Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 25th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview VII. Public Administration Education Author(s) Alexander Kalgin Freie Universität Berlin Germany Gans-Morse, Jordan Luc, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA; Klimenko Andrei, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation; Yakovlev Andrei, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation Title Motivations for Public Service in Post-Soviet Russia: Exploring the Negative Self-selection Hypothesis File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Alexander Kalgin Abstract State capacity requires a competent and principled civil service, but strikingly little is known about the motivations or backgrounds of bureaucrats throughout much of the world, partic¬ularly in countries where corruption is widespread. In Russia, particularly, it has often been claimed that negative self-selection dominates and leads to poor quality of public sector personnel. To shed light on aspiring civil servants’ motivations, this study exploits variation in career goals among Russian university students enrolled in a top Public Administration program in Moscow. Drawing on a survey and ex¬perimental games, the study compares the attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic traits of students seeking public employment to the traits of their peers seeking jobs in the private sector. Among other questions, the study aims to ascertain whether aspiring bureaucrats have an above-average propensity to engage in corrupt behavior. Addressing this issue pro¬vides insights into whether corrupt bureaucracies attract employees with a tendency toward corruption, or whether public employees in countries with high levels of corruption enter government with idealistic motivations and only later become socialized to participate in corrupt practices. The sample included 804 students from social science departments of the university. Despite our initial expectations we find that future public servants display a lower tendency towards corruption. Students willing to work in the public sector demonstrate higher propensity towards altruistic behavior and lower dishonesty. We also find a positive and significant link between religiosity, public service motivation and the desire to work in the public sector.
