Impartiality and public sector employees’ online political activity: evidence from three Australian elections

Abstract

Fearing that public servants’ reputation for impartiality may decline if they are politically active on social media, many governments have recently produced guidelines limiting the political rights of bureaucrats to be active online. Despite the seriousness of these restrictions, we presently know very little about public sector employees’ online political activity. Using survey data from the 2010, 2013 and 2016 Australian Election Study this article advances research, and enlightens contemporary debate, by investigating public sector employees’ online political activity over time. Drawing upon public service motivation theory, this study formulates and examines five hypotheses: (1) whether public sector employees are politically active online less than private sector employees; (2) whether public sector employees with a high attraction to politics—an important dimension of public service motivation—are less politically active online; (3) whether public sector employees are less likely to be active online when actions use official political or campaign material; (4) whether the rank of public sector employees has a negative relationship with online political activity; and (5), whether these behaviors have changed over time. Results from various regression models show that overtime public sector employment went from having a positive association with online political activity, to having a negative association. This negative relationship is particularly strong for activities using official political/campaign material and for employees in higher ranks. Finally, a public sector employee’s attraction to politics is positively associated with online political activity, although, when compared to private sector employees, this relationship has not increased over time.