TY - JOUR
T1 - Pay-for-performance, job attraction, and the prospects of bureaucratic representation in public organizations
T2 - evidence from a conjoint experiment
AU - Pedersen, Mogens Jin
AU - Favero, Nathan
AU - Park, Joohyung
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Does pay-for-performance–a hotly debated compensation scheme for incentivizing public service efficiency–induce inadvertent heterogeneity in job attraction that is counteracting the prospects of bureaucratic diversity and representation? Using data from a pre-registered conjoint experiment among US residents (n = 1,501), we examine whether pay-for-performance (compared to fixed pay) affects attraction to a public service job differently across race, gender, and age. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that pay-for-performance does not diminish attraction to a public service job within or between demographic groups. In fact, we find indications that pay-for-performance may enhance job attractiveness among individuals identifying with minority racial groups.
AB - Does pay-for-performance–a hotly debated compensation scheme for incentivizing public service efficiency–induce inadvertent heterogeneity in job attraction that is counteracting the prospects of bureaucratic diversity and representation? Using data from a pre-registered conjoint experiment among US residents (n = 1,501), we examine whether pay-for-performance (compared to fixed pay) affects attraction to a public service job differently across race, gender, and age. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that pay-for-performance does not diminish attraction to a public service job within or between demographic groups. In fact, we find indications that pay-for-performance may enhance job attractiveness among individuals identifying with minority racial groups.
KW - equity
KW - pay-for-performance
KW - recruitment
KW - representative bureaucracy
KW - survey experiment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85167655087&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14719037.2023.2245841
DO - 10.1080/14719037.2023.2245841
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85167655087
SN - 1471-9037
VL - 27
SP - 273
EP - 296
JO - Public Management Review
JF - Public Management Review
IS - 1
ER -