Measuring Reputational Signals Regarding Public Sector Professions: Validation of a Scale and a Research Agenda

Abstract

Public administration scholars are devoting increasing attention to the concept of reputation. The emphasis reflects a long-standing concern in the field with the sources of power and influence on administrative processes. This study extends the investigation of reputation from organizational reputation to reputational signals regarding public sector professions. We begin with a definition of reputational signals. We then develop a survey instrument that measures reputational signals from two signalers: elected officials and people close to respondents. Results are presented for internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity, and average variance extracted. Next, we conduct a path analysis to test the effects of reputational signals regarding public school teachers on two outcomes using two staggered survey instruments with 588 US adults. We find that reputational signals from both types of signalers are positively and significantly associated with the perceived prestige of the teaching profession. Furthermore, reputational signals from people close to respondents are directly and positively associated with support for teacher autonomy. In contrast, reputational signals from elected officials do not have a statistically significant association with support for teacher autonomy. We conclude by discussing avenues for future research.