research

Publications


Note: These are my substantive research publications. For policy publications, see here. For methodological publications see here. Book chapters and reviews are not listed. For these see here.


Is stress among street-level bureaucrats associated with experiences of administrative burden among clients? A multilevel study of the Danish unemployment sector

Public Administration Review

(with Jonas Krogh Madsen and Martin Bækgaard)


The Global Survey of Public Servants: Evidence from 1,300,000 Public Servants in 1,300 Government Institutions in 23 Countries

Public Administration Review

(with Christian Schuster, Lauren Weitzman, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Katherine Bersch, Francis Fukuyama, Patricia Paskov, Daniel Rogger, Dinsha Mistree, and Kerenssa Kay)


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Abstract

Understanding how public administrations around the world function and differ is crucial for strengthening their effectiveness. Most comparative measures of bureaucracy rely on surveys of experts, households, or firms, rather than directly questioning bureaucrats. Direct surveys of public officials create granular data for analysis and government action, so are becoming a cornerstone of public sector management. This article introduces the Global Survey of Public Servants (GSPS), a global initiative to collect and harmonize large-scale, comparable survey data on public servants. The corresponding GSPS data set currently contains responses from 1,300,000+ bureaucrats in 1,300+ government institutions in 23 countries. The surveys measure both employee attitudes (such as job satisfaction and motivation), and their experience with management practices (such as recruitment and performance management). This harmonized data enables governments to benchmark themselves and scholars to study comparative public administration and the state differently, based on micro-data from actors who experience government first-hand.

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Varieties of Connections, Varieties of Corruption: Evidence from Bureaucrats in Five Countries

Governance

(with Adam Harris, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Christian Schuster, Brigitte Seim, and Rachel Sigman)


Bureaucratic Professionalization is a Contagious Process Inside Government: Evidence from a Priming Experiment with 3,000 Chilean Civil Servants

Public Administration Review

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Christian Schuster, and Magdalena Rojas Wettig)


Activating the 'Big Man': Social Status, Patronage Networks and Pro-Social Behavior in African Bureaucracies

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

(with Adam Harris, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


Reducing Compliance Demands in Government Benefit Programs Improves the Psychological Well-Being of Target Group Members.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

(with Martin Bækgaard, Julian Christensen, and Jonas Krogh Madsen)


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Abstract

State actions impact the lives of citizens in general and government benefit recipients in particular. However, little is known about whether experiences of psychological costs among benefit recipients can be relieved by reducing compliance demands in interactions with the state. Across three studies, we provide evidence that reducing demands causes relief. In a survey experiment, we show that psychological costs experienced by Danish unemployment insurance recipients change in response to information about actual reduced compliance demands. In two field studies, we exploit survey data collected around a sudden, exogenous shock (the COVID-19 lockdown of the Danish society in March 2020), which led to immediate reductions in compliance demands in Denmark’s active labor market policies. We test whether two groups of benefit recipients experienced reduced psychological costs in response to these sudden reductions in compliance demands imposed by the state. Across all studies, we find that the reduction of compliance demands is associated with an increased sense of autonomy, and in two of the three studies, it is associated with reduced stress. Overall, our findings suggest that psychological costs experienced by benefit recipients are indeed affected by state actions in the form of compliance demands.

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How administrative burden affects job seekers’ responsibility attribution and locus of control: Evidence from a survey experiment. 

International Public Management Journal

(with Jonas Krogh Madsen)


Burdens, Sludge, Ordeals, Red Tape, Oh My! An Incomplete Guide to the Study of Frictions. 

Public Administration

(with Jonas Krogh Madsen and Donald P. Moynihan)


Codes of Ethics, Disciplinary Codes, and the Effectiveness of Anti-Corruption Frameworks: Evidence from Civil Servants in Poland. 

Review of Public Personnel Administration

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling)


Do Bureaucrats Contribute to the Resource Curse? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in New Oil States

The Journal of Development Studies

(with Adam Harris, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Christian Schuster, and Rachel Sigman)


Weberian vs. Managerial Civil Service Practices and Public Service Motivation: Evidence from Conjoint Experiments with Civil Servants in Three Continents.

Public Administration

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


Exit, Voice, Sabotage: Public Service Motivation and Guerrilla Bureaucracy in Times of Bad Government.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

(with Christian Schuster, Izabela Correa, and Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling)


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Abstract

Democratic backsliding has multiplied ‘unprincipled’ political principals: governments with weak commitment to the public interest. Why do some bureaucrats engage in voice and guerrilla sabotage to thwart policies against the public interest under ‘unprincipled principals', yet others do not? Despite its centrality in contemporary governance, this conundrum has not seen quantitative research. We address this gap with survey evidence from 1,700 Brazilian public servants during the Temer Presidency, widely perceived to lack democratic legitimacy and integrity. We focus on one key explanator: public service motivation (PSM). We argue that bureaucrats with greater PSM are more likely to engage in voice and sabotage of ‘unprincipled policies’, and exit to avoid implementing ‘unprincipled policies’. Structural equation models support these hypotheses. Public service-motivated bureaucracies are thus short-run stalwarts against ‘unprincipled’ political principals. Over time, they look to depart, however, leaving ‘unprincipled’ principals a freer hand to pursue policies against the public interest.

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A Cross-Cultural Basis for Public Service? Public Service Motivation Measurement Invariance among 23,000 Public Servants in Four World Regions.

International Public Management Journal

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


Rallying around the Flag in Times of COVID-19: The Societal Lockdown in Denmark Substantially Increased Trust in Democratic Institutions among the Unemployed.

Journal of Behavioral Public Administration

(with Martin Bækgaard, Julian Christensen, and Jonas Krogh Madsen)


(Un)Principled Principals, (Un)Principled Agents: The Differential Effects of Managerial Civil Service Reforms on Corruption in Developing and OECD Countries.

Governance

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


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Abstract

Do management practices have similar anticorruption effects in OECD and developing countries? Despite prominent cautions against “New Zealand” reforms which enhance managerial discretion in developing countries, scholars have not assessed this question statistically. Our article addresses this gap through a conjoint experiment with 6,500 public servants in three developing countries and one OECD country. Our experiment assesses Weberian relative to managerial approaches to recruitment, job stability, and pay. We argue that in developing countries with institutionalized corruption and weak rule of law—yet not OECD countries without such features—“unprincipled” principals use managerial discretion over hiring, firing, and pay to favor “unprincipled” bureaucratic agents who engage in corruption. Our results support this argument: managerial practices are associated with greater bureaucratic corruption in our surveyed developing countries, yet have little effect in our OECD country. Alleged “best practices” in public management in OECD countries may thus be “worst practices” in developing countries.

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Responding to COVID‐19 Through Surveys of Public Servants.

Public Administration Review

(with Christian Schuster, Lauren Weitzman, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Katherine Bersch, Francis Fukuyama, Patricia Paskov, Daniel Rogger, Dinsha Mistree, and Kerenssa Kay)


Oiling the Bureaucracy? Political Spending, Bureaucrats and the Resource Curse.

World Development

(with Adam S. Harris, Rachel Sigman, Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, and Christian Schuster)


The Causal Effect of Public Service Motivation on Ethical Behaviour in the Public Sector: Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey Experiment.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


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Abstract

Public service motivation (PSM) and ethical behavior are central concerns in public administration. Yet, experimental evidence on the causes of ethical behavior and the causal effects of PSM remains scarce, curtailing our understanding of both. This article draws on a novel survey experimental design to improve this understanding. The design is based on a simple insight: asking about PSM can render salient PSM-oriented identities of respondents. By randomizing the order of PSM and outcome questions, PSM may be exogenously activated among survey respondents, and the causal effects of this activation assessed. Drawing on this design and a sample of over 5,000 Chilean central government employees—the largest experimental PSM survey sample to date—we find that PSM activation enhances willingness to report ethical problems to management. This provides the first experimental evidence that PSM may promote ethical behavioral intent, and suggests that activating public employees’ PSM can benefit public sector ethics.

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Civil Service Management and Corruption: What We Know and What We Don’t.

Public Administration

(with Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster)


Old habits die hard, sometimes: History and civil service politicization in Europe.

International Review of Administrative Sciences


Civil service laws, merit, politicization, and corruption: The perspective of public officials from five East European countries.

Public Administration


Getting to Denmark, More or Less: Politics, Bureaucracy, and Corruption Success Stories in East Central Europe.

Aarhus: Politica (paperback PhD Dissertation, 599 pages). 2015.


In murky waters: a disentangling of corruption and related concepts.

Crime, Law, and Social Change