Willems, Jurgen. 2020. Public servant stereotypes: It is not (at) all about being lazy, greedy, and corrupt. Public Administration. 98 (4), 807-823.
BibTeX
Abstract
As stereotypes strongly influence social interactions, this study explores the stereotypical associations about public servants, and about various professions in the public sector as well as the for‐profit and non‐profit sectors. This leads to a better understanding of the theoretical and practical challenges, such as citizen behavior towards public servants, attractiveness, and political decisions about public service jobs. With a mixed‐method analysis of cognitive associations (7,470 associations by 415 respondents for 12 professions), the defining epithets of public servants are clarified, along with their positive or negative connotation. Despite the strongest associations for public servants being positive (caring, helpful, and dedicated), as an overall category, it has a less positive connotation, compared to some specific professions typical in the public sector (nurse, firefighter, and police). However, cognitive associations are substantially more positive for public servants, compared to politicians, lawyers, and salesmen.
Tags
Press 'enter' for creating the tag- public
- stereotype
- stereotypes
- public servant
- greedy
- lazy
- cognitive associations
- caring
- helpful
- dedicated
- nurse
- firefighter
- police
Publication's profile
Status of publication | Published |
---|---|
Affiliation | WU |
Type of publication | Journal article |
Journal | Public Administration |
Citation Index | SSCI |
WU Journalrating 2009 | A |
WU-Journal-Rating new | INF-A, MAN-A, STRAT-B, WH-A |
Language | English |
Title | Public servant stereotypes: It is not (at) all about being lazy, greedy, and corrupt |
Volume | 98 |
Number | 4 |
Year | 2020 |
Page from | 807 |
Page to | 823 |
Reviewed? | Y |
URL | https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12686 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12686 |
Open Access | Y |
Open Access Link | https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12686 |
Associations
- People
- Willems, Jurgen (Details)
- Organization
- Institute for Public Management and Governance IN (Details)
- Research areas (ÖSTAT Classification 'Statistik Austria')
- 5234 Administrative science (Details)
- 5308 Management sciences (Details)
- 6906 Public research (Details)