Are the Best and Brightest Joining the Public Service?

• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Author: Luke Fowler,Chris Birdsall
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X19836152
• Date: 01 September 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X19836152

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2020, Vol. 40(3) 532 –554

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X19836152

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Article

Are the Best and Brightest

Joining the Public Service?

Luke Fowler1 and Chris Birdsall1

Abstract

The changing nature of public service has blurred the lines between economic

sectors by intermingling public, private, and nonprofit missions, and made it easier

for employees to balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivators by seeking employers

positioned along a continuum that balance their interests. Using data from the “After

the JD” study, the authors analyze responses of law school graduates to determine

how academic qualifications and employee motives affect economic sector of

employment. Findings suggest that the best and brightest law school graduates are

predisposed to employment in the private or nonprofit sectors because they offer

the strongest extrinsic or intrinsic incentives.

Keywords

recruitment and selection, employee attitudes, behavior, motivation, cross-sectoral

competition, employee qualifications, law schools

The human capital crisis in government, perpetuated by blurring boundaries and

employee shifts between economic sectors, creates many important questions for pub-

lic administration (Lee & Wilkins, 2011; Light, 1999a). Among those questions is,

why are the best and brightest (or at least those perceived as such) eschewing the

public sector for employment in private and nonprofit sectors? Existing scholarship on

employee motives focuses heavily on cross-sectoral differences in extrinsic and intrin-

sic motivators, but few analyses put these in the context of employee qualifications

and compare across all three economic sectors (Asseburg & Homberg, 2019; Buelens

& Van den Broeck, 2007; Crewson, 1997; Lee & Wilkins, 2011; Lyons, Duxbury, &

Higgins, 2006). Although qualifications are open to interpretation, there is a subset of

highly qualified job candidates that are desirable across economic sectors because they

1Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

Corresponding Author:

Luke Fowler, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive—MS 1935, Boise, ID 83725, USA.

Email: lukefowler@boisestate.edu

836152ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X19836152Review of Public Personnel AdministrationFowler and Birdsall

research-article2019

Fowler and Birdsall 533

are perceived as the best and brightest that the market has to offer. Evidence suggests

that these highly qualified employees have their choice of jobs and choose private or

nonprofit sectors in response to the extrinsic or intrinsic incentives offered (Erlanger,

Epp, Cahill, & Haines, 1996; Lee & Wilkins, 2011; Light, 1999a; Wright, 2001). If

employees are indeed attracted to economic sectors because of differences in motiva-

tors, then we need to further comprehend how motivations differ across sectors, how

sectors relate to each other, and, most important, how this affects recruitment of the

best and brightest.

By comparing employees across economic sectors, we can improve understandings

of employee attraction to specific economic sectors, providing managers with more

insight into how to recruit and select the best and brightest employees (Light, 1999a;

McGuire & Agranoff, 2011). To address these issues, first, we describe cross-sector

relationships and employee motivators, and argue there is a continuum positioning the

public sector between the private and nonprofit sectors in offering extrinsic and intrin-

sic motivators. Second, we discuss cross-sectoral competition for the best and bright-

est, and challenges to identifying, recruiting, and hiring the most qualified people.

Finally, using data from the American Bar Foundation’s (ABF) “After the JD” study,

we analyze survey data from law school graduates to determine how academic quali-

fications and employee motives lead employees to different economic sectors. Our

findings suggest the best and brightest law school graduates are predisposed to

employment in the private or nonprofit sectors because they offer the strongest extrin-

sic or intrinsic incentives, respectively.

Cross-Sectoral Motivator Differences

Public administration research on motivation is extensive and multidimensional, and

considers both what motivates employees to choose public service (employee motives)

and what motivates employees to perform well in their jobs (work motivation; Lee &

Wilkins, 2011; Wright, 2007). Although scholars approach these issues differently,

employee motives and work motivations are intertwined as employees self-select into

economic sectors that utilize incentives compatible with their values (Lee & Wilkins,

2011; Rainey, 1982; Wright, 2001). Scholars argue a key component in employee

choice in organization are perceptions of “fit,” or their compatibility with organiza-

tional values, cultures, and goals. Bright’s extensive work in this area indicates that

employee perceptions of organizations are extremely important in determining their

employment choices, with employees choosing career paths that align with their val-

ues (Bright, 2009, 2011, 2018). More specifically, Bright’s findings indicate that non-

monetary opportunities, such as task meaningfulness, draw people to public sector

organizations, regardless of the specific occupation within that organization (Bright,

2009, 2011). In addition, Rivera (2012) finds cultural matching between employees

and organizations is often one of the most salient factors in hiring and selection prac-

tices in professional fields.

According to Ryan and Deci (2000), the most basic distinction in employee motives

“is between intrinsic motivation, which refers to doing something because it is