Occupational Intention of Public Administration Undergraduates

Abstract

Augmenting behavioral public administration to occupational intention research we investigate the link between three types of motivation, and the intention of students to work in civil service after graduation. We make detailed observations of the self-reported job preferences of 2nd public administration undergraduates in two prestigious universities in Moscow, Russian Federation. We report that federal civil service is the top destination for Russian PA undergraduates. We also report that working in federal civil service by far triumphs over regional public administration in terms of self-reported occupational intention. We also make in-depth observations of the expected utility underlying students’ job preferences. We use these observations to propose a general model of civil service job intention. The model posits that the intention to work in civil service after graduation results from two major sources: the perceived expectation from parents with a civil service background, and the expected utility from four benefits of public sector employment. We empirically demonstrate that public service motivation is positively correlated with the intention to work in civil service after graduation.