Between nature and nurture: The genetic overlap between psychological attributes and selection into public service employment

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Lei Tao,Hailun Liang,Bo Wen,Tao Huang
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13582

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Between nature and nurture: The genetic overlap between

psychological attributes and selection into public

service employment

Lei Tao

1,2

|Hailun Liang

1,3

|Bo Wen

2

|Tao Huang

4

1

School of Public Administration and Policy,

Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

2

Department of Public and International Affairs,

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR,

China

3

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public

Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,

Maryland, USA

4

Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics,

School of Public Health, Peking University,

Beijing, China

Correspondence

Hailun Liang, Renmin University of China, Beijing

100872. China.

Email: hliang@ruc.edu.cn

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China,

Grant/Award Numbers: 71804183, 72274201

Abstract

Public administration scholars have had a long-lasting interest in examining

individual differences relevant to the attractiveness of public service employment.

However, very few studies have explored the genetic underpinnings of these vari-

ations. This article builds upon recent behavioral genetics literature and explores

whether there are genetic overlaps between psychological attributes and selection

into public service employment. We construct the polygenic risk scores (PRSs) on

two psychological attributes—neuroticism and positive affect—to model the

genetic influence on public service employment in a nationwide UK dataset with

262,795 participants. The results suggest that the PRS of positive affect is a signifi-

cant predictor of individuals’selection into public service employment, implying

that individuals with high innate happiness are more likely to self-select into ser-

vice work. Taking the existing socialization literature and this result into consider-

ation, our findings support that both nature and nurture factors shape individuals’

selection into public service employment.

Evidence for practice

•Individuals with high innate happiness are more likely to self-select into public

service employment.

•Public administration managers should be aware that most individual behaviors

and traits are determined by both genetic dispositions and environmental

influences.

•The research on the heritability of vocational choice does not advocate genomic

selection or bio-determinism but highlights the need to discover and recognize

natural facts.

INTRODUCTION

The intriguing question of why some individuals are

more likely to join the public service workforce than

others has intrigued public administration scholars for

decades (e.g., Bright & Jr, 2015;Lewis&Frank,2002;

Perry & Wise, 1990). Based on the person-environment

(P-E) fit (Kristof, 1996) framework, previous studies

have extensively examined individual characteristics,

including the Big Five personality traits, public service

motivation (PSM), value preference, and socio-

demographic factors (Korac et al., 2019). Although

these studies offer valuable insights into how individual

differences shape public sector preference, most of

them fall short in considering possible natural factors

as critical individual characteristics that influence the

choice of public employment.

Decades of behavioral genetics and twin research

have indicated that nearly all aspects of human individual

differences are determined by both genetic endowments

and environmental influences (Ebstein et al., 2010;

Polderman et al., 2015; Turkheimer, 2000). Genetic factors

generally explain approximately 37 percent–61 percent of

the variation in vocational interests, with the remaining

being attributed to environmental influences (Schermer &

Vernon, 2008). Studies based only on nurture factors may

bias the estimation of the influence of environmental fac-

tors on job selection, as differences in vocational interests

Received: 30 March 2022Revised: 27 October 2022Accepted: 18 November 2022

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13582

Public Admin Rev. 2023;83:809–822. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/puar © 2022 American Society for Public Administration.809