Working for a Good Cause

Arbeitspapier

A rich literature in public administration has shown that public sector employees have stronger altruistic motivations than private sector employees. Recent economic theories stress the importance of mission preferences, and predict that altruistic people sort into the public sector when they subscribe to its mission. This paper uses data from a representative survey among more than 30.000 employees from 50 countries to test this prediction. We find strong evidence for a mutually reinforcing role of altruism and mission alignment in sorting to the public sector, particularly among highly educated workers and among workers in less-developed countries.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4227

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Structure and Scope of Government: General ; Public Sector Labor Markets ; Personnel Economics: General
• Subject: public service motivation ; altruism ; mission preferences ; sorting ; World Values Survey

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Dur, Robert ; Zoutenbier, Robin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/74522
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET