2025 Spring Seminar Series Seminar: Taha Hameduddin & Chuanyi Guo University of Kentucky

Early Peer Influences in Public Service Attraction: Evidence from a Randomization

Abstract: Public service attraction, or what attracts individuals to public service, remains an important area of inquiry in public management research, often referencing a unique set of altruistic motives rooted in public institutions. While prior research has been devoted to understanding the conceptual characteristics of PSM, its variability, and its effects on work performance, we as of yet do not have a full understanding of how attraction to public service is cultivated, or where it comes from? Current literature in this area has associated demographic characteristics, parental modeling, and exposure to civics education as predictors of PSM, but it has been limited by correlational research designs and has thus not fully addressed the causal mechanisms that underpin the cultivation of public service attraction. In addition, we do not know whether and how exposure to public service careers through peer networks may affect public service attraction, especially at young ages.

To address these gaps, we utilize a randomization in middle school to test whether exposure to peer-parents in public service has an impact on stated future career choices among a sample of school-age children. We find a strong causal impact of having exposure to peers’ parents working in public service on preferences for public service jobs, even after controlling for a range of demographic characteristics. We end our paper by discussing how our findings contribute to public administration theory and practice.