Are the New Public Servants Ordinary People, Too? Hun Myoung Park James L. Perry (Indiana University) August 10, 2009 Annual Meeting of the Academy of

Are the New Public Servants

Ordinary People, Too?

Hun Myoung ParkJames L. Perry

(Indiana University)

August 10, 2009

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

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Outline New Public Servants Literature Review

Goodsell (1983) Lewis (1990) Bureau Voting Model

Classification of Public Services Data and Methods Results Conclusion


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New Public Servants New Governance For-profit and nonprofit employees providing

public services Do bureaucrats differ from the general public? Do new public servants differ from bureaucrats

and other private employees?


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Literature Review Paul Appleby (1945), Big Democracy Frederick Mosher (1968), Democracy and the

Public Service Charles Goodsell (1983), The Case for

Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic

Paul Light (1999), The New Public Service


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Charles Goodsell (1983) Bureaucrats policy views are far more diverse

than homogenous Little evidence for “bureaucratic mentality” Bureaucrats generally well adjusted, not

alienated and powerless Bureaucrats not as despised as the media

stereotype


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Gregory Lewis (1990) Views similar to average citizens on

government spending Secular humanists in terms of traditional

values (e.g., sex, sex roles, race) Rejects the “oppressed-bureaucrat thesis” Bureaucrats are ordinary people


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Bureau Voting Model Bureau information monopoly (Niskanen

1971) Self-interested budget maximizers

Bureau voting model (Garand et al. 1991) More supportive of government spending More likely to vote More supportive of candidates favoring

spending


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Classification of Public Services Using Standard Industrial Classification

1980 SIC (2000-2006) Public services versus non-public services Service providers

Government (including USPS) For-profit Nonprofit: social/health/education


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Classification of Public ServicesPublic Non-public

Government Public administration, USPS NA

For-profit Railroad, Bus services, water transportation, air transportation, communications, utility and sanitary services, noncommercial educational and scientific research

Agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, finance, business, taxicab, trucking service, theaters and motion pictures, bowling alleys, billiard, etc.

Nonprofit Social services (welfare), health services, education services, museums, art galleries and zoos

Membership, religious organizations


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Data and Methods General Social Survey (2000-2006) Dependent variables: government spending,

confidence in institutions, voting for Republicans, morality and tolerance, reward preferences, social capital, sex/religion, world view

Covariates: education, political ideology, family income, prestige of jobs, age, gender, race

T-test, ordinary least squares, binary logit model to compare groups


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Result: Government Spending


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Result: Government Spending Government bureaucrats more supportive of

military/armaments/defense programs Nonprofit employees more supportive of welfare

spending, condition of blacks, social security; budget and spending maximizers?

No significant difference in environment, health, crime, city problem, drug, and foreign aid

Close similarity between bureaucrats and for-profit public services employees (new public servants)


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Confidence in Institutions Similar to the general public (Federal government,

Supreme Court, Congress, press, banks, scientific community, organized labor, TV, medicine)

Bureaucrats slightly higher in scientific community and lower in organized labor than private employees

Nonprofit public servants slightly higher confidence in education institutions and lower in major companies and military than ordinary people

Close similarity between government bureaucrats and for-profit public services employees


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Voting for Republicans Government bureaucrats more likely than private

employees to vote for Republicans; new public servants do not differ from ordinary people

Voting: government and education employees > other new public servants > ordinary people

Nonprofit employees more Democratic than government and for-profit employees

Nonprofit employees more supportive of needy Americans than government and for-profit employees: budget and spending maximizers?


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Morality and Tolerance Similar in morality and tolerance as a whole Nonprofit employees less supportive of death penalty

and euthanasia than government and for-profit counterparts, and more supportive of making pornography illegal than ordinary people.

Government and for-profit employees higher tolerance (allowing racists and anti-democratic people to speak) than ordinary people, and more likely than nonprofit employees to allow homosexualists


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Reward Preferences New public servants more satisfied with jobs than

government employees and ordinary people Government and nonprofit public services have

higher job security than for-profit counterparts Social/health services less financially satisfied but

motivated by mission and intrinsic factors For-profit public services employees put more value

on high income and job security, but less on the feeling of accomplishment than nonprofit employees


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Social Capital Slightly higher perceptions about helpfulness,

fairness, and trust than ordinary people Government bureaucrats more altruistic and affiliated

with organizations than ordinary people Nonprofit employees higher empathy than

government and for-profit counterparts. Similar in social evening with relatives, friends, etc. Government and nonprofit employees less likely to

go to a bar than for-profit counterparts.


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Sex, Religion, World View Government and for-profit public services employees

do no differ in perceptions about sex, religion, and world view from ordinary people

Education employees more tolerant of homosexuality than government employees and ordinary people, but less of premarital sex

Nonprofit employees more frequently attend religious services and tend to be strong believers than government employees and ordinary people


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Conclusion Both bureaucrats and new public servants are

ordinary people as a whole For-profit public service employees are similar

to government respondents, but more sensitive to monetary incentive and less intrinsically motivated. Effect of privatization?

Nonprofit public services employees are more sympathetic, ethical, religious; intrinsically motivated; female dominated


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Questions and Suggestions?

Documents

Are the New Public Servants Ordinary People, Too? Hun Myoung Park James L. Perry (Indiana University) August 10, 2009 Annual Meeting of the Academy of