Distinguishing the street‐level policy entrepreneur

Policy entrepreneurs—individuals who champion a policy and engage in intense advocacy to secure it—are most frequently characterized as political elites or individuals well connected to such elites. However, an emerging literature suggests that street‐level bureaucrats who deliver government services to the public can also prosecute policy entrepreneurship. There has been little investigation of how these actors differ from elite‐level policy entrepreneurs who focus on agenda‐setting and initial policy approval. Evidence from six case vignettes from US state wetland policy suggest that street‐level policy entrepreneurs are distinguished by defensive motivation, greater constancy of effort, recruitment of a less politically powerful network of supporters, and challenges associated with cultivating ties to external resource providers and intra‐governmental allies. Street‐level policy entrepreneurship helps explain policy innovation within bureaucracies and by bureaucrats, offering new insight into the motivation and behaviours of ground‐level officials whose day‐to‐day choices shape policy.