In all modern bureaucracies, politicians retain some discretion in public employment decisions, which may lead to frictions in the selection process if political connections substitute for individual ...competence. Relying on detailed matched employer-employee data on the universe of public employees in Brazil over 1997–2014, and on a regression discontinuity design in close electoral races, we establish three main findings. First, political connections are a key and quantitatively large determinant of employment in public organizations, for both bureaucrats and frontline providers. Second, patronage is an important mechanism behind this result. Third, political considerations lead to the selection of less competent individuals.
This article tests a broad range of cognitive biases branching out from prospect theory in the context of public policy and management. Results illuminate systematic deviations from rationality. In ...experiments 1 through 5, the framing of outcomes influenced decisions across policy and management domains. In experiment 6, public employees were prone to an anchoring bias when setting standards for responsiveness. Experiment 7 shows that public workers tend to put more effort into activities that affect higher percentages of beneficiaries, even if the absolute number of affected clients is constant. Experiments 8 and 9 suggest that public employees are more likely to stick to a suboptimal status quo as the number of superior alternatives increases. Experiment 10 provides evidence of an asymmetric dominance effect: decisions changed when a decoy was present. This article contributes to behavioral public administration by replicating and extending previous trials.
目的：公務従事者に特有のモチベーションであるPublic Service ...Motivation（以下PSM）に関する研究は，1990年代から主に海外で発展し，近年ようやく日本でも実証的研究が開始された．しかし，海外で作成されたPSM尺度を日本でそのまま適用することができないことが示唆されている．本研究では，日本におけるPSMの構成要素を明らかにし，PSMを測定する尺度を開発し，その信頼性と妥当性を検証することを目的とした．方法：日本国内に勤務する行政職公務員21名を対象に半構造化面接を実施し，PSM尺度の原案を作成した．その後，20～60歳代の公務員402名（有効回答395名）を対象にweb調査を行い，探索的因子分析にてPSM尺度の因子構造を確認した．さらに，α係数の算出により信頼性，関連概念との相関分析により妥当性を検証した．結果：探索的因子分析の結果，PSMは「社会的インパクト志向」，「社会的公正志向」，「コミュニティ志向」，「未来・変革志向」，「権威志向」，「弱者救済志向」の6因子が抽出され，α係数は十分な値を示した．また，妥当性については，PSMとワーク・エンゲイジメント，パフォーマンス，ワークモチベーション，職務満足との間に，概ね想定した有意な正の関連が確認された．結論：本研究で作成した日本版PSM尺度は，一定の信頼性と妥当性が確認され，日本の公務従事者のPSMを測定するために利用できる可能性がある．
In 2000, Italy replaced its traditional system of severance pay for public employees with a new system. Under the old regime, severance pay was proportional to the final salary before retirement; ...under the new regime it is proportional to lifetime earnings. This reform entails substantial losses for future generations of public employees, in the range of €20,000–30,000, depending on seniority. Using a difference-in-difference framework, we estimate the impact of this unanticipated change in lifetime resources, on the current consumption and wealth accumulation of employees affected by the reform. In line with theoretical simulations, we find that each euro reduction in severance pay reduces the average propensity to consume by 3 cents and increases the wealth-income ratio by 0.32. The response is stronger for younger workers and for households where both spouses are public sector employees.
This paper was accepted by Amit Seru, finance
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This article presents a conceptual perspective on the distinctive characteristics of public organizations and their personnel. This perspective leads to hypotheses that public organizations deliver ...distinctive goods and services that influence the motives and rewards for their employees. These hypotheses are tested with evidence from the International Social Survey Programme in order to compare public and private employees in 30 nations. Public employees in 28 of the 30 nations expressed higher levels of public-service-oriented motives. In all of the countries, public employees were more likely to say they receive rewards in the form of perceived social impact. In most of the countries, public employees placed less importance on high income as a reward and expressed higher levels of organizational commitment.
Public service motivation theory suggests that public service motivation is positively related to work attitudes, but person-organization fit theory assumes that person-organization fit completely ...mediates the relationship between public service motivation and work attitudes of public employees. This article investigates which theory better predicts attitudes toward work, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment of public employees, by testing hypotheses on (1) whether public service motivation directly influences work attitudes, or (2) whether person-organization fit mediates the relationship between public service motivation and work attitudes, or (3) whether both hypotheses are true. Using survey data on civil servants in Korea, this article shows that public service motivation has not only a direct effect on but also an indirect effect on job satisfaction and organizational commitment through its influence on person-organization fit.
Public sector recruitment is an urgent and prevailing challenge in both research and practice. Public employer branding is an important subject in the theoretical debate, but the mechanisms behind ...how certain signals of public employers affect individuals’ interest in a job are under-researched. By bridging signaling theory, social identity theory, and personnel economics, this study analyzes the effects of signals in advertisements related to societal impact, job security, and performance orientation on different gender/age-based target groups. This series of pre-registered social media field experiments (n = 196,822 persons) with four public employers examines the degree to which these signals affect individuals' interest in a job at a public employer. The results do not show an overall impact of the signals but target group-specific effects—gender has a significant effect and age for certain public employers. Compared with the societal impact signal, the job security signal has a slightly stronger effect.
We draw on the focus theory of normative conduct and nudge theory to experimentally test the effect of descriptive social norms on desired behaviors that public employees may engage in at suboptimal ...levels, namely, vaccination and help‐seeking. Through a series of framed randomized controlled trials with 19,984 public healthcare professionals, we demonstrate that descriptive norms—doing what the majority of others do—trigger conformity. Specifically, employees are more likely to get a flu shot and advocate vaccination when knowing that the majority of their colleagues get vaccinated against the seasonal influenza compared to when most colleagues do not. Similarly, the probability of making help requests on the job is noticeably higher when asking colleagues for advice is the norm rather than not. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these experiments for scholars and policy makers interested in predictably altering high‐stakes behaviors among public employees through low‐powered incentives.
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