreneurs are catalysts in policy innovation and have this effect through four major categories of activities which include: idea generation, strategy-making, political mobilization, and guardianship of the integrity of ideas. In this study, they leverage their credibility, access, experience and expertise by forming an ad hoc group which magnified their impact and contributed to their effectiveness. They played a significant role in the enactment of statewide mandatory parent/student choice legislation which has been hailed as a national model.;Based on these findings a theory of policy entrepreneurship is summarized and twenty propositions are developed.;This longitudinal, exploratory study examines the policy innovation of public school choice. It tracks the innovation and the nine social actors labeled policy entrepreneurs over four legislative sessions (1985 to 1988). Data was collected through interviews (102), participant observation for eighteen months at a governor's policy initiation group, administration of a test battery to the policy entrepreneurs, a survey of sub-system insiders to determine the influence and impact of policy entrepreneurs, and extensive review of archival documents. |
