1677
Decision Th eory
Introduction
Although now quite distinct, rational choice theory and decision theory in many
ways trace to the same origins. Both are associated with the early work of Herbert
Simon and particularly his Administrative Behavior, fi rst published in 1947.
Rational choice theory, the subject of Chapter 8, is an application of decision
theory that is heavily infl uenced by economics and the logic of markets; it tends
to use mathematical models to test the relationships between preferences, or ob-
jectives, and alternative courses of action. Th e purpose is to determine the most
effi cient, or rational, decisions to achieve preferred objectives, ordinarily thought
to be individual self-interest or organizational survival.
What has come to be called decision theory is the other important application
of early decisionmaking logic, and it has evolved into arguably the most mature
and fully developed body of empirically informed theory in public administration.
Certainly, decision theory is the most obvious multidisciplinary body of theory in
public administration, infl uenced as it is by economics, organizational sociology,
social psychology, and political science. Th e relative maturity of decision theory is
characterized by a generally agreed-upon set of conceptual categories and the use
of a distinct language to explicate those categories. Finally, of the bodies of theory
covered in this book, decision theory is the least contained and has the fuzziest
borders. Because all theories of public administration describe decisions, key el-
ements of decision theory are found in virtually all other theoretical perspectives.
Nevertheless, for purposes of description we put borders around decision theory
to contain it as a discrete body of theory.
We begin this chapter by reviewing the origins of decision theory. Simon’s
Administrative Behavior (1947/1997) argues that administration is a world of
deciding and that decisions are as important as actions. Indeed, decisions are
the predicates of actions, and actions are almost always based on accumulated
decisions. Th e traditional study of administration was, Simon claimed, too