Public Sector Jobs Research Articles

THE INTERACTION EFFECT OF JOB DESIGN AND PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION ON THE JOB PERFORMANCE OF MALDIVES CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES

Previous research has shown that people select public sector jobs for meaningful work. In this regard, the meaning of work comes from the way work is conceived, as represented by the model given by Hackman and Oldham (1975), which can have important implications for work-related behaviour. Therefore, this research analyses how job characteristics would influence civil servants' Public Service Motivation and how this leads to the interaction between job characteristics and job performance of those working in the Maldives Civil ServiceThis research used a quantitative design approach and a cross-sectional data collection approach. Data were collected from 370 employees from different public service offices in the Maldives Civil Service. The findings from this research indicate a positive association between job characteristics and job performance. Similarly, job characteristics positively impact public service motivation (PSM), which also affects job performance. In addition, an interaction was observed; detailed findings are given in the research paper.The findings of this research suggest significant implications to those who implement HR, thereby providing insights to improve the job design and human resource management functions of civil servants. In addition, the study presents essential findings on the importance of job characteristics on job performance from the context of the public sector of South Asian countries. It also highlights the need to improve job characteristics to increase the motivation of public sector employees.

Are public sector jobs better for Ph.D. students? The association between employment sector and doctoral dropout and graduation

ABSTRACT A growing number of doctoral students work during their Ph.D., which is commonly associated with higher risks of dropout. This paper investigates whether the sector of employment (public or private) is also a predictor of student outcomes in Ph.D. programs. Using a dataset on doctorate students in Brazil, the association of employment with the likelihood of graduation and dropout is estimated using a logistic regression and an event history analysis. The results indicate that students employed exclusively in the public sector during the program are approximately 80% more likely to graduate than those working only for private organizations.

Public-sector employment, wages and education decisions

We set up a search and matching model with a private and a public sector to understand the effects of employment and wage policies in the public sector on unemployment and education decisions. The effects on the educational composition of the labor force depend crucially on the structure of the labor market. An increase of skilled public-sector wages has a small positive impact on educational composition and larger negative impact on the private employment of skilled workers, if the two sectors are segmented. If there are movements across the two sectors, it has large positive impacts on education and on skilled private employment. We highlight the usefulness of the model for policymakers by calculating the value of public-sector job security for skilled and unskilled workers.

Public sector jobs and subjective well-being in China

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on demonstrating the nexus between public sector jobs and subjective well-being by applying China Household Finance Survey data and exploring the potential transmission channels behind the connection. An instrumental variable and the propensity score matching methods are utilized to address hidden endogeneity bias. Our findings confirm that Chinese public sector jobs have a constructive effect on SWB. From the perspective of work allowance and marriage-matching, mechanism analysis justifies that working inside the system indirectly affects SWB through receiving higher annual bonuses and marrying people who also work within the system or have a higher education level.

‘Private sector’ Emiratisation: social stigma’s impact on continuance intentions

ABSTRACT This study examines the continuance intentions of the small number of nationals working in the United Arab Emirates’ ‘private sector’. The analytical framework is informed by job satisfaction measures alongside the Arabian Gulf Social Contract and Social Stigma constructs. A survey of 653 individuals was conducted and found that the nature of the job, pay and benefits and career development opportunities enhanced continuance intentions. However, perceived negative societal sentiment towards such jobs, vis-à-vis classic public sector jobs, reduced these intentions. Recommendations for further research to be conducted on the format of university mandated internship programmes and government-funded workplace training programmes are made, as both were found to help normalise private sector career paths. While this paper is the first to specifically canvas this cohort on their vocational intentions and sectoral preferences, its applied element was limited by being cross-sectional in nature.

Socioeconomic disparities and inequality of mass sports participation: Analysis from Chinese General Social Survey 2010-2018.

With industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, mass sports have entered people's daily lives to maintain their health status. However, less attention has been paid to the heterogeneity and inequality of access to mass sports, especially in developing countries. This study aims to analyze the factors that affect mass sports participation in developing countries represented by China, and explain the changing trends and inequality in the class differentiation and mobility of public sports participation. The study selected the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data in 2010 and 2018 as the research samples, and used an ordered Probit model and sub-sample regression to analyze the factors and trends of Chinese residents' mass sports participation and the influencing factors. By stratified three-stage probability sampling, the study obtained 4,940 valid responses, including 1,014 in CGSS 2010 and 3926 in CGSS 2018. First, in terms of social factors, urban residents have a higher frequency of sports participation than rural residents. Second, regarding family factors, residents with higher social classes are more likely to participate in sports than those with lower social classes. Third, in terms of self-induced factors, the elderly are more motivated to exercise than the young. Residents with public-sector jobs, high incomes, and higher education levels are keener to participate in sports. Fourth, residents' mass sports participation rate has generally shown an upward trend over time. Fifth, with time changes, the sports participation rate varies between urban and rural areas, between ethnic minorities and Han ethnic, between old and young age groups, and between higher and lower education levels will continue to shrink, but differences between social classes will further increase over time. Our analysis demonstrated that hidden inequality existed in accessing mass sports participation in developing countries, and the self-induced characteristics were significantly correlated with the quality of sports participation. Future public sports policies should address the inequity to ensure equal access to affordable qualified personal mass sports.

Impact of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

This review paper is about the government of India’s Scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), launched in 2015 to encourage and promote skill development in the country by providing free short-duration skill training and incentivizing this by providing monetary rewards to youth for skill certification. People in the programs which are covered under the scheme can avail themselves without having any difficulty. Moreover, all the schemes are scheduled to run in the nearby locality itself. This means there is no need for the additional burden to take by any of the candidates. For learning the basic skills and the courses which will help in their further studies. The certificate provided under the scheme is valid for all kinds of jobs and other programs as an add-on to their service. This certificate is valid for a lifetime and with a limited period. This can be used for various private and public sector jobs and also for nongovernment jobs.

Future career aspiration and specialty choices among undergraduate medical students of a medical college in Jammu and Kashmir, India – A cross-sectional study

Background: Medical education requires an undergraduate medical student to study a wide range of medical specialties. The number of postgraduation specialties as well as carrier options after graduation has increased in recent years. Hence, we sought to identify the postgraduation specialty choices, factors influencing these choices, and future carrier aspirations.Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. Pretested self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS IBM software version 20.Results: Majority were in the age group of above 20. Nearly 16.6% of the students' fathers and 5.9% of the students' mothers were having professional education. About 47.6% prefer medicine or its allied specialty subjects. About 43.4% wanted a job in the public sector and 30.8% wanted to adopt the private sector.Conclusion: Postgraduate specialty choices are still traditional with the majority preferring clinical subjects and wanted to settle in an urban area with a public sector job.

Perceived effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention among Moroccan university students: A correlational study

The high unemployment rates among Moroccan university graduates and their strong demand for public sector jobs have prompted educational authorities to promote entrepreneurship training in higher education. This study aims to investigate the relationship between four variables related to entrepreneurship (perceived effectiveness of entrepreneurship training, entrepreneurial spirit, self-efficacy, and intention) among Moroccan university students, based on their level and field of study. The study surveyed 1113 Moroccan university students from various academic cycles and fields using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25 for univariate and bivariate analysis and SPSS AMOS for multivariate analysis through a structural equation model. The results indicate that the quality and perceived satisfaction of entrepreneurship training significantly influence the development of entrepreneurial spirit and intention among students. Furthermore, the paper makes various recommendations to Moroccan educational authorities and individuals in charge of higher education. These guidelines are intended to boost entrepreneurial spirit and, most crucially, entrepreneurial intent among university students.

Regulatory arbitrage in teacher hiring and retention: Evidence from Massachusetts Charter Schools

We study personnel flexibility in charter schools by exploring how teacher retention varies with teacher quality in Massachusetts. We propose a model in which educators with high fixed-costs use charter schools to explore teaching careers before obtaining licenses required for higher paying public sector jobs. A key implication of the theoretical model is that charter schools create positive externalities for traditional public schools by increasing the average quality of available teacher labor. Empirical results show patterns consistent with the model. In particular, we show that charters are more likely to lose their highest and lowest value-added teachers. Low performers tend to exit public education, while high performers tend to switch to traditional public schools.

R. Chris Davis. Hungarian Religion, Romanian Blood: A Minority’s Struggle for National Belonging, 1920–1945.

R. Chris Davis. <i>Hungarian Religion, Romanian Blood: A Minority’s Struggle for National Belonging, 1920–1945</i>.

Indian Agriculture vis-à-vis Youth: Evidence from Tamil Nadu

The study attempted to analyze the factors determining students' willingness to make agriculture a career. Further, an effort was made to study the constraints in establishing their farm immediately after graduation. About 397 agricultural students doing UG, PG, and Ph.D. degrees in Tamil Nadu were randomly surveyed in September 2020. The results revealed that about 25 per cent of the students joined the course because of better job opportunities, and 19 per cent learned about farming. Nearly 48 per cent of the students wish to be in a public sector job, and only 11 per cent choose to make agriculture their career. Having own farmland, residence, parent's primary occupation, age, gender, types of crop grown, and mother's occupation had a significant positive effect on students' willingness to become farmers, whereas degree enrolled and total farmland had negatively affected the students' willingness. Lack of remunerative price, unavailable credit at low interest, and poor social recognition were the major constraints for not involving agriculture early. Consequently, more than half of the respondents planned to do farming after 10 years of their graduation. Public policies could reduce this period if agricultural graduates were among the young people engaged in farming.

Revisiting the effects of natural resources on income inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the effects of natural resource rents on income inequality.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a panel quantile regression (QR) approach for 42 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1998–2018.FindingsThe results show that natural resource rents have a negative and statistically significant effect on income inequality. Regarding the types of resources, the results show that coal rents increase inequality, while forestry and oil rents reduce income inequality. The results also show that the effects of mining and gas rents vary along the income inequality distribution. Finally, the results reveal a negative and significant effect of natural resource rents on income inequality in all sub-regions except Southern Africa.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that the SSA Governments should intensify the implementation of income redistribution policies such as family allowances to poor families with multiple children and public sector job creation. SSA policymakers should also increase access to electricity, and internet, and allocate a portion of oil revenues to create an intergenerational sovereign wealth fund.Originality/valueFirst, few studies have analyzed the effects of various types of natural resource rents on income inequality. To this end, this study used the QR method to examine the impact of natural resource rents on inequality, by laying emphasis on various types of natural resources. This study takes into account the likely heterogeneity across countries that may exist when considering a sample such as SSA countries, by examining the effects in the different sub-regions that make up this part of Africa (Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa).

Active political engagement, political patronage and local labour markets – The example of Shkoder

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of active political engagement in port-of-entry jobs and employment pathways for graduate students in a post-communist context which is characterized by clientelism. The data are derived from a structured survey of a small local labour market where political clientelism is pronounced due to the strong network ties. Controlling for both demand and supply factors, the authors identify a profile for those who are more prone to engage politically in exchange for public sector jobs, which are in turn vulnerable to regime changes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from a sample of 191 students that records month-to-month employment states for three consecutive years (2012–2014). The method attempts to replicate an experimental design with repeated measures before and after the June 2013 government elections. The data is analysed using sequence analysis with optimal matching and difference-in-difference methods.FindingsThe analysis provides evidence of links between political engagement and selection onto different employment pathways under conditions of political clientelism. The pathways themselves are also shown to be differentially impacted by the 2013 election (positively or negatively). Together, these results are supportive of claims that jobs in Albania, particularly those in the public sector, are linked to the short-term presence of vote-buying. This is shown to be the case even for this sample of educated members of the labour force (i.e. university graduates). The analysis also finds evidence of accumulative disadvantages over time, in relation to subjective perceptions of life satisfaction, migration intentions, employability and success in life, as a result of active political engagement.Originality/valueThe study uses a unique data set and a novel methodological approach, sequence analysis. Occupational history calendars were used to capture quantitative information recording detailed work histories. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this innovative method has not been used before to measure the temporal effects of political engagement on employment pathways.

Challenges to The Workforce Localization in the Private Sector in Gulf Countries: Content Analysis

The discovery of oil in the Gulf countries brought strong economic growth and an influx of foreign workers for privately held companies. These countries have since maintained their growth by relying on expatriates from all over the world, particularly from South Asian countries. In contrast, locals were recruited for most of the public sector jobs. In response to significant population growth and high unemployment rates, these countries took on some initiatives, including the localisation of the workforce. This paper analyzes the current localisation effort, which is a process of replacing expatriates with local workers in six Gulf countries. A content analysis of literature is used to understand the challenges related to required skills, work hours, salary, language, and experience. Results indicate that these challenges have impeded localisation efforts in the private sector. This study has significant implications for global organisations and human resource development professionals seeking to localise a proportion of their workforce as a workforce management strategy.

Workers' self‐selection into public sector employment: A tale of absenteeism

AbstractThis study investigated whether employees' career transitions from the private to the public sector are related to their previous absences, where absenteeism is a proxy for a preference for shirking (exerting low effort). The aim was to determine whether workers who shirk are more likely to select public sector jobs. We differentiated absenteeism by type, such as health problems or childcare obligations, versus a preference for low effort. Using 2004 to 2017 data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, which represented 50,565 person‐years, we estimated a duration model of private‐sector workers' exit into public employment, controlling for potential absenteeism drivers, and found a positive relationship between the probability of switching to public employment and absenteeism among workers who were in good health and had no children. This finding supports the conclusion that workers with a preference for low work effort tend to switch to public sector jobs. We further examined potential reverse causality and conducted various robustness checks. The policy implications and potential shortcomings of our results are discussed.

The unintended consequences of meritocratic government hiring

In an attempt to mitigate the negative effects of partisan hiring, many governments around the world have adopted meritocratic hiring of public employees. This paper shows that meritocratic government hiring can have unintended negative consequences on macroeconomic aggregates. In many countries, public employees enjoy considerable job security and generous compensation schemes; as a result, many talented workers choose to work for the public sector, which deprives the private sector of productive potential employees. This, in turn, reduces firms’ incentives to create jobs, increases unemployment, and lowers GDP. To quantify the effects of this novel channel, we extend the standard Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides model to incorporate workers of heterogeneous productivity and a government that fills public sector jobs based on merit. We calibrate the model to aggregate data from Greece and perform a series of counterfactual exercises. We find that the adverse effects of meritocratic hiring on TFP, GDP, and unemployment are sizeable.

Discussion of Dhaliwal, Goodman, Hoffman, and Schwab (2019): Revisiting Tax-Related Reputational Costs

Discussion of Dhaliwal, Goodman, Hoffman, and Schwab (2019): Revisiting Tax-Related Reputational Costs

The Political Economy of Skill Formation in a Rentier State: The Case of Oman

Context: Against a backdrop of dwindling oil resources and increasing unemployment rates, the government of Oman has set out to diversify its industry and establish a knowledge-based economy. In this context, forming a highly-skilled Omani workforce is considered to be of crucial importance. Yet, the national TVET system suffers from low social status, poor quality, and limited labour market connectivity. This paper offers an analysis of Oman's TVET system in the socio-economic and cultural context of a rentier state. Approach: We draw on the political economy of skills and socio-cultural approaches that understand TVET systems and the broader skills regimes in which they are embedded as part and expression of particular patterns of the social organisation of work. This helps to locate TVET systems' strengths and weaknesses in the context of their underlying social relations instead of considering them as mere dysfunctionalities at the systemic level. This paper draws on an unpublished study on TVET for industrialisation commissioned by an Omani line ministry in cooperation with an international organisation. For this study, the authors carried out a literature review, undertook two field trips to Oman in 2018 and 2019 and conducted forty semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from government, private companies, business associations, and TVET and higher education institutions. Findings: Our analysis highlights how skill formation in Oman is shaped by the socio-economic and cultural context of the Omani rentier state. First, the availability of cheap expatriate labour and Omanis' traditional preference for public sector jobs culminate in poor incentives for employing Omani nationals in the private sector. Second, reluctant employer attitudes towards national skill formation deepen quality issues in the TVET system, especially with regard to work-based training. This reinforces negative perceptions of the local workforce, which in turn contribute to biased employment patterns. Both social processes mutually reinforce each other, eventually preventing the emergence of strong national skill formation dynamics. Conclusions: While immediate structural change appears challenging, it is evident that reforms of the TVET system alone will not lead to its sustainable improvement. More research into how skill formation relates to Oman's specific socio-economic structures, how employment dynamics relate to educational credentials and how cultural traditions shape educational and work practices is needed.

Fringe Benefits, Self-Selection, and the Public/Private Compensation Differential

Across developing countries, many workers strive for public sector jobs. Is this because public sector workers receive higher compensation than comparable private sector workers? This study addresses this question looking at broad measures of compensation that encompass wages as well as non-wage fringe benefits such as paid leave and access to social insurances. Using detailed labour force data for Bhutan, it combines Oaxaca type decompositions of compensation differentials into characteristics and coefficients effects with multinomial logit models for self-selection into labour force participation and the public or private sector. The study finds that public/private wage differentials are sizeable but can entirely be accounted for by observable characteristics (in particular by differences in the average educational attainment and industrial structures). A sizeable public/private differential in fringe benefits related to leave can also be accounted for by differences in observable characteristics between public and private sector workers. However, this is not the case for the differential in non-leave-related fringe benefits. Instead, differentials in non-leave-related fringe benefits are largely due to coefficients effects, strongly suggesting that preferences for public sector jobs are at least in part the result of pronounced intersectoral differentials in such benefits.