Trust in Elected Officials and Attraction to the Civil Service

Existing research seldom examines trust as a factor shaping attraction to the public sector. When doing so, the focus is on trust in government as an institution or in public organizations. Yet under conditions of affective polarization, ascendance of populist radical-right parties, and democratic backsliding, trust in elected officials as individuals may also shape attraction to government employment. Drawing on a survey and a survey experiment conducted among Israeli undergraduate students (N = 1,678), we show that low trust in elected officials hinders attraction to the civil service. Examination of potential moderators indicates that high trust in civil servants boosts civil service attraction among those with medium or high trust in politicians, while pushing those with low trust in elected officials to the local government. Material job attributes fail to counteract distrust in elected officials. This suggests that a polarized political context undermines entry and engenders a partisan civil service.