Social Constructions and Stereotypes About Public Service Professions

Public service bias, which is the widespread believe of inefficient and bureaucratic public services, is highly discussed and tested in the literature. However, does such negative perception about the public sector in general mean that there is a public servant bias? Such public servant bias would mean that employees in the public sector and specific public-oriented professions suffer from a persistent negative reputation. However, several professions are characterized by strong stereotypical elements, which might influence the attractiveness of particular jobs, rather than the attractiveness of a particular organization or a sector as a whole. Therefore, this study aims at clarifying some of these job stereotypes by testing the distinctiveness of the public servant stereotype, which is a sector-related stereotype, from more profession-related stereotypes, such as firefighter, police officer, nurse, teacher, and professor. A mixed-method analysis is done on association data (7,470 associations by 415 respondents for 12 professions). Despite the fact that the strongest associations made for public servants are rather positive (caring, helpful, and dedicated), as an overall category it has a less positive connotation compared to some specific professions that typically occur in the public sector. In contrast, the public servant stereotype is more positive that the salesman and politician stereotypes. Avenues for further research and practical implications focus on increasing attractiveness of public professions.