559430

research-article2014

PPMXXX10.1177/0091026014559430Public Personnel ManagementKo and Jun

Article

A Comparative Analysis
of Job Motivation and
Career Preference of Asian
Undergraduate Students

Public Personnel Management

2015, Vol. 44(2) 192213
The Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0091026014559430
ppm.sagepub.com

Kilkon Ko1 and Kyu-Nahm Jun2

Abstract
This article examines how various job motivators and perception toward public
service affect university students tendencies to choose public sector jobs in a
comparative context. We address this question using survey data collected from
undergraduate students in China, Singapore, and Korea. The findings indicate that a
positive association exists between motivation to benefit society and public sector
job preference among Singaporean and Korean students, although such a relationship
does not exist among Chinese students. Job security and salary are commonly
important motivators for students who prefer either public or private sector jobs.
Finally, the divergent characteristics of students career goals serve to emphasize the
importance of comparative studies in identifying context-specific and context-general
factors that motivate students toward public service careers.
Keywords
job motivation, public sector careers, comparative study

This research investigates why prospective job seekers, in particular undergraduate

students, prefer public sector jobs to private sector jobs. We address this question by
analyzing the job motivations of such students and examining their perception of
careers in the public sector. These issues pertain to a central aspect of public personnel
1Seoul

National University, Korea

State University, Detroit, MI, USA

2Wayne

Corresponding Author:
Kilkon Ko, Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro
Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
Email: kilkon@snu.ac.kr

Ko and Jun

193

management, as recently graduated university students are a potential recruitment pool

for civil service organizations. In recent years, several other studies have begun to
focus on the job motivations of prospective public employees (Bilmes & Gould, 2009;
Christensen & Wright, 2011; Karl & Peat, 2004; Light, 1999; Ng & Gossett, 2013;
Rose, 2013; Taylor, 2005, 2008; Vandenabeele, 2008; Vandenabeele & Van de Walle,
2008).
Attracting talented people to the public sector has been a worldwide challenge in
public personnel management (Benest, 2005; Delfgaauw & Dur, 2010; Light, 2000,
2002). The rise in distrust in governmental entities and the contemporary disdain for
bureaucracy has made public sector jobs less attractive, thereby deteriorating the
morale of those in civil service and reducing the inflow of talented workers into the
U.S. civil service (Aberbach, 1991; Bilmes & Gould, 2009; Broadnax, 2012; Light,
1999). This sort of brain drain in the public sector has not been a serious public
personnel problem in China, Korea, or Singapore, countries that share the Confucian
tradition that regards public sector jobs as a highly prestigious profession. In their
developmental stage in the 1970s and 1980s, Singaporean and South Korean governmental agencies had tremendous success in attracting bright university graduates,
which led to a lack of talented employees in the private sector. In China, the popularity
of public sector employment has continuously increased ever since the adoption of a
more modernized, merit-based civil service system from the cadre system in 1990s.
Despite the historical popularity of public sector jobs, public sector employers now
compete with counterparts in the private sector that offer more attractive job packages,
including higher salaries and other benefits. In these Asian countries, students job
motivation in pursuing public sector employment has become more complex than
before, because the private sector often offers more attractive career options.
Nevertheless, research on the subject provides very little empirical data evaluating the
motivators appreciated by Asian students who prefer public to private sector jobs.
This article addresses three main research questions:
Research Question 1: How do different job motivations explain students choice
of pursuing public service careers?
Research Question 2: Does the administrative context reflected in students perception toward civil service affect their career preferences in public sector jobs?
Research Question 3: Are there cross-national differences in students motivations
and career intentions? That is, does the relationship between the job motivations of
prospective employees and their preference for public sector jobs hold regardless of
each countrys unique administrative context?
Previous studies in the Western setting reports mixed findings according to which
job motivation, especially within the context of public service motivation (PSM),
affects students career intentions (Chetkovich, 2003; Karl & Peat, 2004; Ng &
Gossett, 2013; Rose, 2013; Taylor, 2005; Vandenabeele, Hondeghem, & Steen, 2004).1
In the Asian context, however, researchers observe that meritocracy based on academic achievement is the golden rule for recruiting talented employees (Frederickson,

194

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

2002; Tan, 2008), a finding which does not fully address the nature of the motivating
factors that lead individuals to careers in the public sector. Although scholars have
been studying career motivations for college students in the United States and in
Western contexts in recent years, there has been limited research on Asian students,
especially in a comparative setting. Our analysis of job motivation focuses on Asian
students, and it controls for heterogeneous perceptions of the government, to provide
a better insight into their motivations in relation to public sector job choice.
Using unique survey data collected from university students in China, Singapore,
and South Korea, we conduct a series of quantitative analyses to address these research
objectives. The present study contributes to our empirical understanding of job motivation in a number of ways. First, there are only a handful of studies that explore Asian
students job motivations and career preferences, especially in a comparative context.
Our main research contribution is to fill this gap in the literature which focuses on
Western contexts. Second, comparative analysis is crucial for two primary reasons. On
one hand, students career preferences for the public sector may reflect national differences in the perception and effectiveness of public administration. On the other hand,
we cannot exclude the possibility that some motivators have a broad appeal that manifests itself in different countries. Finally, where previous studies have focused on
PSM, which predominantly measures intrinsic motivational factors, this study considers both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors in investigating students career
intentions. By addressing this empirical question in a comparative setting, we further
inform the development of job choice and motivation theories that have primarily been
studied in the Western context.

Exploring the Correlates of Students Career Intentions

in the Public Sector
This research develops a theoretical framework grounded on Frederick Herzbergs
Motivation-Hygiene theory or Two-Factor Theory (Herzberg, 1966; Herzberg,
Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959). We hypothesize that there are two primary theoretical
factors influencing college students career intentions in the public sector. First, we
expect that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors will attract students to the public sector.
Second, we predict that some extrinsic or hygiene aspects of the job, such as the
embedded administrative context, will also affect students career intentions in the
public sector.

Job Motivations and Career Intentions

Herzberg (1966) proposed that motivators or intrinsic aspects of the job, such as recognition, achievement, advancement, personal growth, and responsibility, lead to a
greater level of job satisfaction. Drawing on this notion of intrinsic motivation, the
literature about PSM has rigorously examined whether the motivational structure of
public employees differs from that of private employees. A substantial body of literature shows that public employees have distinctive motivations which are generally

Ko and Jun

195

associated with public service (Crewson, 1997; Frank & Lewis, 2004; Houston, 2000;
Liu, 2009; Perry, 1996). In their seminal work, Perry and Wise (1990) implicitly
argued that PSM is a unique motivator found mainly in the public sector. Perry and
Hondeghem (2008), however, modified this thesis by arguing that PSM may characterize motivations in other arenas of society that involve pursuit of public good (p. 3)
and thus it might exist outside the public sector. Among the four dimensions of PSM,
some studies have mainly focused on norm-based motive that entails commitment to
public interest and the community (Brewer & Selden, 1998; Rainey & Steinbauer,
1999). But if serving public interest is, as these researchers suggest, a ubiquitous motivator among job seekers, it is important to explore whether students seeking public
sector jobs are more affected by such motivation than private sector job seekers.
Various empirical studies have based their investigation around these theories of
motivation in the public sector, using a single survey item to measure the norm-based
public service motives of college students and their job preferences. Findings are
mixed, however, in the Western context. Some students who favor public service were
motivated by intrinsic factors, such as commitment to the public interest, but this finding was not consistent for all countries. In the United States, Chetkovich (2003) found
that public policy graduate students who pursue public sector jobs hope to make a
difference in society more so than those who choose private jobs, and that those who
prefer private sector jobs are more often motivated by financial resources and professional development. More recently, Ng and Gossett (2013) studied the career choices
of Canadian Millennialsstudents born after 1980and find that the desire to contribute to society exists a priori to actual employment in the public sector (p. 352,
Italic emphasis added). In their study of the work values and PSM of students majoring in business and public service, Karl and Peat (2004) reported that public service
majors consider extrinsic values (such as, wages and benefits) to be as important as
ones chance to benefit society. Finally, studying 297 Australian university students
job motivation, Taylor (2005) stated that public sector job seekers are most concerned
about job security and fair salary; opportunity to benefit the wider community does not
appear to be a significant motivating factor for Australian students.
Our main argument is that, if we are to gain a genuine understanding of students
career intentions, we must control for other extrinsic job motives that may affect students career intentions. An intrinsic factor such as norm-based motivation is only one
of many various job motives that affect students career preferences. For employees in
the public sector, previous studies suggest other extrinsic factors that may affect their
career choice, such as job security (Baldwin, 1990; Bellante & Link, 1981; Jurkiewicz,
Massey, & Brown, 1998; Schuster, 1974), social status and prestige (Jurkiewicz et al.,
1998; Lyons et al., 2006; Rainey, 1982; Wittmer, 1991), opportunities for promotion
(Gabris & Simo, 1995; Houston, 2000; Karl & Sutton, 1998; Wittmer, 1991), and a
friendly work environment (Khojasteh, 1993; Lyons et al., 2006; Wittmer, 1991).
In the Asian context, only a handful of studies investigate the relationship between
students job motivations and career intentions. Liu, Hui, Hu, Yang, and Yu (2011)
argued that, for Chinese students, the norm-based motivecommitment to public
interestis not significantly related to occupational intentions whereas the

196

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

self-sacrifice dimension was a significant factor motivating students career intentions

in the public sector. A recent study of Korean students by G. Lee and Choi (in press)
reveals that the norm-based motive does not affect the public service career intentions
of college students. Instead, job security was the only determining factor among various job motivators, perhaps due to the economic downturn in 2008.
In explaining students job preferences, we argue that both intrinsic and extrinsic
motivators should be included in the specification of a model of students career intentions. If one fails to take both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators into account, the omitted variables will result in biased and inconsistent estimates of the effects of motivators
on students public sector job preference. Thus, if one does not consider the full set of
motivators, the research will only partially explain why some pre-service students
prefer public sector careers over private sector ones. In sum, we examine undergraduate students in three Asian countriesChina, Singapore, and South Koreato understand the following research question: What motivators influence certain undergraduate
students to pursue a career in the public sector?

Perceptions of Administrative Contexts: A Comparative Perspective of

Career Intentions
To understand job motivation for prospective employees, this research involves a
comparative analysis three Asian countries: China, Singapore, and South Korea.
Comparative analysis is crucial in the Asian context, as most contemporary scholars
have tacitly assumed that Asian students motivation to choose public sector careers
would be similar due to the shared philosophical foundation of Confucianism. The
weakness of this claim is, however, that Confucianism is merely one of factors that
may affect college students job motivations and their career intentions. We also need
to consider, in particular, students perception toward civil service in explaining the
relationship.
These three countries have many distinctive features in their respective administrative environments. The most significant differences among the three countries pertain
to the level of development which has been attained by their various civil service
systems (World Bank, 2009). In 1993, China abandoned the socialistic cadre system
with the adoption of the State Civil Servants Provisional Regulations, a Chinese
equivalent of the Pendleton Act; in the years following, China gradually adopted a
professionalized civil service system, which was institutionalized in 2003 (Tsao &
Worthley, 2009; Liu & Li 2013). Despite these reforms, the Chinese civil service continues to suffer from the residual effects of inefficient public management, from corruption, and from the lack of citizen-centered administration. According to the World
Banks (2009) government effectiveness indicator, China is ranked in the 64th percentile among 212 countries, as of 2008.
Koreas modern civil service system has also experienced a succession of changes.
Robert Lucas (1993), who memorably called the transformation of Korean society a
miracle, claimed that the accumulation of human capital was a key factor in accomplishing this transformation. This accumulation of human capital took place especially

Ko and Jun

197

in the public sector. During the period when the Korean military controlled the civil
service system from 1961 to 1987, a stable merit-based civil service system was successfully developed. As a result, technocrats were able to competently guide economic
development throughout the 1970s and 1980s (Ha & Kang, 2011; Hwang, 1996). In
the decades since, the Korean government has continuously adopted a variety of
administrative reform measures. Reflecting such progress, the World Banks (2009)
government effectiveness indicator ranks South Korea in the 86th percentile among
212 countries in the world.
Finally, Singapore has developed a highly efficient and transparent administrative
system, which is well known to comparative public administration scholars (Quah,
2010; Bellows 2009). While the Peoples Action Party has dominated political power
since 1959, the entire civil service management process is firmly grounded on the
merit principle. The Singapore government actively recruits highly competent workers
by paying high salaries. Singaporean public servants are paid wages that compete
with, and sometimes exceed, the wages offered by private companies. In 2008,
Singapore was ranked as having the most effective government in the world, by the
World Banks (2009) government effectiveness indicator.
Despite these different contexts in terms of the stage of administrative development
and the levels of government effectiveness, all three countries students, in general,
consider public service as a highly attractive career choice. Singapores civil service
has been respected by its citizens because of its efficiency and its freedom from corruption (Quah, 2010; Schneider, 1987). In Korea, public servants are considered as
the pillars of development in society and are credited for the countrys rapid economic development (World Bank, 1993). Although Korean bureaucracy came under
heavy criticism for its policy failure during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, few
Koreans deny that civil servants are still powerful in making crucial decisions affecting the economic and social lives of citizens. And in China, 1.4 million applicants took
the National Public Servant exam in December 2010 and, among them, only 1 in 64
found a job in the public service (Shaobin, 2010). The competition rate in China was
slightly lower than that in South Korea (1 in 82.8) for the same year (H. Lee, 2010).
In this research, our main argument is that the divergent empirical findings concerning students career intentions and job motivations can be explained from a
comparative perspective, which suggests a dissimilar impact of different administrative contexts (Giauque et al., 2011). By broadening Herzbergs (1966) notion of
hygiene factors that deal with job context and lead to job dissatisfaction, we note that
the administrative contexts in which public sector jobs are embedded will also affect
whether students are attracted to careers in the public sector.
More importantly, the strengths and weaknesses of administrative contexts are
reflected in students perception toward public officials. When a countrys civil service
loses public confidence, students will be less likely to be favorably disposed toward
public sector employment. It is probable that negative perception of government may be
a hygiene factor.2 One example is China, where students are well aware of the prevailing
corruption of public officials. Some of them might not want to work for the government
because they believe that working for the government may not be the best way to

198

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

promote public interests. Hence, we argue that students perception toward government
work in different administrative contexts is critical in examining the relationship between
job motives and career intentions in the public sector. To reflect these contextual differences of three countries, we controlled for students perception of the integrity, commitment, competency, and professionalism exhibited by the civil servants in each country.
Although the literature calls for more comparative studies (Kim & Vandenabeele,
2010; Vandenabeele et al., 2006; Vandenabeele & Van de Walle, 2008), cross-national
studies are rare, and little is known about cross-national variations of the relationship
between the job motivations and university students public sector job preference.
Thus, we arrive at our second set of research questions: Do the administrative contexts
reflected in students perception of civil service impact their public sector career intentions? Are there cross-national differences in students motivations and job choices?

Research Design
This research examines factors that are related to the level of interest undergraduates
show in public sector jobs. We also analyze country-specific differences in the impact
of job motivationin particular, a norm-based motive, the chance to benefit society
on students career intentions toward public sector jobs. Using a unique set of survey
data collected in China, South Korea, and Singapore, we conduct a series of logistic
analyses to address our research questions.

Sources of Data
This research targets the undergraduate students in China, South Korea, and Singapore.
Three Asian countries were selected based their different stages of administrative
effectiveness according to the World Banks (2009) Governance Indicator. We surveyed 9 out of the 16 first-class universities in China. In Singapore, we surveyed the
National University of Singapore, which boasts the greatest number of graduates who
opt to work in the public sector and is one of the most prestigious and largest universities in Singapore. Finally, we conducted surveys at 10 Korean universities located in
Seoul and other regions. All the selected universities are among the most prestigious
in their respective countries. Data were collected between 2009 and 2011. We also
considered students majors in the sampling design because prospective civil servants
usually major in political science, public administration, economics, business management, law, and other related fields.
One significant limitation of our data collection is the difficulty in adopting probability sampling. A sampling of students at elite universities does not adequately represent entire undergraduate student populations. According to the National Bureau of
Statistics of China, China has approximately 2,442 regular institutions of higher education, as of 2013. In Korea, there are 340 colleges and universities. Due to the practical limitations of data collection, we targeted a limited number of prestigious
universities in three countries based on researchers subjective judgments. Hence, the
interpretation of the findings should be done with care.

Ko and Jun

199

Dependent Variable: Career Intentions in the Public Sector

The dependent variable measures the subjects career intentions in either public or
private sector jobs. Now it is not always clear what constitutes a public sector job.
In Singapore and China, for instance, there are a considerable number of public enterprises, government-linked companies, and other agencies related to various ministries. Some Chinese students tend to distinguish occupations such as medicine,
research, and agriculture from other forms of private sector employment. Similarly,
in Korea, non-profit organizations are usually considered as neither public nor private
sector but as an independent third sector. To focus our research as effectively as possible, then, we limit our category of public sector jobs strictly to the area of civil
service. We also add the others category which students may choose if they are not
sure about the sector of their jobs. In our logit analyses, observations that responded
to the other categories (i.e., non-profit organizations, state-owned enterprises, and
others) were excluded from the analysis: Thus, the qualitative choice is between public and private sector job preference. Because the dependent variable is a dichotomized choice, we adopt binary logistic regression. We run three separate logit
regression models to compare differences among students in the three countries. We
then test whether regression coefficients of the intrinsic motivatorchance to benefit
societydiffer among countries in an integrated logit model by including countryspecific fixed effects.

Independent Variables
The primary independent variables in this model are job motivators, including an
intrinsic norm-based motivator, which is measured as the chance to benefit society.
Because students pursue their careers based on both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators,
we include other job motivators such as salary, promotion opportunities, job security,
self-development, and availability of leisure time. Based on Jurkiewicz et al.s (1998)
comprehensive list of intrinsic and extrinsic job motivators, which is used in other
motivation research, we adopt 15 motivators in our research to examine students
career intentions. The respondents were asked to rank 15 job motivations using a scale
numbering 1 to 15; a ranking of 1 was used to indicate the most important factor, and
15 to indicate the least important factor.
We also include students perceptions of government in the model as a hygiene factor. For instance, seeing that the Chinese government suffers from a high level of corruption, this would deter Chinese students from choosing public sector jobs. We
measure students attitudes toward government using five heuristics. Four of these
measures involve evaluating the work of civil servants; these evaluate their commitment to their work, their incompetence, their level of lethargy, their professionalism,
and their level of corruption. These perception variables were measured by a series of
questions that ask whether the respondents agreed to the statement, such as Civil
servants are committed to their works (yes = 1; no = 0). The final measure evaluates
the students level of trust in governmental decision-making. This variable was

200

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Table 1. Sample Characteristics.

Job preference
Private
Public
Total
PA class
No
Yes
Total
Gender
Female
Male
Total
Response rate

China

Korea

Singapore

Total

285 (51.63%)
267 (48.37%)
552

243 (36.93%)
415 (63.07%)
658

461 (68.60%)
211 (31.40%)
672

989 (52.55%)
893 (47.45%)
1,882

301 (54.23%)
254 (45.77%)
555

218 (32.78%)
447 (67.22%)
665

545 (80.74%)
130 (19.26%)
675

1,064 (56.15%)
831 (43.85%)
1,895

347 (62.52%)
208 (37.48%)
555
62%

328 (49.32%)
337 (50.68%)
665
80%

446 (65.98%)
230 (34.02%)
676
30%

1,396 (58.88%)
975 (41.12%)
1,896

Note. The response rate is based on all returned responses. Percentages in parentheses are the column
percentages.

measured by a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly

agree to the statement, I support and trust the decisions made by the government.
We consider several control variables. First, gender (1 = male, 0 = female) is an
important factor in understanding career intentions. Some research suggests that
males are more motivated by salary than females (Naff & Crum, 1999; Ng & Gossett,
2013); hence, it is likely that male students will prefer to choose private sector
jobs, which tend to pay more, on average, in these three Asian countries. Other studies, however, suggest that the masculine culture of bureaucracy, made manifest in
organizational value, leadership, and management styles (DeHart-Davis, Marlowe,
& Pandey, 2006; Stivers, 1993), tends to attract more male students to the public
sector. Empirical evidence is also conflicting. In Singapore, 62.6% of civil servants
among 35,359 employees at the managerial and administrative level (Division I) are
female, as of 2008. Still, however, female public servants are in the minority in
China and in Korea.
There is an additional, methodological reason that we control for gender in our
regression model. The exclusion of gender as an independent variable may cause an
omission bias, as gender is correlated both with independent variables and with the
dependent variable (career intention). Finally, we control for exposure to public
administration or public policy courses. This is also measured as a dummy variable.
Table 1 describes the sample characteristics of this study. First, out of a total 1,882
respondents, approximately 53% of the students prefer to work for the private sector,
whereas 47% favor public sector jobs. Second, 44% have taken public administration
related courses. Finally, the gender breakdown of the sample is 59% female and 41%
male.3

Ko and Jun

201

Findings
The impact of job motivation on students career intentions in the public sector and the
differences of such impact are tested across three countries. Our findings suggest that
cross-country variation is significant, and that the degree of self-selection of students
with higher norm-based motivators differs in three countries. In addition, we also find
that extrinsic motivators, such as job security and high salary, are important factors
which serve to induce university students to enter the public sector.

Differences in the Importance of Job Motivators by Sector

Table 2 compares the students rankings of 15 types of job motivations and career
intentions by sector. Job motivations were ranked from 1 to 15, with higher values
indicating greater importance. A number of observations can be made from these rankings. First, students rank the stable and secure future and the high salary motivations
highest regardless of their career preferences in different sectors. This suggests that
extrinsic motivators are important to university students career intentions. Second,
students who prefer careers in the public sector rank the chance to benefit society
higher than those who favor private sector jobs. However, the public sector job seekers
still rank the norm-based motivator lower than the two most important extrinsic motivators. Third, the high prestige and social status motivator is even more highly ranked
than chance to benefit society motivator, among the public sector job seekers. Finally,
other intrinsic motivations such as chance to learn new things, opportunity for
advancement, and chance to use special ability are also important factors related to
both public and private sector career interests. These results suggest that students who
want to work for the public sector are not solely driven by the norm-based motivator,
chance to benefit society. Instead, there is strong similarity between the public and
private job seekers: In both groups, extrinsic motivators are significant determinants
of job choice.

Differences in the Perception of Civil Service

To compare the impact of different administrative contexts, students perception toward
civil service is examined in Table 3. First, we find that in Singapore, more than 71% of
students believe that bureaucrats are committed to their work. In China, however, a slim
majority question the commitment level of bureaucrats. Only 26% of the Singaporean
students thought that civil servants were incompetent in comparison with their private
sector counterparts. Higher ranking civil servants are mostly considered as professionals by Singapore students (76%) but Chinese and South Korean students are not as
likely to perceive their civil servants as professionals (34% and 49%, respectively).
Moreover, Singaporean students were less likely than Chinese and Korean students to
describe public sector employees in their country as corrupt. Finally, trust in governmental decisions to resolve conflicting interests, as measured on a 5-point Likert-type
scale, is higher for Singaporean and Chinese students than for Korean students.

202

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Table 2. Overall Job Motivation Rankings by Sectoral Job Choice.

Private sector (n = 989)
Job motivations

M (SE)

A stable and secure future***

Chance to learn new things***
Chance to benefit society***
Chance to exercise leadership
Working as part of a team
Variety in work assignments***
High prestige and social status
Friendly and congenial
associates***
High salary***
Chance to use my special abilities
Chance to make important
decisions***
Freedom from supervision
Chance to engage in satisfying
leisure activities**
Freedom from pressures to
conform**
Opportunity for advancement***

Public sector (n = 893)

95% CI

M (SE)

95% CI

11.5 (0.13)
9.45 (0.12)
6.46 (0.13)
7.31 (0.12)
6.28 (0.11)
7.36 (0.12)
8.34 (0.14)
8.82 (0.11)

[11.25, 11.75] 13.18 (0.1) [12.98, 13.39]

[9.21, 9.7]
8.65 (0.12)
[8.4, 8.89]
[6.2, 6.71]
8.24 (0.14) [7.96, 8.52]
[7.07, 7.55]
6.86 (0.13) [6.61, 7.11]
[6.06, 6.5]
6.32 (0.12) [6.09, 6.55]
[7.12, 7.6]
6.24 (0.12)
[6, 6.48]
[8.08, 8.61]
9 (0.14) [8.72, 9.29]
[8.6, 9.04]
8.1 (0.12) [7.86, 8.34]

11 (0.12)
8.49 (0.14)
7.2 (0.11)

[10.77, 11.24] 10.24 (0.13)

[8.21, 8.77]
8.5 (0.14)
[6.98, 7.42]
7.74 (0.13)

[9.97, 10.5]
[8.22, 8.78]
[7.49, 7.99]

5.32 (0.12)
7.45 (0.14)

[5.08, 5.56]
[7.18, 7.71]

5.25 (0.13)
7.98 (0.15)

[5.01, 5.5]
[7.7, 8.27]

6.44 (0.13)

[6.18, 6.7]

6 (0.14)

[5.73, 6.26]

8.58 (0.14)

[8.31, 8.86]

7.69 (0.14)

[7.43, 7.96]

Note. F test for sectoral differences (private vs. public). CI = confidence interval.
*p < .1. **p < .05. ***p < .01.

Table 3. Students Perception of Civil Service.

China

Commitment
Incompetence
Lethargy
Professionalism
(high-rank official)
Corruption
Trust toward
government

Korea

Singapore

M (SE)

95% CI

M (SE)

95% CI

M (SE)

95% CI

0.49 (0.02)
0.38 (0.02)
0.60 (0.02)
0.34 (0.02)

[0.46, 0.52]
[0.35, 0.41]
[0.57, 0.63]
[0.3, 0.37]

0.66 (0.02)
0.32 (0.02)
0.49 (0.02)
0.49 (0.02)

[0.62, 0.69]
[0.28, 0.35]
[0.45, 0.53]
[0.46, 0.53]

0.71 (0.02)
0.26 (0.02)
0.58 (0.02)
0.76 (0.02)

[0.68, 0.75]
[0.22, 0.29]
[0.55, 0.62]
[0.73, 0.79]

0.57 (0.02) [0.54, 0.61] 0.59 (0.02) [0.55, 0.63] 0.1 (0.01) [0.08, 0.13]
2.94 (0.02) [2.89, 2.99] 2.62 (0.03) [2.56, 2.68] 3.08 (0.03) [3.03, 3.13]

Note. Trust is measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale, others are measured on the binary scales (yes =
1, no = 0). CI = confidence interval.

From these results, we can conclude that students judgments about the competency
and integrity of the government significantly differ based on the developmental stage
of public administration that their nation is experiencing. Our argument is that

Ko and Jun

203

students perception of public service in their respective countries is another set of

extrinsic factor that affects their career intentions. Hence, the next question we address
is how the administrative context reflected in students perception toward civil service
affects their career intentions in the public sector.. Would the sort of negative perception toward public service found in China or Korea deter students from working for the
government?

Differences in Explanatory Factors of Students Career Intentions by

Countries
We conducted a series of logit regressions to explore the factors related to public sector job preference and to compare the differences and similarities among students in
three different countries. Table 4 shows the results of three logit regressions, the
dependent variable being the preference of public sector employment after graduation.
We include 14 types of job motivation rankings; freedom from supervision is omitted
due to multicollinearity. For all three models, the Hosmer and Lemeshow Goodnessof-Fit test indicates that the model fit is good, and the Max-rescaled R2 ranges between
25% and 36%. The overall levels of model fits and model explanatory power are at an
acceptable level.
This analysis yields a number of findings. First, we find that the relationship
between job motivations and prospective public sector career intention differs among
students in the three countries. For Chinese students, the motivators chance to learn
new things; chance to exercise leadership, variety in work assignments, friendly and
congenial associates; and chance to use special ability are negatively and statistically
significantly related to prospective public employment. In Korea, stable/secure future,
chance to make important decisions, and chance to benefit society are positively
related to career interests in public sector jobs. South Korean students who view salary
as an important motivational factor, however, are less inclined to choose public sector
employment. In Singapore, the coefficients for stable/secure future and chance to benefit society are positive and statistically significant, indicating that students who ranked
these motivational factors higher than others did favor joining civil service. However,
opportunity for advancement is negatively related to public sector employment among
Singapore students.
Second, chance to benefit society, the norm-based motive, is positively associated
with career intentions in the public sector. In particular, Singapore and Korea show a
positive and statistically significant association. In China, the relationship between the
two is positive, but the coefficient is not statistically significant. Why does the normbased motivator seem to have less impact in the case of China? One reasonable explanation is that, as the Chinese civil service system has newly emerged from the cadre
system, the average citizen may not envision civil servants as professionals serving the
public interests. Instead, Chinese students may equate government with corruption,
incompetency, and other abuses. Considering this situation, Chinese students may not
be confident that working in the public sector would be the best way to benefit
society.

204

*p < .1. **p < .05. ***p < .01.

Job motivators
A stable and secure future
Chance to learn new things
Chance to benefit society
Chance to exercise leadership
Working as part of a team
Variety in work assignments
High prestige and social status
Friendly and congenial associates
High salary
Chance to use my special abilities
Chance to make important decisions
Chance to engage in leisure activities
Freedom from pressures to conform
Opportunity for advancement
Perceptions of government
Commitment (yes = 1)
Incompetence (yes = 1)
Lethargy (yes = 1)
Professionalism (yes = 1)
Corruption (yes = 1)
Trust toward government (Likert-type scale)
Control variables
Public administration education (yes = 1)
Gender (male = 1)
Intercept
n
Nagelkerkes Max-rescaled R2

Independent variables

1.15
0.57***
0.79
0.74
1.01
1.44**

0.14 (0.20)
0.57 (0.20)
0.23 (0.2)
0.30 (0.21)
0.01 (0.20)
0.36 (0.15)
0.18 (0.19)
1.2
0.16 (0.20)
0.85
4.35 (4.24)
77.82
549
.25

1.03
0.91**
1.02
0.91**
0.99
0.87***
1.04
0.92**
0.96
0.92**
0.98
0.92
0.94
0.94

Odds ratio

0.03 (0.04)
0.10 (0.05)
0.02 (0.04)
0.09 (0.05)
0.01 (0.05)
0.14 (0.05)
0.04 (0.04)
0.09 (0.04)
0.04 (0.04)
0.08 (0.04)
0.02 (0.05)
0.08 (0.05)
0.06 (0.05)
0.06 (0.04)

B (SE)

China

0.53 (0.22)
0.02 (0.21)
0.73 (3.76)

0.35 (0.21)
0.59 (0.23)
0.03 (0.22)
0.3 (0.21)
0.64 (0.21)
0.04 (0.12)

0.14 (0.05)
0.05 (0.04)
0.13 (0.04)
0.06 (0.04)
0.01 (0.04)
0.02 (0.04)
0.01 (0.04)
0.06 (0.04)
0.14 (0.04)
0.06 (0.04)
0.12 (0.04)
0.01 (0.05)
0.01 (0.05)
0.02 (0.04)

B (SE)

605
.35

Korea

1.7**
1.02
2.07

1.42
0.55**
1.03
1.36
0.53***
0.96

1.15***
0.95
1.14***
0.94
0.99
0.98
0.99
0.94
0.87***
0.94
1.13***
0.99
0.99
1.02

Odds ratio

1.53 (0.25)
0.31 (0.23)
1.56 (3.56)

0.14 (0.24)
0.43 (0.28)
0.37 (0.22)
0.21 (0.26)
1.1 (0.49)
0.05 (0.15)

636
.36

4.6***
0.73
0.21

0.87
0.65
0.69*
1.24
0.33**
1.05

1.17***
0.96
1.16***
0.94
0.99
0.98
0.97
0.95
1
1.03
1.04
0.99
0.96
0.93*

Odds ratio

Singapore

0.16 (0.04)
0.05 (0.04)
0.15 (0.04)
0.07 (0.04)
0.01 (0.04)
0.02 (0.04)
0.04 (0.04)
0.05 (0.04)
0 (0.04)
0.03 (0.04)
0.04 (0.04)
0.01 (0.04)
0.04 (0.05)
0.07 (0.04)

B (SE)

Table 4. Logistic Regression Results (Dependent Variable = Preference to Work in the Public Sector after Graduation).

Ko and Jun

205

Third, with respect to the impact of public administration education on career preferences for the public sector, we find a statistically significant and positive impact
among Korean and Singaporean students. This is not the case for Chinese students.
Considering that the public administration discipline became an independent field
from political science in the major Chinese universities in China, this finding is particularly interesting and further research needs to be done.
Fourth, in tension with the common sense explanation that female students of Asian
countries may prefer to choose public sector jobs to avoid gender discrimination, gender is not the statistically significant factor in students preferences for public service
careers. This statistically insignificant result is at odds with findings in Western countries, where female students tend to prefer government jobs more than their male counterparts (Lewis & Frank, 2002; Ng & Gossett, 2013).
Finally, in our investigation of the impact of perceptions of civil service on career
intention, we find mixed results. That is, students perceptions of civil service, which
reflect the different administrative contexts, can be considered as additional extrinsic
factor that may motivate students to or deter students from preferring a career in
thepublic sector. The interesting finding, however, is that this impact differs from one
country to another: The more students view civil servants as being incompetent, the
less likely they will be to choose public sector jobs. This finding is statistically significant only for Chinese and Korean students. And our research about the perception of
corruption yields another interesting result: The coefficients for Korean and Singapore
students are negative, which shows that students are less likely to prefer public sector
jobs if they have the impression that their civil servants are corrupt. In other words,
corruption in government deters Korean and Singaporean students from preferring
careers in public service; however, this was not the case for Chinese students. Finally,
trust in government has a positive impact on prospective public sector employment
among the Chinese students.

Test of the Equality of Regression Coefficients Among Countries

The results in Table 4 indicate that parameter estimates of regressors vary across countries, but there is not yet enough information to discern whether the differences in
regression coefficients among the three countries are statistically significant or not. In
the integrated logit model, the interaction terms with countries and other independent
variables are included, which assist in the task of understanding such differences
(Leighley & Vedlitz, 1999). One methodological pitfall of this approach, however, is
the risk of multicollinearity and the unnecessary loss of degree of freedom. To avoid
such problems and because our primary explanatory variable is job motivation, we
include interaction terms between countries and two independent variables, chance to
benefit society and high salary.4 The equal coefficient test using Wald chi-square test
statistics concludes that there are statistically significant differences between the three
countries coefficients of chance to benefit society (2 = 11.7, df = 2, p < .01). Similarly,
the coefficients of high salary across countries are also significantly different (p < .01;
Table 5).

206

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Table 5. Logistic Regression Results: Integrated Model (Dependent Variable = Preference

to Work in the Public Sector After Graduation).
Independent variable
Job motivators
A stable and secure future
Chance to learn new things
Chance to benefit society
Chance to exercise leadership
Working as part of a team
Variety in work assignments
High prestige and social status
Friendly and congenial associates
High salary
Chance to use my special abilities
Chance to make important decisions
Chance to engage in leisure activities
Freedom from pressures to conform
Opportunity for advancement
Country differences (Reference: Singapore)
China
Korea
CBS China
CBS Korea
Salary China
Salary Korea
Perceptions of government
Commitment (yes = 1)
Incompetence (yes = 1)
Lethargy (yes = 1)
Professionalism (yes = 1)
Corruption (yes = 1)
Trust toward government (Likert-type scale)
Control variables
Public administration education (yes = 1)
Gender (male = 1)
Intercept
N
Nagelkerkes Max-rescaled R2

B (SE)

Odds ratio

0.11 (0.02)
0.06 (0.02)
0.11 (0.02)
0.06 (0.02)
0.01 (0.02)
0.05 (0.02)
0.01 (0.02)
0.06 (0.02)
0.06 (0.02)
0.03 (0.02)
0.05 (0.02)
0.02 (0.03)
0.03 (0.03)
0.03 (0.02)

1.12***
0.94***
1.12***
0.94***
0.99
0.95**
1.01
0.95**
0.94**
0.97
1.05**
0.98
0.98
0.98

0.24 (0.34)
1.48 (0.33)
0.04 (0.02)
0 (0.02)
0.07 (0.02)
0.08 (0.02)

0.79
4.39***
0.96**
1
1.07***
0.92***

0.09 (0.12)
0.57 (0.13)
0.2 (0.12)
0.12 (0.12)
0.45 (0.13)
0.04 (0.08)

1.09
0.57***
0.82*
1.13
0.64***
1.04

0.66 (0.12)
0.11 (0.12)
0.49 (2.08)

0.9
1.64
1,790
.31

Note. CBS = chance to benefit society.

*p < .1. **p < .05. ***p < .01.

To illustrate the differences in the integrated logit model, Figure 1 presents the
marginal effect of chance to benefit society on the probability of public sector job
preference. Singaporean students show a lower probability of choosing public sector

207

Ko and Jun

Probability of Public Sector Career Intention

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
China

0.5

Korea
0.4

Singapore

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1

5
6
7
8
9 10 11
Rank of Chance to Benefit Society

12

13

14

15

Figure 1. Marginal effect of chance to benefit society on predicted probability of career

intention in public service.

jobs given the same level of chance to benefit society as other countries, which is consistent with our descriptive statistics analysis in Table 1. In contrast, Korean students
show a higher probability of choosing public sector jobs compared with students in
other Asian countries. The pattern of positive impact of chance to benefit society on
public sector career intentions is comparatively weaker in China.
Salary negatively affects students career preferences for public sector jobs over
private sector jobs, although this result is not found among Chinese and Singaporean
students (see Table 4 and Figure 2).5 This does not mean that salary is unimportant to
Chinese and Singaporean students public sector job preference; it only means that
salary is of roughly equal importance for both public and private sector job seekers in
China and Singapore.

Concluding Discussions
This article investigates, in a comparative context, how different job motivators and
perceptions toward government in different administrative contexts affect university
students preference for public sector careers. Our analysis results reveal that there is

208

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Probability of Public Sector Career Intention

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
China

0.5

Korea
0.4

Singapore

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1

7
8
9 10
Rank of Salary

11

12

13

14

15

Figure 2. Marginal effect of high salary on predicted probability of career intention in public
service.

a great deal of complexity in Chinese, Singaporean, and Korean students motivations

and public sector job preferences, and quite a few commonalities across all three countries. Our findings suggest that students career intentions in the public sector over the
private sector cannot simply be explained by a single norm-based motivator, chance to
benefit society. Instead, these intentions are the mixture of other extrinsic motivators,
along with students perception of their own government. The relative importance of
individual job motivators in explaining public sector job choice varies across the three
countries.
First, stable and secure future is the most important motivator, more important than
chance to benefit society (shown in Table 2). High salary is the second most important
job motive. These findings are consistent regardless of students country, their perception of civil servants, and their career intentions. It is likely that students susceptibility
to extrinsic motivators is related to the 2008 Great Recession (G. Lee & Choi, in
press). Given that job security and salary are common motivators for both public and
private sector job seekers, it would appear that public managers should pay more
attention to these extrinsic motivators, so that the public sector does not lose the greater
portion of talented prospective employees to the private sector.

Ko and Jun

209

Second, our findings suggest that the presence of a norm-based motivator such as
chance to benefit society does not guarantee that a student will prefer the public sector.
It is true that students who prefer public sector jobs rank chance to benefit to society
relatively higher that those who prefer private sector jobs. This result, however, does
not mean that the norm-based motivator is more important than salary and job security,
even to public sector job seekers. If students do not associate their government with
qualities like integrity, competence, and trustworthiness, they may not want to pursue
a career in the public sector. The mere emphasis on chance to benefit to society in the
absence of other extrinsic and intrinsic job motivators is counterproductive to the goal
of attracting talented young people, as it involves an incomplete understanding of the
job motivation of undergraduates. Therefore, it is crucial that public managers design
their recruitment policies taking into consideration diverse job motivations and other
extrinsic factors, such as the image of government, affecting students job choice.
Third, the cross-country variations in perception toward public service are not trivial factors determining job choices. Students in each country have different perceptions of government (see Table 3). For instance, only 10% of Singapores students
answer that most civil servants are corrupt, while 57% of Chinese students do so. Such
perceptions toward civil service efficiency and degree of trust in government, affects
students career intentions in China but not in Singapore and Korea. We believe that
this dissimilar impact of perception toward government on students career intentions
is primarily due to the different administrative developmental stages that the students
are embedded in.
Finally, our analysis demonstrates that public sector job interests of students in each
country are affected differently by gender and public administration education. Thus,
there is a greater need for comparative and empirical job motivation research to devise
effective recruitment strategies for the public personnel management agencies in each
country.
Our research is not without limitations. First, the representativeness of the sample
may pose an issue. Due to the exclusion of students majoring in engineering and natural sciences, and the failure to acquire a probability sample, a word of caution is necessary in generalizing our findings to all university students. Second, university students
job motivations can differ by region, time, and sector. But why is it that we observe
such heterogeneous job motivations in these various contexts? This question, which
our article leaves unanswered, would be a critical question for future studies to address.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

210

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Notes
1. In the Western context, some findings suggest the importance of an attraction to policy
making and other findings stress the motivating role of serving ones community and contributing to society.
2. We thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this crucial point.
3. In addition to the descriptive statistics, correlation matrices are available upon request.
4. In the SAS PROC LOGISTIC procedure, we can test the differences in regression coefficients by using CONTRAST statement. We tested whether the interaction terms, such as
Public service motivation (PSM) Country dummy coefficients, are statistically the same.
5. Figure 2 shows a similar pattern. Korean students who are highly motivated by salary tend
to choose the private sector job. The pattern is not statistically significant in Singapore and
China, however.

References
Aberbach, J. D. (1991). Public service and administrative reform in the United States: The
Volcker Commission and the Bush Administration. International Review of Administrative
Sciences, 57, 403-419.
Baldwin, J. N. (1990). Perceptions of public versus private sector personnel and informal red
tape: Their impact on motivation. The American Review of Public Administration, 20, 7-28.
Bellante, D., & Link, A. N. (1981). Are public-sector workers more risk averse than private sector workers. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 34, 408-412.
Bellows, T. (2009). Meritocracy and the Singapore Political System. Asian Journal of Political
Science, 17, 24-44.
Benest, F. (2005). Its a reality: The shrinking talent pool for local government managers. Public
Management, 87(2), 14-19.
Bilmes, L., & Gould, W. S. (2009). The people factor: Strengthening America by investing in
public service. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Brewer, G. A., & Selden, S. C. (1998). Whistle blowers in the federal civil service: New evidence of the public service ethic. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory,
8(3), 413-440.
Broadnax, W. D. (2012). America needs its best in the publics service. Public Administration
Review, 72, 13-14.
Chetkovich, C. (2003). Whats in a sector? The shifting career plans of public policy students.
Public Administration Review, 63, 660-674.
Christensen, R. K., & Wright, B. E. (2011). The effects of public service motivation on job
choice decisions: Disentangling the contributions of person-organization fit and person-job
fit. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21, 723-743.
Crewson, P. E. (1997). Public-service motivation: Building empirical evidence of incidence and
effect. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 7, 499-518.
DeHart-Davis, L., Marlowe, J., & Pandey, S. K. (2006). Gender Dimensions of Public Service
Motivation. Public Administration Review, 66(6), 873-887.
Delfgaauw, J., & Dur, R. (2010). Managerial talent, motivation, and self-selection into public
management. Journal of Public Economics, 84, 654-660.
Frank, S. A., & Lewis, G. B. (2004). Government employees. The American Review of Public
Administration, 34, 36-51.
Frederickson, H. G. (2002). Confucius and the moral basis of bureaucracy. Administration &
Society, 33, 610-628.

Ko and Jun

211

Gabris, G. T., & Simo, G. (1995). Public sector motivation as an independent variable affecting
career decisions. Public Personnel Management, 24, 33-51.
Giauque, D., Ritz, A., Varone, F., Anderfuhren-Biget, S., & Waldner, C. (2011). Putting public service motivation into context: a balance between universalism and particularism.
International Review of Administrative Sciences, 77(2), 227-253.
Ha, Y. C., & Kang, M. (2011). Creating a capable bureaucracy with loyalists: The internal
dynamics of the South Korean developmental state, 1948-1979. Comparative Political
Studies, 44, 78-108.
Herzberg, F. (1966). Work and nature of man. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York:
John Wiley.
Houston, D. J. (2000). Public-service motivation: A multivariate test. Journal of Public
Administration Research and Theory, 10, 713-728.
Hwang, K. K. (1996). South Koreas bureaucracy and the informal politics of economic development. Asian Survey, 36, 306-319.
Jurkiewicz, C. L., Massey, T. K., & Brown, R. G. (1998). Motivation in public and private organizations: A comparative study. Public Productivity & Management Review, 21, 230-250.
Karl, K. A., & Peat, B. (2004). A match made in heaven or a square peg in a round hole? How
public service educators can help students assess person-environment fit. Journal of Public
Affairs Education, 10, 265-277.
Karl, K. A., & Sutton, C. L. (1998). Job values in todays workforce: A comparison of public
and private sector employees. Public Personnel Management, 27, 515-527.
Khojasteh, M. (1993). Motivating the private vs. public sector managers. Public Personnel
Management, 22, 391-401.
Kim, S., & Vandenabeele, W. (2010). A strategy for building public service motivation research
internationally. Public Administration Review, 70, 701-709.
Lee, G., & Choi, D. L. (in press). Does public service motivation influence the intention to work
in the public sector? Evidence from Korea. Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Lee, H. (2010, October 17). Increase of competition rate of civil service exam. Yonhap News.
Retrieved from http://media.daum.net/politics/view.html?cateid=1018&newsid=20101017
130503854&p=yonhap
Leighley, J. E., & Vedlitz, A. (1999). Race, ethnicity, and political participation: Competing
models and contrasting explanations. Journal of Politics, 61, 1092-1114.
Lewis, G. B., & Frank, S. A. (2002). Who wants to work for the government. Public
Administration Review, 62, 395-404.
Light, P. C. (1999). The new public service. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Light, P. C. (2000). The empty government talent pool: The new public service arrives. The
Brookings Review, 18, 20-23.
Light, P. C. (2002). The troubled state of the federal public service. Washington, DC: Center for
Public Service, Brookings Institution.
Liu, B. (2009). Evidence of public service motivation of social workers in China. International
Review of Administrative Sciences, 75, 349-366.
Liu, B., Hui, C., Hu, J., Yang, W., & Yu, X. (2011). How well can public service motivation
connect with occupational intention? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 77,
191-211.
Liu, W., & Li, W. (2013). Public Administration in ChinaEvolution and Current Challenge,
Asian Journal of Political Science, 21, 1-20.

212

Public Personnel Management 44(2)

Lucas, R.E. (1993). Making a miracle. Econometrica 61, 251272.

Lyons, S. T., Duxbury, L. E., & Higgins, C. A. (2006). A comparison of the values and
commitment of private sector, public sector, and parapublic sector employees. Public
Administration Review, 66(4), 605-618.
Naff, K. C., & Crum, J. (1999). Working for America: Does public service motivation make a
difference? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 19(4), 5-16.
Ng, E. S. W., & Gossett, C. W. (2013). Career Choice in Canadian public service: An exploration of fit with the millennial generation. Public Personnel Management, 42, 337-358.
Perry, J. L. (1996). Measuring public service motivation: An assessment of construct reliability
and validity. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 6, 5-22.
Perry, J. L., & Hondeghem, A. (2008). Motivation in public management: The call of public
service. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Perry, J. L., & Wise, L. R. (1990). The motivational bases of public service. Public administration review, 50, 367-373.
Quah, J. S. T. (2010). Public administration Singapore-style. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Rainey, H. G. (1982). Reward preferences among public and private managers: In search of the
service ethic. The American Review of Public Administration, 16, 288-302.
Rainey, H. G., & Steinbauer, P. (1999). Galloping elephants: Developing elements of a theory
of effective government organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and
Theory, 9, 1-32.
Rampell, C. (2011, March 1). More college graduates take public service jobs. The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02graduates.html
Rose, R. P. (2013). Preferences for careers in public work: Examining the government-nonprofit
divide among undergraduates through public service motivation. The American Review of
Public Administration, 43, 416-437.
Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437-453.
Schuster, J. R. (1974). Management-compensation policy and the public interest. Public
Personnel Management, 3, 510-523.
Shaobin, Z. (2010, December 5). Chinese sit public servant exam, facing intense competition. Xinhua News. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/201012/05/c_13635994.htm
Stivers, C. (1993). Gender images in public administration: legitimacy and the administrative
state. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Tan, K. P. (2008). Meritocracy and elitism in a global city: Ideological shifts in Singapore.
International Political Science Review of Public Personnel Administration, 29, 7-27.
Taylor, J. (2005). Recruiting university graduates for the public sector: An Australian case
study. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 18, 514-533.
Taylor, J. (2008). Graduates views on working in the public sector: A comparative analysis
of the three tiers of government. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 67, 20-29.
Tsao, K. K., & Worthley, J. A. (2009). Civil service development in China and America: A
comparative perspective. Public Administration Review, 69, S88-S94.
Vandenabeele, W. (2008). Government calling: Public service motivation as an element in
selecting government as an employer of choice. Public Administration, 86, 1089-1105.
Vandenabeele, W., Hondeghem, A., & Steen, T. (2004). The civil service as an employer of
choice in Belgium: How work orientations influence the attractiveness of public employment. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 24, 319-333.

Ko and Jun

213

Vandenabeele, W., Scheepers, S., & Hondeghem, A. (2006). Public service motivation in
an international comparative perspective: The UK and Germany. Public Policy and
Administration, 21, 13-31.
Vandenabeele, W., & Van de Walle, S. (2008). International differences in public service
motivation: Comparing regions across the world. In J. L. Perry & A. Hondeghem (Eds.),
Motivation in public management: The call of public service (pp. 223-244). Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
Wittmer, D. (1991). Serving the people or serving for pay: Reward preferences among government, hybrid sector, and business managers. Public Productivity and Management Review,
14, 369-383.
World Bank. (1993). The East Asian miracle: Economic growth and public policy. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
World Bank. (2009). The governance indicator. Retrieved from http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#home

Author Biographies
Kilkon Ko is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul
National University, and editor-in-chief of the Asian Journal of Political Science. He received
his PhD in public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. His major research
topics are administrative reform of the Chinese government, corruption, comparative public
administration, and decision-making theory.
Kyu-Nahm Jun is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Wayne State
University in Detroit, Michigan. She holds a PhD in public administration from the University
of Southern California. Her research focuses on community-based citizen participation and
local government responsiveness. Other research interests include job motivations of undergraduate students and the role of information technology in changing relations between citizen
and government agencies in urban governance.

Copyright of Public Personnel Management is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its
content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email
articles for individual use.