Identity Crisis in the Field of Public Administration

A considerable body of academic literature in public administration is about its various forms of intellectual crisis, which are frequently subsumed under the idea of identity crisis. Although knowledge is the latest buzzword in public administration, yet contemporary debates demonstrate a poor understanding of how knowledge is constructed and valued in the field. Therefore, many scholars attempt to response to identity crisis in the field. This paper intends to categorize and review these responses using the approaches of knowledge production in scientific structures. It is concluded that the solutions based on transdisciplinary knowledge of public administration that is based on a common theoretical understanding, a mutual understanding of disciplinary epistemo-logies, and understanding the reality of life and its complexities, can provide a framework for the identity of the public administration field.