Mogens Jin Pedersen

Public Service Motivation and Attraction to Public Versus Private Sector Employment: Academic Field of Study as Moderator?

ABSTRACT Despite extensive public service motivation (PSM) research, our knowledge of PSMs influence on individuals’ sector employment preferences is limited. Few studies examine this relationship by suitable research designs, and the empirical findings are mixed. Using a sample of 718 Danish students of economics, political science, and law, this article tests (1) the relationship between PSM and attraction to public versus private sector employment and (2) the moderating effect on this relationship of students’ academic field of study. Overall, results underscore the multidimensionality of the PSM construct, as the PSM dimension of “public interest” is positively associated with attraction to public sector employment and negatively associated with attraction to private sector employment, while the PSM dimension of “compassion” is unrelated to both. Importantly, however, moderation analyses reveal notable correlation differences across students’ academic fields. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of prior and future research.

Improving Survey Response Rates in Online Panels

Identifying ways to efficiently maximize the response rate to surveys is important in survey-based research. However, evidence on the response rate effect of donation incentives and especially altruistic and egotistic text appeal interventions is sparse and ambiguous. Via a randomized survey experiment among 6,162 members of an online survey panel, this article shows how low-cost incentives and cost-free text appeal interventions may affect the survey response rate in online panels. The experimental treatments comprise (a) a cash prize lottery incentive, (b) two donation incentives that promise a monetary donation to a good cause in return for survey response, (c) an egotistic text appeal, and (d) an altruistic text appeal. Relative to a control group, we find higher response rates among recipients of the egotistic text appeal and the lottery incentive. Donation incentives yield lower response rates.

The Opportunities and Limitations of Using Mechanical Turk (MTURK) in Public Administration and Management Scholarship

ABSTRACT Other social science fields are increasingly conducting research using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk)—an online crowdsourcing platform—but how might MTurk be useful to public administration and management research? This article provides an introduction of the platform and considers both the opportunities and limitations for using MTurk in public administration and management scholarship. We find that MTurk might be relevant for examining particular types of research questions. We identify five areas where MTurk data may complement and enhance public administration and management research: (1) exploratory analyses and survey construction; (2) measurement refinement of latent constructs; (3) experiments; (4) longitudinal research and data collection; and (5) collection of data from citizens. The article emphasizes how a key requisite conditions both the applicability of MTurk data and the validity of MTurk-based findings: the researcher must understand the boundaries and potential of the platform, since the issues related to representativeness, participation, and data quality are non-trivial.

Internal Management and Perceived Managerial Trustworthiness Evidence From a Survey Experiment

What is the effect of internal public management on individuals’ perceptions of managerial trustworthiness (MTW)? MTW is associated with a range of positive organizational outcomes, but research examining how a public manager might affect employees’ perception of MTW is sparse. This article complements extant research on MTW in public organizations with causal evidence from a randomized survey experiment among 1,829 U.S. residents. We examine how five aspects of internal public management affect individuals’ perception of MTW: (a) setting challenging but feasible goals, (b) making credible commitments, (c) encouraging employee participation, (d) providing frequent performance feedback, and (e) rewarding employees who perform well. We find positive effects of the “credible commitment” and “performance feedback” treatments on overall MTW perception. In addition, we find significant effects for four of the treatments (a-d) when looking separately at the three sub-dimensions that together comprise the multidimensional MTW construct (ability, benevolence, and integrity).

More Similar Than Different: Experimental Evidence on the (In) Significance of Gender for the Effect of Different Incentives on Compliance Behavior:

What role do employee features play for the success of different personnel management practices for promoting high performance? Using data from a randomized survey experiment among 5,982 adult individuals of all ages, this article examines how gender conditions the compliance effects of different incentive treatments—each relating to the basic content of distinct types of personnel management practices. The findings indicate that males and females are more similar than different in terms of the effects of incentive treatments: Significant average effects are found for three of five incentive treatments, but gender does not appear to moderate these relationships.

Public management on the ground: clustering managers based on their behavior

ABSTRACT Public management research has identified a dizzying array of management variables that affect organizational performance. While scholars have learned much by analyzing one or a few specific behavioral dimensions of public management at a time, we argue for the value of a more holistic and inductive approach that uses data on several aspects of public management for identifying manager types. Such an approach accounts for both the cognitive processes of people affected by management and the reality that managers’ individual behavioral decisions are interrelated. We examine the overlap of 21 aspects of public school management behavior using cluster analysis. We identify four different manager types (“firefighters,” “laissez-faire managers,” “administrators,” and “proactive floor managers”), each reflecting a distinct constellation of managerial behaviors. The manager types we call “administrators” and “proactive floor managers” are associated with relatively better outcomes, while “firefighters” are associated with relatively worse outcomes.

Exploring the Context Dependency of the PSM–Performance Relationship:

The public service motivation (PSM) of public employees matters to their performance at work. Yet research on how context factors moderate the PSM–performance relationship is sparse. This article shows how the PSM–performance relationship may depend on two context factors: (a) the extent of work autonomy that a public organization provides its employees and (b) the service users’ capacity to affect the organization’s service provision. We test a set of moderation hypotheses using school data (teacher survey data with administrative data on schools and student). Using within-student between-teachers fixed effects regression, we find a stronger PSM–performance relationship in organizational contexts involving greater regulation of employee work autonomy for users with low to moderate user capacity.

Public Management on the Ground: Clustering Managers Based on Their Behavior

Public management research has identified a dizzying array of management variables that affect organizational performance. While scholars have learned much by analyzing one or a few specific behavioral dimensions of public management at a time, we argue for the value of a more holistic and inductive approach that uses data on several aspects of public management for identifying manager types. Such an approach accounts for both the cognitive processes of people affected by management and the reality that managers’ individual behavioral decisions are interrelated. We examine the overlap of 21 aspects of public school management behavior using cluster analysis. We identify four different manager types (“firefighters,�? “laissez-faire managers,�? “administrators,�? and “proactive floor managers�?), each reflecting a distinct constellation of managerial behaviors. The manager types we call “administrators�? and “proactive floor managers�? are associated with relatively better outcomes, while “firefighters�? are associated with relatively worse outcomes.

Manager–Employee Gender Congruence and the Bureaucratic Accountability of Public Service Employees Evidence From Schools

Much theory suggests that manager–employee gender congruence (that manager and employee share the same gender) may influence employee accountability. This article empirically tests this notion by examining how manager–employee gender congruence among public service employees relates to two key aspects of bureaucratic accountability: (a) organizational goal alignment and (b) compliance with organizational rules and regulations. Using school fixed effects on teacher survey data and administrative school data, we find that male teachers with male principals are less aligned with their school’s goals and less compliant with its rules and regulations than are male teachers with female principals.