Are the New Public Servants Ordinary People, Too?

1. 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 Management

2. Outline New Public Servants Literature Review Goodsell (1983) Lewis (1990) Bureau Voting Model Classification of Public Services Data and Methods Results Conclusion Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

3. 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? Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

4. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

5. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

6. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

7. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

8. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

9. Classification of Public Services Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

10. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

11. Result: Government Spending Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

12. Result: Government Spending Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

13. Result: Government Spending Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

14. 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) Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

15. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

16. 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? Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

17. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

18. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

19. 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. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

20. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

21. 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 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009

22. Questions and Suggestions? Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 2009