Arbeitspapier

Public sector employees: risk averse and altruistic?

We assess whether public sector employees have a stronger inclination to serve others and are more risk averse than employees in the private sector. A unique feature of our study is that we use revealed rather than stated preferences data. Respondents of a large-scale survey were offered a substantial reward and could choose between a widely redeemable gift certificate, a lottery ticket, or making a donation to a charity. Our analysis shows that public sector employees are significantly less likely to choose the risky option (lottery) and, at the start of their career, significantly more likely to choose the pro-social option (charity). However, when tenure increases, this difference in pro-social inclinations disappears and, later on, even reverses. Our results further suggest that quite a few public sector employees do not contribute to charity because they feel that they already contribute enough to society at work for too little pay.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 4401

Classification
Wirtschaft
Public Sector Labor Markets
Personnel Economics: Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
Subject
Public service motivation
risk aversion
revealed preferences data
Öffentlicher Dienst
Risikoaversion
Altruismus
Niederlande

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Buurman, Margaretha
Dur, Robert
van den Bossche, Seth
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2009

Handle
URN
urn:nbn:de:101:1-200910091039
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Buurman, Margaretha
  • Dur, Robert
  • van den Bossche, Seth
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2009

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