Structured knowledge: Why Theoretical Construction of Public Administration Matters

Rethinking the significance of theory to the study of administrative science can provide a possible path to produce experience-oriented administrative theory, and promote the knowledge growth in the study of administrative science. For the study of administration, the theory can deepen the understanding for the government and its behavior connotation, and provide the dynamic explanation for government reform and social change. Furthermore, it can influence the government’s judgment on the meaning of the value by establishing and revising the normative value, and sequentially promote the public order. At present, the development of administrative theory is hindered by such problems as insufficient research on government ontology, method overriding problem awareness, and the structuralization degree of knowledge production. It is thus necessary to set up standard research thinking, which includes establishing the sense of shuttle between the experience world and theory, cultivating the standardized structured knowledge production thinking from concept, proposition to theory, and exploring the general administrative knowledge hidden behind specific situations.